Medicate
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Enhancing risk management in the NHS Health Checks programme with web-based advice on the Mediterranean diet - a pilot study
IRAS ID
179575
Contact name
Richard Hoffman
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Hertfordshire
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 6 months, 5 days
Research summary
The Mediterranean diet (MD) is a clinically proven and cost-effective intervention to help prevent and manage a range of chronic diseases. The primary aim of this pilot study is to assess the usability and acceptability of an online web site that offers tailored advice on the MD to patients who have attended an NHS Health Check at a GP practice in Hertfordshire. The secondary aims are to determine if the intervention has improved the patient's perception of their general health and well-being and helped motivate them to eat more healthily. Once established, the online MD web site will offer a low cost, scaleable resource providing reliable and consistent advice. By comparison, current NHS dietary online advice is quite generalised and one-to-one dietary support with a dietitian is costly. Patients will be offered the opportunity to take part in the study when invitated to have Health Check. Patients agreeing to take part in the study will then be requested to fill in an online questionnaire which includes questions on (1) the patient's perception of their general health and (2) dietary habits. Patients will then be given access to the web site which enables advice on the MD to be tailored to the patient's own circumstances. There will also be the option for patients to request individual advice via email. Each patient will complete a two month intervention, and at the end of the study patients will answer a second questionnaire which will include questions on (1) how they found the online intervention (2) the patient's perception of their general health, and (3) their current dietary habits (4) if they feel more motivated to eat more healthily. This research will receive no external funding and may form the basis for an application to NIHR for scaling up the study.
REC name
East Midlands - Nottingham 2 Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
16/EM/0093
Date of REC Opinion
24 Feb 2016
REC opinion
Unfavourable Opinion