A HOPE-ful research opportunity: Research for HOusebound PEople living with obesity

Become a public partner, supporting research exploring access to specialist weight management services for housebound people with obesity.

Researchers from the University of Glasgow are looking for public partners to support and inform a new research study exploring access to specialist weight management services for housebound people with obesity.

What is the research about?

Most housebound people living with obesity cannot attend weight management services to support them losing weight. Instead, they often experience a “vicious cycle” of increasing weight making disability worse, contributing to poor mental health and social isolation, leading to further weight gain.  

New obesity medications are now increasingly available via UK weight management services. These medications could help housebound people with obesity to lose weight, leading to improved mobility and quality of life. But this will only happen only if housebound people can access the weight management services, giving them the support they need and access to the medications. Presently, there is no research on how best to provide weight management services for housebound people with obesity.  

This study aims to explore current provision of specialist weight management services for housebound people with obesity. It will do this using UK-wide online surveys and interviews of both staff and people living obesity and their families. 

What will the involvement involve?

Public partner involvement will help form the questions asked, the language used and how to encourage people to take part.  

Public partners will also help reflect on the outcomes and how these can be used to improve weight management services for housebound people.  

There are also opportunities to contribute to study presentations, articles for publication and advisory group meetings. Finally, we hope that public partners will have the opportunity to help design a study to test delivering weight management services to housebound people with obesity. 

Who can take part?

• Are you living with higher weight?  
• Are you or have you been housebound? 
• Are you a carer for someone living with higher weight? 
• Adults living with obesity, ideally who have experience of being housebound (but this is not essential) or their families/ carers.  
• Men, people from ethnic minorities, people who identify as LGBTQ+ and people from lower socio-economic backgrounds would be particularly welcome. 

What will you get out of it?

Current public partners tell us that they appreciate having their voice heard and being able to make a difference to future care for this underserved group.  

Payment for time given is available, usually as shopping vouchers. 

We are exploring the potential for peer support via the group and for peer champions at a later stage.  

The study team will support training needs for IT, presentations or writing skills as able. 

Accessibility & reasonable adjustments:

As partners may be housebound themselves, involvement will be via one-to-one phone, email or online calls, at a time that suits you. Opportunity for involvement will vary depending on the project stage. Involvement can be flexible depending on the partner’s needs. As a guide it is likely to be around 2 hours per month or less. 

The project runs until February 2028, but we know that people’s circumstances may change, so understand that they may need to stop before then. 

How do you register your interest?

Please register interest by contacting kath.williamson@glasgow.ac.uk  This is an open-ended call, so we are happy to talk with people at any point up until February 2028. 

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