PhD Studentship - Co-produced Frailty & Sarcopenia Screening & Intervention Programme for older people from a Culturally Diverse Population

ARE YOU PASSIONATE ABOUT STARTING A RESEARCH CAREER?

EXCITING NEW RESEARCH OPPORTUNITY TO EVALUATE A CO-PRODUCED FRAILTY AND SARCOPENIA SCREENING AND INTERVENTION PROGRAMME FOR OLDER PEOPLE FROM A CULTURALLY DIVERSE POPULATION

Studentship: Fee-Waiver of EU/UK tuition fees and a Doctoral Stipend of £18,000 per annum

Fixed term: 3 years. Initially for 2 years for MPhil with a further year for completion of PhD

Start date: 2nd October 2023

Introduction

The University of Bedfordshire (www.beds.ac.uk ) are pleased to offer a studentship for a PhD in the subject area described in detail below. This exciting new studentship has been made available through the collaboration of the Institute for Health Research and the Bedfordshire, Luton, and Milton Keynes Integrated Care System Research and Innovation Hub. The studentship is offered in the Institute for Health Research, and will cover tuition fees, a bursary per annum, as well as research and conference attendance expenses.

The institution

The University of Bedfordshire’s vision is ‘to create a vibrant multi-cultural learning community enabling people to transform their lives by participating in excellent, innovative education, scholarship and research’.

According to the latest Research Excellence Framework, all our research is internationally excellent in impact, and the majority is world-leading, with 75% of research outputs 3* or 4* (internationally excellent or world leading).

Currently, our staff and research students come from more than 15 countries to create a strong global research community with interests in ageing, public health, health inequalities, maternal and child health, health informatics, epidemiology, chronic and infectious diseases, primary care, biostatistics, mental health, and health services research.

The IHR capitalises on local, national, and international opportunities for collaborative interdisciplinary cross-boundary research and innovation in health. A major goal of the IHR research programme is to understand the factors which determine health and health behaviour and aspects of local contexts, health systems and political economies that influence the successful implementation of proven health interventions and technologies.

The emphasis in the IHR is on multidisciplinary working and integration to create synergy and use researcher strengths to maximum effect. The IHR has strong collaborative links in the UK and in Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and America.

Our PhD School is a lively community comprising a wealth of interests, mainly in applied health research, but also in global public health, epidemiology, nursing, midwifery, psychology, and related disciplines. Our aim is to provide a liberal and dynamic environment for PhD students from around the world to explore their interests and evolve into becoming the next leaders in health research (www.beds.ac.uk/ihr/ihr-phd-school/our-graduates ).

The IHR is also part of the East of England NHS Research Design Service (RDS), which receives core funding from the NHS National Institute for Health Research. To find out more visit (www.beds.ac.uk/ihr ).

The BLMK Health and Care Partnership is a partnership of NHS organisations, local councils, and other partners, including the voluntary sector. The vision of the BLMK Health and Care Partnership is to work with the local population to optimise health and wellbeing, advance equality in local communities, and make the best use of resources.

The candidate

The successful candidate will have experience in the health and/or social care sector and a very good, proven academic record. The studentship holder will be key in developing and maintaining local networks with an emphasis on harnessing the collaboration between partner organisations. It is expected that the successful applicant will help develop new national collaborations and foster knowledge exchange between the University and the health sector, thus ensuring the research has resonance and applicability beyond the immediate project.

Area of research

The Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes Integrated Care System (BLMK ICS) meets health and care needs of the local community, which is culturally and linguistically diverse, and has many health inequalities. One of the priorities of the BLMK ICS is ageing well, which includes offering proactive interventions to enable older people to stay healthy and independent for as long as possible. Two age-related conditions that are a particular target for this population are frailty and sarcopenia. Current NHS policy requires all GP practices to screen for frailty using the electronic Frailty Index (eFI). However, at present, the NHS does not screen for sarcopenia, nor offer any intervention for the condition.

Evidence-based recommendations for frailty and sarcopenia include physical activity, however adherence to such programmes can be problematic. One way to improve the uptake of physical activity and other healthy lifestyle behaviours is co-production with end-users, which can add value to many healthcare interventions.

The main aim of the research is to evaluate the effectiveness of a co-produced physical activity intervention for culturally linguistically diverse older people living with frailty and sarcopenia.

This intervention will use a co-production approach in partnership with local stakeholders. A steering group will oversee the project, with members of the steering group covering the entire BLMK area. All interventions will be co-designed, using focus groups of stakeholders from different communities to identify preferences for activities, as well as potential barriers and facilitators. In addition, existing activities will be mapped to identify opportunities for local community partnerships.

The interventions will be co-delivered with stakeholders, including the choice of venues, instructors, and organisations to deliver the intervention. Likewise, the recruitment strategy will be developed with stakeholders, with possibilities of using a community-based identification combined with the electronic health records approach currently used. Participants will be able to choose their own intervention from the range of opportunities provided across the programme.

With respect to the screening for frailty and sarcopenia, frailty will be evaluated using both the eFI and the physical frailty phenotype. Sarcopenia will be screened for by using the SARC-F and the revised consensus of the European Working Group on Sarcopenia in Older People (EWGSOP).

The effectiveness of the programmes will be co-evaluated based on what matters most to participants, as determined from the focus groups. Electronic health records will be used to track adverse outcomes such as falls, hospitalisation, institutionalisation, and mortality. Specific reed codes will be requested for the programme to enable comparison for these measures with non-participants in the programme.

An overview of the programme design is shown in Figure 1, below.

Figure 1: Co-Produced Intervention Development and Evaluation

In consultation with the supervisory team - Professor David Hewson and Professor Gurch Randhawa, the successful candidate will be responsible for developing the final project outline to ensure that it draws on the student’s interests, background, and research expertise.

Term

The bursary will commence in October 2023, initially for two years for the MPhil stage, with a further year for PhD completion, subject to satisfactory progress. The studentship is for three years and is available for UK and EU candidates meeting the Research Council criterion of having been resident in the UK for the previous three years. Students not from the UK or EU must fund the difference between the UK/EU fee level and the full international student fee. Please consult the University website to determine what these fees would be (www.beds.ac.uk/research-ref/rgs/fees ) and note that the presently advertised fee is likely to rise on an annual basis.

The studentship will include tuition fees, a stipend of £18,000, research support and travel.

Entry criteria

• An honours degree (2:1 or above) in health-related studies or cognate discipline
• Masters-level degree in a subject related to the project
• Applicants for whom English is not their first language are required to demonstrate their ability in English, typically B2 level English qualification such as IELTS 7.0.

How to apply

For an application pack or any queries, please email [email protected]  (via the ‘Apply’ button above) quoting the appropriate reference number. Additional information on the application process can be found here: www.beds.ac.uk/ihr/ihr-phd-school.

In addition to a CV, all applicants will need to send a cover letter with supporting information on their experience and skills and how these relate to the advertised PhD, as well as a research proposal setting out how they would approach the proposed subject area as a PhD study.

It is expected that interviews will take place in the week beginning 22nd May 2023.

For informal discussions or non-application related queries, please contact Professor David Hewson, Director of Studies, via email [email protected] , or call 07525616645.