Letter cubes spelling out weight up weight down

The SHARE Study

A Study of How to Address Regain in wEight

We have a great new study and on this page, we will tell you more about it, how to get involved and provide study updates.

Why are we doing this study?

Many people take part in weight management programmes and manage to lose weight, but most put this weight back on over time. To help people better manage their weight, we need to understand what programmes are available to help people stop putting the weight back on after they have lost it and to find out the type of help people want and need.

What do we want to find out?

  1. What weight management services are available in England and how do they help people to keep the weight off over time?
  2. What do those who oversee and refer people to weight management services think is needed to help people keep the weight off?
  3. What are people (from different backgrounds) experience of keeping the weight off and what would help them keep the weight off?
  4. What helps and/or stops people from going back to use weight loss programmes?
  5. How can support be improved to provide weight management programmes for all?

How are we going to do this research?

  1. Bring together people living with obesity, policy makers and experts in weight loss to inform and guide our research.
  2. Send an online link of a survey to those responsible for weight management programmes in England to find out how they help people keep the weight off.
  3. Conduct group discussions/ interviews with up to 25 leads of weight loss programme professionals and people that refer to weight management programmes (e.g., GPs, nurses) about their experiences of helping people keep the weight off.
  4. Interview up to 40 people who have put weight back on after attending weight loss programmes and ask them to share photos to help them talk about their weight loss journey. In groups we will consider what support is needed to help manage weight in the long term. We will analyse the discussions and find common needs that can shape the guidance we develop.
  5. We will bring together a group of 40 people (including weight management users, decision makers, the public, referrers, and policy makers) in two creative workshops to design practical guidance to improve future weight management support.

How to take part

You can take part in many ways, and we would love to hear from you. This research is about the experiences and views of those who have lived through this. Your views matter and will inform policy guidance.

  1. Help design and analyses the research, sharing your experiences.
  2. If you are a weight management provider, take part in our survey, the link will be added here shortly
  3. If you want to take part in a conversation about your experiences of losing weight and regaining weight then please contact Dr Claire Madigan, c.madigan@lboro.ac.uk, +44 1509 223008, X: @claire_WM.

Who funds the research?

This research is funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research Policy Research Programme (Grant NIHR205956).  

Updates

We are currently in the set-up stage and will be back with more information soon!