Approved research

Assessing whether individual feedback results in improved health outcomes, with a focus on BMI feedback.

Lay summary

Research Question: Does informing people that they are overweight based on their Body Mass Index (BMI) result in individuals improving their health? Does feedback of other health indicators have any effects on individuals? Outcomes: Weight, BMI, general health. Unhealthy weight in adults is a growing problem in the UK, with the Chief Medical Officer recently stating that the problem is in part due to individuals not recognising that they are overweight. Policy to tackle unhealthy weight in adults ranges from providing expensive surgery to general public health information campaigns that are deemed by researchers to be ineffective; the identification of cost effective interventions to reduce the proportion of people with unhealthy weight is an urgent issue. The results will have implications for the efficacy of individualised health feedback as a cost effective means of delivering public health goals. I will use statistical methods to analyse whether the participant feedback provided is causally related to improved individual health indicators and whether any such effects are determined by an individuals? personal characteristics. Full Cohort and the repeat assessment data.