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Hearty Lives in the spotlight at Leeds Beckett event
The event, organised by Dr Leanne Staniford and James Nobles, will see the researchers share their evaluation of the British Heart Foundation’s ‘Hearty Lives’ programme, on Wednesday 15 July.
Hearty Lives is a British Heart Foundation £1.2 million funded project which spans across the UK. In conducting the evaluation, led by Leeds Beckett’s Professor Paul Gately, the team are working to evaluate the six Hearty Lives programmes which have the broad aim to reduce the incidence of cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors specifically in children and young people, aged 11-18 years old.
Money has been allocated to the six sites by the British Heart Foundation who are hoping to ‘pump prime’ each one and kick start their public health interventions. Alongside reducing the risk of CVD, the programmes are targeted at children who mainly reside in areas of economic deprivation – therefore a secondary aim is to reduce the health inequalities experienced in these areas.
The six programmes are located in Adur, Glasgow, Liverpool, Manchester, Renfrewshire and Wolverhampton. The interventions vary in a multitude of ways: from their design to their delivery and their target groups. Liverpool seeks to educate the care home workers of children in care on ways of encouraging a healthy lifestyle in the home, whilst Glasgow delivers a tailored and incentivised, commercial weight management programme for young adults, aged 16-18. Wolverhampton and Manchester both offer a home-based weight management programme to families who live in severely deprived areas. Adur and Renfrewshire on the other hand work with local schools, helping to instil healthy practices both in the school and at home.
The team from Leeds Beckett have devised and implemented a case study approach to evaluate the six programmes which will enable the richness and uniqueness of each site to be documented. A first year interim report has recently been completed. The evaluation event will be an opportunity to discuss the findings and bring the sites together with a number of workshops being delivered and the opportunity for the British Heart Foundation, Leeds Beckett and each of the six sites to share experiences in public health intervention work.
Speaking ahead of the event, James Nobles, a British Heart Foundation funded PhD researcher said: “We are very excited to host the evaluation day here at Leeds Beckett, as it enables the great work of the Hearty Lives programme to be showcased. It also allows the sites to meet with each other again, share learnings and plan effectively for the future. We held a similar event last year which was very well received, so we are hoping for the same again this year.”
Dr Leanne Staniford , a British Heart Foundation funded Research Fellow, added: “We are excited to hold a second evaluation day to build on the great work of the Hearty Lives projects in the first year of this national project. The event will encourage shared learning to allow us as the evaluation team at Leeds Beckett University to support the six hearty lives projects to refine and continue to improve their interventions in the second year.”