Changing health behaviours prior to surgery: What are your views?

  • Research type

    Research Study

  • Full title

    Changing health behaviours prior to surgery: What are your views?

  • IRAS ID

    183053

  • Contact name

    Elke Kothmann

  • Contact email

    elke.kothmann@stees.nhs.uk

  • Sponsor organisation

    South Tees Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

  • Duration of Study in the UK

    0 years, 6 months, 0 days

  • Research summary

    There is strong evidence to show the long term health benefits from engaging in regular physical activity, maintaining a healthy weight, not smoking and consuming only a little alcohol.
    Engaging in these healthy behaviours substantially reduces an individuals risk of developing chronic disease e.g. Type II diabetes, cancer and heart disease, such as angina, heart attacks and high blood pressure.

    We propose that there may be short term health benefits from engaging in these behaviours prior to surgery with the potential benefit of reducing the risk of surgical complications, length of hospital stay and possibly hospital readmission.

    The aim of the study is to explore attitudes, barriers and facilitators to implementing evidence-based behavioural change to optimise patients' health before major surgery.

    We plan to achieve this through a patient attitudes survey. This will identify how patients feel about making changes to their health behaviours for short term outcomes i.e. prior to surgery and how they feel about making these changes for longer term outcomes.

    The project will include all adult consenting patients attending pre-operative assessment clinic (PAC) prior to a planned surgical procedure at the defined research sites during a specified timeframe (1 month).

    The patient questionnaire will be conducted by the research team (research nurse and or investigators) at the PAC at the research site.

    Patients will receive a participant information sheet (PIS) outlining the planned project with their routine PAC letter. Patients will be approached at random in clinic to seek consent to undertake a short interview, which will involve completion of the patient questionnaire. Prior to conducting the interview informed consent will be taken. The research nurse and or investigator will complete the questionnaire with the participant. On completion of the questionnaire the participants involvement in the study will be over. It will not be possible to identify the participant from their response.

  • REC name

    Wales REC 7

  • REC reference

    15/WA/0255

  • Date of REC Opinion

    8 Jul 2015

  • REC opinion

    Favourable Opinion