Project overview
Project Overview
Our recent Wessex ‘Maintenance Of physical aTivity beHaviour’ (MOTH) programme improved understanding of how best to support people with long-term health conditions (LTCs) to stay active to better self-manage their conditions (Clarkson et al., 2022; Gavin et al., 2024). This included hearing NHS healthcare professionals and commissioner’s views on factors promoting and preventing the use of digital tools, including mobile ‘apps’, for LTC self-management (Gavin et al. 2024). It also highlighted the importance of NHS Health and Wellbeing Coaches (HWCs) as ‘intermediaries’, interlinking healthcare and community-based physical activity.
Health and Wellbeing Coaches are experts in behaviour change and well-placed in the NHS to signpost patients to digital tools, such as the NHS Digital Weight Management Programme. People with LTCs trust the NHS and healthcare professionals, as a source for guidance on how to get active with a LTC (We Are Undefeatable, 2024). However, we do not yet know why. This may relate to the evidence-base, professional endorsement, the usability, and/or feasibility, yet this is unknown. Pain and fatigue are the biggest barriers to physical activity for people with LTCs. Understanding why and how HWCs promote digital tools in the NHS and community is important to support LTC patients to maintain active lifestyles.
Energise Me have developed the HIOW ‘We Can Be Active Strategy’ (2023), a regional agenda to support active lifestyles population-wide. The strategy is implemented through the Living Well Partnership, a collaboration of local GP surgeries involving HWCs, to streamline healthcare into our communities.
This internship will use our MOTH digital findings to understand and map the support needs of HWCs for a digital tool to support people with LTCs to maintain physical activity in Southampton’s communities.
This will inform development of a digital tool to support health coaching for people with LTCs, translatable from healthcare to community services.
Aim:
To understand and map the support needs of Health and Wellbeing Coaches (HWCs) in using a digital tool (i.e., app) to support people with LTCs to transition from healthcare, to community physical activity in Southampton.
Objectives:
To assess the knowledge, attitude and practice of HWCs towards the use of digital tools for LTC self-management.
To understand the challenges and opportunities facing HWCs in promoting and implementing digital tools to help people with LTCs stay active in their communities.
To map the support needs of HWCs (or components) for a digital app to help people with LTCs maintain physical activity in their communities.
We will hold an initial workshop/s with HWCs across Southampton, in which we will share and discuss the findings from our MOTH digital study (Gavin et al. 2024). Initial feedback will be sought from HWCs relating to i) making sense of digital tools (or ‘Coherence’), ii) engaging individuals with new digital tools (or ‘Cognitive Participation’), iii) what needs to be done to enact new digital tools (or ‘Collective Action’), and iv) appraisal of digital tools over time (or ‘Reflective Monitoring’) (Murray, 2010).
Thereafter, HWCs will be invited back for in-person or online interviews aligning to the objectives above.
Additional opportunities may arise for the intern as the supervisor and research assistant work with HWCs to develop a consensus-based framework for the optimal digital tool (i.e., app) using a modified-Delphi process in early Autumn 2025.
Our recent Wessex ‘Maintenance Of physical aTivity beHaviour’ (MOTH) programme improved understanding of how best to support people with long-term health conditions (LTCs) to stay active to better self-manage their conditions (Clarkson et al., 2022; Gavin et al., 2024). This included hearing NHS healthcare professionals and commissioner’s views on factors promoting and preventing the use of digital tools, including mobile ‘apps’, for LTC self-management (Gavin et al. 2024). It also highlighted the importance of NHS Health and Wellbeing Coaches (HWCs) as ‘intermediaries’, interlinking healthcare and community-based physical activity.
Health and Wellbeing Coaches are experts in behaviour change and well-placed in the NHS to signpost patients to digital tools, such as the NHS Digital Weight Management Programme. People with LTCs trust the NHS and healthcare professionals, as a source for guidance on how to get active with a LTC (We Are Undefeatable, 2024). However, we do not yet know why. This may relate to the evidence-base, professional endorsement, the usability, and/or feasibility, yet this is unknown. Pain and fatigue are the biggest barriers to physical activity for people with LTCs. Understanding why and how HWCs promote digital tools in the NHS and community is important to support LTC patients to maintain active lifestyles.
Energise Me have developed the HIOW ‘We Can Be Active Strategy’ (2023), a regional agenda to support active lifestyles population-wide. The strategy is implemented through the Living Well Partnership, a collaboration of local GP surgeries involving HWCs, to streamline healthcare into our communities.
This internship will use our MOTH digital findings to understand and map the support needs of HWCs for a digital tool to support people with LTCs to maintain physical activity in Southampton’s communities.
This will inform development of a digital tool to support health coaching for people with LTCs, translatable from healthcare to community services.
Aim:
To understand and map the support needs of Health and Wellbeing Coaches (HWCs) in using a digital tool (i.e., app) to support people with LTCs to transition from healthcare, to community physical activity in Southampton.
Objectives:
To assess the knowledge, attitude and practice of HWCs towards the use of digital tools for LTC self-management.
To understand the challenges and opportunities facing HWCs in promoting and implementing digital tools to help people with LTCs stay active in their communities.
To map the support needs of HWCs (or components) for a digital app to help people with LTCs maintain physical activity in their communities.
We will hold an initial workshop/s with HWCs across Southampton, in which we will share and discuss the findings from our MOTH digital study (Gavin et al. 2024). Initial feedback will be sought from HWCs relating to i) making sense of digital tools (or ‘Coherence’), ii) engaging individuals with new digital tools (or ‘Cognitive Participation’), iii) what needs to be done to enact new digital tools (or ‘Collective Action’), and iv) appraisal of digital tools over time (or ‘Reflective Monitoring’) (Murray, 2010).
Thereafter, HWCs will be invited back for in-person or online interviews aligning to the objectives above.
Additional opportunities may arise for the intern as the supervisor and research assistant work with HWCs to develop a consensus-based framework for the optimal digital tool (i.e., app) using a modified-Delphi process in early Autumn 2025.
