ORCID Profile
0000-0003-2976-0217
Current Organisation
University of Southampton
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Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 2022
DOI: 10.2139/SSRN.4163702
Publisher: S. Karger AG
Date: 2014
DOI: 10.1159/000365042
Abstract: b i Background: /i /b Across Europe, poor health behaviours are associated with increased risks of non-communicable diseases. There is particular concern about young women, children and families, not least as health behaviours operating before and during pregnancy and in early postnatal life may have profound long-term consequences for children's health. Using findings drawn from 7 European countries, we aimed to identify barriers to the implementation and uptake of dietary and physical activity recommendations, and to consider how best to achieve changes in mothers' behaviours and thereby improve the adoption of health recommendations. Six studies across the 7 countries were used for this narrative synthesis of findings. b i Key Messages: /i /b A woman's education has a strong influence on her own and her children's health behaviours. Women's diets vary across ethnic groups and according to number of children, but psychological factors, such as self-efficacy and sense of control, which may be amenable to modification, are powerful, too, particularly in women with lower educational attainment. Maternal influences on children's behaviours are strong. Differences exist in infant feeding across countries, and there are apparent urban/rural differences in children's diets and physical activity. b i Conclusions: /i /b Interventions are needed before, as well as during, pregnancy to improve the diets of families with young children. Interventions to address psychological barriers to eating well and being more active are indicated.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 17-01-2022
DOI: 10.1186/S12889-022-12541-1
Abstract: Lower birth rates and increasing longevity have resulted in ageing populations in European countries. These demographic changes place challenges on pension provision as numbers of those who are economically inactive and retired increase relative to those in paid work. Therefore, governments need workers to postpone retirement and work to older ages. Whilst health and wealth are important in retirement decision-making, considerably less is known about the effects of workplace factors. The aim of this study was to explore the views of recent UK retirees about the role that work-related factors played in their decision to retire. This qualitative study was nested within the Health and Employment After Fifty (HEAF) cohort. People who had retired 3-6 years previously (not for health reasons) were purposively s led to obtain the views of men and women from a range of socio-economic backgrounds and jobs. Semi-structured interviews were carried out by telephone using a pre-defined topic guide. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed and analysed thematically. Seventeen interviews were conducted. Thematic analysis showed that retirement decisions were complex and multi-factorial but that work-related factors contributed to decision-making in two main ways. First, some work factors pushed participants towards retirement. These were perceptions that: workplace change had affected the way they were valued or increased pressure on them work demands, including commuting, had intruded excessively on personal time, effects that were exacerbated by modern technology work was draining, isolating or under-appreciated and /or that work was causing physical strain or discomfort relative to their perception of their capacity. In contrast, work factors could also cause participants to pull back towards work, particularly: autonomy supportive work colleagues a sense of being appreciated and perceived job flexibility. Recent retirees explained that their decision to retire was multi-factorial but work-related factors contributed importantly. Potentially, employers could: review workers’ perceptions about their work their capacity in relation to job demands increase flexibility and facilitate a supportive work community to encourage longer working lives.
Publisher: Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health)
Date: 10-2018
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 11-2009
DOI: 10.1080/08870440802460426
Abstract: Women of lower educational attainment are more likely to eat unhealthy diets than women of higher educational attainment. To identify influences on the food choices of women with lower educational attainment, 11 focus groups (eight with women of lower, and three with women of higher educational attainment) were held. Using a semi-structured discussion guide, environmental, social, historical and psychological factors known to be associated with food choice were explored. Audio recordings were transcribed verbatim and thematically analysed. Compared to women of higher educational attainment, women of lower educational attainment had less control over their families' food choices, less support for attempts to eat healthily, fewer opportunities to observe and learn good food-related practices, more negative affect, more perceived environmental constraints and more ambiguous beliefs about the consequences of eating a nutritious diet. These findings provide a starting point for taking forward the design of an intervention to improve the diets of young women.
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 23-09-2020
Publisher: BMJ
Date: 10-09-2013
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 30-01-2019
Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
Date: 10-01-2023
DOI: 10.3389/FENDO.2022.1071489
Abstract: Disappointingly few efficacious health interventions are successfully scaled up and implemented in real world settings. This represents an evidence-to-practice gap, with loss of opportunity to improve practice. Aiming to improve nutrition in the first 1000 days of life, we have combined four efficacious dietary interventions into a single adapted digital resource (Nutrition Now) for implementation in a Norwegian community setting. Nutrition Now targets pregnant women and parents of 0–2-year-olds with messages focusing on healthy dietary behaviours. Early childhood education and care (ECEC) staff are provided with pedagogical tools addressing healthy food exposure and child food acceptance. Objectives: a) evaluate the effectiveness of provision of the Nutrition Now resource on child diet and diet-related outcomes, with special attention to the influence of socio-economic position, b) gather information on the effectiveness of the implementation process to inform forthcoming scale-up and c) perform trial- and model-based economic evaluations. This is a hybrid type 1 implementation study, focusing on evaluation of effectiveness. A quasi-experimental design with pre- and post-tests, where one municipality gets access to the resource (n~800), while a matched non-equivalent control municipality (n~800) does not, will be used. Effectiveness will be assessed by examining e.g., diet outcomes, developmental outcomes, and feeding practices. The resource will be implemented in ECEC settings and made available to pregnant women and parents through the Norwegian system of maternal and child health (MCH) care. The implementation process includes iterative adjustments and implementation strategies from the implementation framework Expert Recommendations for Implementing Change (ERIC) informed by dialogues with stakeholders. Implementation outcomes (e.g., acceptability and adoption) will be assessed through questionnaires and interviews with parents, ECEC and MCH staff, with particular attention to ethnic erse groups. Both within-trial and modelling-based economic evaluation will be performed. Nutrition Now will bridge the existing evidence-to-practice gap through rigorous scientific effectiveness evaluation of municipal scale up and inform subsequent county scale up. The study is the first to implement efficacious nutrition interventions in early life with potential for health improvement using technology to maximise the reach and impact of both parental and MCH dietary guidance and ECEC practice. www.isrctn.com/ , identified ISRCTN10694967.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 21-03-2023
Abstract: To present the first national‐level report card on the state of women's preconception health in England. Cross‐sectional population‐based study. Maternity services, England. All pregnant women in England with a first antenatal (booking) appointment recorded in the national Maternity Services Dataset (MSDS) from April 2018 to March 2019 ( n = 652 880). We analysed the prevalence of 32 preconception indicator measures in the overall population and across socio‐demographic subgroups. Ten of these indicators were prioritised for ongoing surveillance based on modifiability, prevalence, data quality and ranking by multidisciplinary UK experts. The three most prevalent indicators were the proportion of the 22.9% of women who smoked 1 year before pregnancy who did not quit smoking before pregnancy (85.0%), those who had not taken folic acid supplementation before pregnancy (72.7%) and previous pregnancy loss (38.9%). Inequalities were observed by age, ethnicity and area‐based deprivation level. The ten indicators prioritised were not taking folic acid supplementation before pregnancy, obesity, complex social factors, living in the most deprived areas, smoking around the time of conception, overweight, pre‐existing mental health condition, pre‐existing physical health condition, previous pregnancy loss and previous obstetric complication. Our findings suggest important opportunities to improve the state of preconception health and reduce socio‐demographic inequalities for women in England. In addition to MSDS data, other national data sources that record further and possibly better quality indicators could be explored and linked to build a comprehensive surveillance infrastructure.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 02-2011
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 06-2021
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 12-2008
DOI: 10.1017/S136898000800178X
Abstract: Women of lower educational attainment have less balanced and varied diets than women of higher educational attainment. The diets of women are vital to the long-term health of their offspring. The present study aimed to identify factors that influence the food choices of women with lower educational attainment and how women could be helped to improve those choices. We conducted eight focus group discussions with women of lower educational attainment to identify these factors. We contrasted the results of these discussions with those from three focus group discussions with women of higher educational attainment. South ton, UK. Forty-two white Caucasian women of lower educational attainment and fourteen of higher educational attainment aged 18 to 44 years. The dominant theme in discussions with women of lower educational attainment was their sense that they lacked control over food choices for themselves and their families. Partners and children exerted a high degree of control over which foods were bought and prepared. Women’s perceptions of the cost of healthy food, the need to avoid waste, being trapped at home surrounded by opportunities to snack, and having limited skill and experience with food, all contributed to their sense they lacked control over their own and their family’s food choices. An intervention to improve the food choices of women with lower educational attainment needs to increase their sense of control over their diet and the foods they buy. This might include increasing their skills in food preparation.
Publisher: Royal College of General Practitioners
Date: 29-04-2021
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 16-04-2019
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 04-06-2021
DOI: 10.1017/S2040174421000258
Abstract: Initiatives to optimise preconception health are emerging following growing recognition that this may improve the health and well-being of women and men of reproductive age and optimise health in their children. To inform and evaluate such initiatives, guidance is required on indicators that describe and monitor population-level preconception health. We searched relevant databases and websites (March 2021) to identify national and international preconception guidelines, recommendations and policy reports. These were reviewed to identify preconception indicators. Indicators were aligned with a measure describing the prevalence of the indicator as recorded in national population-based data sources in England. From 22 documents reviewed, we identified 66 indicators across 12 domains. Domains included wider (social/economic) determinants of health health care reproductive health and family planning health behaviours environmental exposures cervical screening immunisation and infections mental health, physical health medication and genetic risk. Sixty-five of the 66 indicators were reported in at least one national routine health data set, survey or cohort study. A measure of preconception health assessment and care was not identified in any current national data source. Perspectives from three (healthcare) professionals described how indicator assessment and monitoring may influence patient care and inform awareness c aign development. This review forms the foundation for developing a national surveillance system for preconception health in England. The identified indicators can be assessed using national data sources to determine the population’s preconception needs, improve patient care, inform and evaluate new c aigns and interventions and enhance accountability from responsible agencies to improve preconception health.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 03-2008
DOI: 10.1016/J.APPET.2007.10.004
Abstract: Women who leave school with few or no educational qualifications are less likely to have diets that meet current recommendations than women who attain more qualifications at school. We hypothesise that lower 'food involvement', meaning that food has a lower level of importance in their lives, explains the poorer quality diets of women of lower educational attainment. We administered Bell and Marshall [(2003). The construct of food involvement in behavioral research: Scale development and validation. Appetite, 40, 235-244.] Food Involvement scale to 242 women of varied educational attainment, of whom 127 were also asked how often they ate fruit and vegetables. Women's food involvement decreased with decreasing educational attainment. Forty-two percent of women who had no educational qualifications were in the lowest quarter of the food involvement score, compared with 12% of women with degrees. Women with lower scores on the food involvement scale also reported eating fruit and vegetables less often. The odds of eating fewer fruit and vegetables rose with lower educational attainment and with lower food involvement scores, suggesting that each has an independent effect. We have shown that the Food Involvement scale discriminates between women, is associated with other characteristics and predicts dietary quality. We now plan to use it in a larger, representative population of women of lower educational attainment to examine its role along with other psychological variables in determining dietary quality.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 05-2018
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 05-2018
Publisher: BMJ Publishing Group Ltd
Date: 09-2021
Location: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Location: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Location: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Location: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
No related grants have been discovered for Mary Barker.