Not everyone experiences health and healthcare equally. There are significant differences in who is likely to experience poorer health and how likely they are to benefit from interventions to promote their health. Obesity is a prominent example of this, as those from more deprived socioeconomic backgrounds having an increased likelihood of living with overweight or obesity.
This session will develop your knowledge on why not all public health and healthcare interventions for obesity may work equally well for everyone, building your understanding of how someone’s individual agency (personal resource such as time, money, and understanding of intervention content) impacts on their engagement with interventions. By the end of this talk, you will understand if interventions designed to help individuals to manage their weight through behaviour change are ineffective for certain groups and what some of the driving factors behind this could be.
Join Jack to:
- Understand the key drivers of health inequalities, particularly in relation to obesity.
- Consider how the amount of resource, including time, money, social support and education, can impact on how well an intervention works for people from different backgrounds.
- Learn if there are inequalities in behavioural intervention for obesity that focus on changing behaviours relating to diet and physical activity.
Curriculum
- 1 Section
- 1 Lesson
- Lifetime
- Inequalities in interventions for obesity1
Instructor
Jack Birch, PhD is a Research Associate in the Population Health Sciences Institute/NIHR Policy Research Unit in Behavioural and Social Sciences at Newcastle University. In the Policy Research Unit, he leads a project applying behavioural and social science insights to the increasing use of drugs for weight loss. Prior to joining the Policy Research Unit in July 2024, Jack worked as a Research Fellow in Evidence Synthesis in the Coventry Health Determinants Research Collaboration. This role involved increasing the use of academic evidence in local government policy and decision making. Jack has conducted policy research on obesity, public health, and health inequalities across a range of settings including academia, local and national government, and for non-governmental organisations. He is a member of the Society for Social Medicine and Population Health and serves as the Communications Officer and Chair-elect on the Early Career Researcher committee.
