Projects

Current Projects

PerfectFIT Diabetes Platform:

An interoperable Platform for Blended Personalized Care to Fit People Living with type 2 Diabetes.

Millions of people have diabetes and every day that number increases. Most are diagnosed with type 2 diabetes (T2D). To manage this condition people need to monitor their diet and exercise patterns, adhere to medication and sometimes take insulin to manage their blood glucose levels and keep these on a healthy level.  Living with T2D can have a detrimental impact on quality of life. Currently, continuous diabetes care in the Netherlands is mainly reactive: patients are referred to a specialist when there are problems. This process gives the patient little control, is labour-intensive for healthcare professionals and leaves little room for a personal approach.  In this project we will be developing an interoperable blended care platform that will provide tailored diabetes care. The tailored care will be based on the individualised monitoring of blood glucose, eating and physical activity behaviours. It will be tested in two hospitals based in the city on Enschede, The Netherlands. Funder: Diabetes Fonds (Netherlands).

PI-: Vera Araujo-Soares ¹ (CPD-MEDMA, Heidelberg University-HU, DE). Co-applicants: Dr. Nienke Beerlage de Jong (HTSR, University of Twente-UT, NL), Miriam Vollenbroek-Hutten (BSS, UT, NL), Goos Laverman (Ziekenhuisgroep Twente (ZGT) and BSS, UT, NL), Mattijs Out (Medisch Spectrum Twente- MST, NL), Mark van Haaren (MST, NL), Xavier Pouwels (HTSR, UT, NL), Jaydev Varma (ANCORA Health).

The project is funded by Diabetes Fonds (https://www.diabetesfonds.nl/home).

 

MapME:

Can embedding the MapMe intervention, a tool to improve parental acknowledgement and understanding of childhood overweight and obesity, in the National Child Measurement Programme lead to improved child weight outcomes at one year?

Childhood overweight and obesity (OW/OB) is a Public Health England (PHE) priority. Parents are key to managing children's weight, but tend to struggle to recognise OW/OB, and so do not take action. In England, the NCMP measures the weight status of 4-5 and 10-11-year-olds and reports results to parents via letter. Parents are often surprised by, and mistrust the result. More support is required to help parents understand and act upon the letter. The 'Map Me' intervention includes Body Image Scales (BIS) (images of underweight to very OW children of NCMP age, to help parents recognise child weight status), and information on healthy eating, physical activity, consequences of child OW and further support. MapMe was tested in ~300 OW/OB children who showed improved Body Mass Index (BMI) Z scores after 1 year. These findings now need to be confirmed in a larger study.

PI-Professor Ashley Adamson; Co-Is: Dr Angela Jones, Dr Bronia Arnott, Dr Elizabeth Evans, Dr Laura Basterfield, Dr Yemi Oluboyede, Mrs Alison Gahagan nee Chipperfield, Ms Loretta Sollars, Professor John Matthews, Professor Louisa Ells, Professor Martin Tovee, Professor Vera Araujo-Soares (CPD-MEDMA, HU, DE).

The project is funded by the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) Programme Grants for Applied Research UK (https://fundingawards.nihr.ac.uk/award/NIHR127745).

 

ASsuRED:

Improving outcomes in patients who self-harm – Adapting and evaluating a brief pSychological inteRvention in Emergency Departments’

The study will investigate how to better support people who attend Emergency Departments (EDs) who have thoughts of taking their own lives or have harmed themselves. We know that the conversation between the individual and the mental health professional they see is critically important. Although there are many examples of good care, current practice across the NHS varies widely with no research evidence to support best practice. We will adapt and test a promising new approach used in other countries and evaluate its benefits in the UK context. This will involve therapeutic assessment, safety planning and follow-up support after leaving the ED.

The project is funded by the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) Programme Grants for Applied Research UK (ref: RP-PG-0617-20004) You can stay up to date with the project by visiting the Assured Study website.

PI: Professor Rose McCabe (City University London, UK); Co-I: V Araujo-Soares (CPD-MEDMA, HU, DE), S Eldridge, D Giacco, N Kapur, S Priebe, M Ryan, A Simpson, H Smith, B Mihaylova, R Byng, P Aitken, P Riou, M Smuk, C Dickens.

 

Developing a classification of health and climate mitigation behaviours: an inductive approach to explore variations

Climate mitigation action is urgent. Macro-level changes (e.g. policy adjustments) usually take decades to achieve. This has led to a growing call for individual action. Individual behaviour, when pooled collectively, can contribute to near-term emission reductions. A first step towards supporting behaviour change interventions targeting these behaviours is to understand the behaviour itself. Potential similarities between mitigation and health behaviours may allow for knowledge generalization and can unearth goal facilitation. The aim of this project is to develop a classification of climate mitigation behaviours and compare and contrast their characteristics with those of other health behaviours, while exploring potential for goal facilitation.

PI: Prof. Dr. Vera Araujo-Soares (CPD-MEDMA, HU, DE); Dr. Nienke Beerlage-de Jong (HTSR, UT, NL); Co-Is: Prof. Dr. Falko Sniehotta(CPD-MEDMA, HU, DE); Randa Lahbichi, UT.

 

The design, evaluation and implementation of behaviour change interventions to mitigate climate change with health co-benefits: a systematic review

Climate change, health and human behaviour interact. To mitigate consequences of climate change higher uptake of climate mitigation behaviours is necessary. Thus, understanding how effective interventions promoting these behaviours are designed and implemented, is important. Previous reviews of climate mitigation interventions do not consider design, development and implementation features. Therefore, this systematic review aims to determine how effective climate mitigation interventions with health co-benefits are developed, evaluated and implemented.

PI: Prof. Dr. Vera Araujo-Soares (CPD-MEDMA, HU, DE) & Dr. Nienke Beerlage-de Jong (HTSR, UT, NL); Co-applicant: Dr. Erik Koffijberg (HTSR, UT, NL).

^{1 Although this grant was awarded to Vera Araujo Soares, change of university (from the University of Twente to Heildelberg University) demanded change in PI. Dr. Nienke Beerlage de Jong will take the lead on this grant now and Vera Araujo Soares will continue to collaborate as a co investigator on this grant.}