Research Project:
Young People’s Weight and Weight Loss Support
Melissa and her colleagues at Oxford University carried out a research project with young people, exploring their experiences and ideas around weight loss support.
Introduction
Hello, my name is Melissa and I am a researcher at Oxford University.
I work in a part of the university called the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences.
I used to be a dietitian, helping people to eat healthily. In my dietitian role, I found that there isn’t enough support, resources, or services for young people who are overweight and want to lose weight and develop healthier habits.
I knew that speaking to young people and finding out what support they wanted would be key to creating something genuinely helpful and effective. So, I set up a research project to speak to young people about their experiences and ideas around weight loss support.
How did we listen?
I applied for some funding and came up with a research plan. The plan was reviewed by my colleagues in our university ethics team, who help us make sure our research projects won’t harm the people that get involved, either physically or emotionally.
Then, we advertised the chance to come and speak to us through healthcare organisations, youth centres, secondary schools and the Youth Voice Bucks website.
We advertised a £20 Thank You voucher for anyone taking part.
The project was open to anyone in England to get involved in, but we focused on reaching young people in Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire. We were also interested in hearing the experiences of parents and carers.
How did we act?
We spoke to 16 young people and 12 parents in phone interviews. We asked them questions about their experiences, views, and ideas, and noted down what they said.
We also ran a survey with students in one Buckinghamshire school, which received 53 responses.
From this input, we wrote a big report. We also made short one-pager summaries of the key messages we heard.
How did we respond?
Every young person and parent that took part in a phone interview has received the one-page report with the findings from the study.
The findings from the survey were shared with staff at the school, who were asked to make this available to the students who took part.
Key messages received from young people
- There is not enough support available for young people struggling with their weight.
- Young people do not want adults to talk to them about their weight. But, if a young person brings up their weight to a trusted adult, they want support to be available.
- Young people are not likely to reach out to a healthcare professional such as their GP or school nurse for support around their weight.
- Young people want to see safe, confidential, anonymous support, such as a website, chatbot, or helpline.
Impact and learning
- We found it really difficult to find young people who were willing to speak to us. We know that this is because this is a very sensitive topic which can be very emotional to talk about.
- Initially interviews were designed to be done over video call but we found the young people were more comfortable over the phone or with their cameras off.
- Often parents were uncomfortable with a stranger talking to their child about weight and wouldn’t give permission although they were happy to talk to us themselves; once trust had been built they became more open to the idea.
Next steps
The next stage is to develop a service or resource to support young people, based on the key messages we received from young people. Our plan is to develop something, pilot it on a small scale, and then roll it out more widely.