Contact: Kelly Dickson or Lynn Ang
Start Date: January 2022 / End Date: March 2024
Background
Cardiovascular disease is one of the leading causes of premature mortality in high-income countries (HIC), with over 70% of cases attributable to modifiable behavioural and cardiometabolic risk factors. Multiple cardiovascular disease risk factors developed in childhood are associated with the development of cardiovascular events in adulthood. The promotion of cardiovascular health in childhood represents a great opportunity for primary prevention.
The primary objective of our project is to develop and enhance an existing primary school-based cardiovascular disease (CVD) programme by incorporating robust evidence from school-based health promotion research studies and educational theory to determine the key factors and mechanisms of action, that will inform a more effective behaviour change intervention and future research priorities in this important area of work.
This project is funded the UCL Health of the Public Small Grants Scheme and will run from January 2022 to March 2024.
Objectives
The research project will consider how a cross-disciplinary, participatory approach to cardiovascular disease (CVD) prevention can help improve public health outcomes.
The research takes an evidence-based participatory approach to further develop and refine a health-education intervention programme on CVD prevention, delivered through a network of schools in East London. The project includes the following phases:
- Phase 1 - Scoping exercise: to conceptually map and describe the key features of successful public health interventions delivered in primary schools.
- Phase 2 - Logic Model: to develop an evidence-based health-education programme logic model which illustrates mechanisms supporting positive behavioural outcomes to support CVD prevention among primary school children.
- Phase 3 - Intervention programme: to design a co-produced intervention with new intervention materials to support CVD prevention deliver in primary schools
Team
Our multidisciplinary project team consists of academics, researchers, clinical academics and school-based leaders from: UCL Institute of Education, UCL Institute of Cardiovascular Disease, Barts Health NHS Trust, QMUL and The East London Research School.