TOSCA study (Technology tO Support ChAnge)
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Exploring the use of technology to support behavioural change in children and young people seen in the healthy futures service
IRAS ID
319428
Contact name
Emma Webb
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 9 months, 1 days
Research summary
Research Summary
Childhood obesity is a global health crisis with 1.2 million children in England severely obese, predisposing them to multiple health risks which decrease lifespan and compromise health.In September 2021 NHS England commissioned fourteen complications of excess weight (CEW) clinics. Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital launched a healthy-future; inspiring change, CEW clinic in April 2022. This clinic provides multi-disciplinary medical, dietary, exercise and psychological support to 100+ young people living with complications of obesity in the East of England every year. During their clinical journey young people are asked to make multiple changes to their behaviour and lifestyle including; taking medications, increasing activity levels and changing dietary patterns. One of the key factors impacting on success is therefore the CEW clinics ability to remove barriers and inspire behaviour change in young people. With this in mind all team members have motivational interview training and psychological support is an integral part of the care pathway. However, the clinical team only provides this support during appointments and the overall effectiveness of obesity treatment programmes in children remains low. Technological approaches offer a widely accessible tool which could potentially complement current clinical models of care providing ongoing support between clinic appointments.
Whilst smartphone-based interventions offer a promising strategy to improve outcomes in young people, research is needed to explore what features individual’s value and use, the main barriers and facilitators to changing behaviours and to determine the optimal number and combination of features, behaviour change techniques, and level of participant contact needed to maximise user engagement and ultimately intervention efficacy. This study therefore aims to ask service users (young people and their families) for their views prior to either adapting existing technology or developing a new intervention as part of a NIHR research for patient benefit study.Summary of Results
We held a series of focus groups with young people and their families who are experiencing health problems due to excess weight. These sessions have focused on understanding the health priorities of young people and their families, the barriers and facilitators to making behavioural changes, and on codesigning ways that technology could be used to support young people to make changes to achieve their health goals.
Young people told us that the three major barriers to them becoming healthier were problems with their sleep, mental health and a lack of peer support. We have taken these messages and used them to develop further research to improve the care offered for young people in these areas.REC name
Wales REC 4
REC reference
22/WA/0340
Date of REC Opinion
14 Dec 2022
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion