FAMISH
Research type
Research Study
Full title
An exploration of the Feasibility and Acceptability of an online food and Mood knowledge Intervention to Support Health and wellbeing (FAMISH)
IRAS ID
350600
Contact name
Kevin Williamson
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Rotherham Doncaster and South Humber NHS Foundation Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 5 months, 30 days
Research summary
This research aims to test how feasible it is to provide a pre-existing online food and mood knowledge course to UK-based NHS mental health services patients aged 16 years and over. Additionally, the study aims to explore whether the course is acceptable to participants. The online course is freely available. The content has been developed and is delivered by world experts in nutritional psychiatry, led by Professor Felice Jacka at The Food & Mood Centre, based in the IMPACT Institute, Deakin University, Australia. The course has proved very popular with members of the public and had over 91,000 people enrol globally.
This research study aims to understand what people think about using the course (acceptability) and how easy it is to recruit and retain participants drawn from a sample of NHS mental health services patients, aged 16 years and older (feasibility). Eligible individuals from Secondary mental health treatment services (e.g. NHS Talking Therapies and Early Intervention in Psychosis services) will be asked to take part. The number of people approached who decide to take part in the study will be measured as a percentage. Experiential data will be collected through administering a pre and post-course survey. The way we will test the study's success is through checking whether or not at least half (50%) of the participants completed the course and completed the end of course survey.
If the study is successful, the future plan would be to develop a larger randomised controlled trial to test whether this can improve participants dietary knowledge. The findings of this study will be reported in a number of ways including; publishing via an academic journal article, conference paper and shared widely with members of the public through patient and carer forums and networks, including relevant charities' websites.
REC name
London - Westminster Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
25/LO/0859
Date of REC Opinion
7 Jan 2026
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion