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Background: The Healthy Lifestyles Programme (HeLP) was a novel school-located intervention for 9-10 year olds, designed to prevent obesity by changing patterns of child behaviour through the creation of supportive school and home environments using dynamic and creative delivery methods. This paper reports on both the quantitative and qualitative data regarding the implementation of the HeLP intervention in the definitive cluster randomised controlled trial, which was part of the wider process evaluation. Methods: Mixed methods were used to collect data on intervention uptake, fidelity of delivery in terms of content and quality of delivery of the intervention, as well as school and child engagement with the programme. Data were collected using registers of attendance, observations and checklists, field notes, focus groups with children and semi-structured interviews with teachers. Qualitative data were analysed thematically and quantitative data were summarized using descriptive statistics. Results: All 16 intervention schools received a complete or near complete programme (94-100%), which was delivered in the spirit in which it had been designed. Of the 676 children in the intervention schools, over 90% of children participated in each phase of HeLP; 92% of children across the socio-economic spectrum were deemed to be engaged with HeLP and qualitative data revealed a high level of enjoyment by all children, particularly to the interactive drama workshops. Further evidence of child engagment with the programme was demonstrated by children's clear understanding of programme messages around marketing, moderation and food labelling. Thirteen of the intervention schools were deemed to be fully engaged with HeLP and qualitative data revealed a high level of teacher 'buy in', due to the programme's compatability with the National Curriculum, level of teacher support and use of innovative and creative delivery methods by external drama practitioners. Conclusion: Our trial shows that it is possible to successfully scale up complex school-based interventions, engage schools and children across the socio-economic spectrum and deliver an intervention as designed. As programme integrity was maintained throughout the HeLP trial, across all intervention schools, we can be confident that the trial findings are a true reflection of the effectiveness of the intervention, enabling policy recommendations to be made. Trial registration: ISRCTN15811706. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The workplace is an important setting for promoting health and well-being. We sought to understand how successful workplace health and well-being programs were developed and implemented to inform the development of a program for a National Health Service (NHS) hospital. Case studies of successful healthy workplace programs with 34 semi-structured employee interviews informed 12 interviews with NHS staff. Interviews were thematically analyzed using Nvivo. Themes were fed back to participants for further clarification and validation. Healthy workplace programs were characterized by senior management endorsement; collective sense of ownership; presence of visible “quick wins”; and a sense that participation was easy and fun, not mandated. Programs evolved organically, allowing trust to be built and activities to be developed with employees. Interviews with NHS staff suggested a lack of belief in the possibility of change in their workplace due to time and workload pressures, and a sense of an “us and them” relationship with management, as well as environmental barriers. A consistent pattern of how the conditions for a healthy workplace can be created, which map onto the results from the NHS ward staff, suggest that without creating an enabling environment for health-promoting behaviors, workplace programs will have poor uptake and retention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Actively involving service users, patients and carers in the creation and development of health research in the UK has recently come under pressure to articulate why involvement is a good use of resources. This has led to a growing interest in creating ways to measure the impact of involving patients, service users and carers in research. However, there is a concern that fundamentally important issues about why we should meaningfully involve service users, patients and carers are missing from the current measurement discourses and activities undertaken in relation to measurement. This paper argues three distinct points, and is based on the experience of the authors working with Folk.us as well as other fields of involvement. Firstly, there should be an open and honest debate about what is meant by the need to measure and assess the effects of involving people in research, addressing issues such as who benefits from the measurement and assessment and why the involvement is being done. Secondly, if at the conclusion of the debate it is deemed necessary to measure and assess, there must be a full and frank discussion about what criteria are appropriate for the proper reporting of involvement activities. This discussion would need to include the less obvious activities that are crucial to active involvement, such as administrative tasks, and where such activities would sit within these criteria. Thirdly, we will consider when such criteria should be applied, at the beginning or end of projects and, indeed, whether one can categorize the 'beginning' or 'end' of involvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To validate a menstrual symptometrics device that can quantify menstrual blood loss, dysmenorrhea, and the premenstrual syndrome against traditional methods of collecting data on symptoms.Design: Validation study.Setting: Academic research clinic for menstrual cycle disorders.Participant(s): Women 18-50 years of age who presented with menstrual cycle disorders. Controls were recruited from lists of patients requesting sterilization and from hospital staff.Intervention(s): Participants were asked to complete the menstrual symptometrics device and to record pain, blood loss, and premenstrual symptoms by using traditional methods (paper-based scales and the alkaline hematin method) for two cycles.Main Outcome Measure(s): Agreement between traditional methods of quantifying menstrual cycle disorders and data obtained from the menstrual symptometrics device, and acceptability of the latter technique to patients.Result(s): A high level of agreement was observed between the traditional methods and the menstrual symptometrics device in quantifying and diagnosing menorrhagia, dysmenorrhea, and the premenstrual syndrome. Most patients preferred the menstrual symptometrics device as a data collection tool.Conclusion(s): The menstrual symptometrics device is a rapid and accurate method of quantifying blood loss, pain, and premenstrual symptoms. It has a high level of patient acceptability and can provide instant pictorial feedback on symptoms for patients and clinicians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]