IRCD Success

The Institute for Health and Human Development and the Institute for Research in Child Development have been awarded a new supplementary grant by the Wellcome Trust for an extension of the Well London cluster randomised trial and to undertake health economic analysis to inform public health decision making.

The IRCD in the School of Psychology are funded to complete the adolescent school-based survey. The adolescent survey aims to establish whether these community interventions positively impact on some of the most vulnerable populations in London. This is a landmark study; both in terms of the content of the intervention itself, and in the use of a cluster randomised trial design for evaluation of such a programme.

In a health system where less than 1% of the budget is spent on primary preventive interventions, robust evidence about the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of such upstream interventions is essential to support actions on health inequalities and reductions in healthcare spending. 

Protocol and baseline data on the trial have already been accepted for publication with a number of other papers in preparation. The funding will aid the full dissemination of this important study.

Derek Moore

Phillips G., Renton, A. Moore, D.G et al  (in press) The Well London Programme - a Cluster Randomised Trial of Community Engagement for Improving Health Behaviours and Mental Wellbeing: Baseline Survey Results. Trials

Wall, M, Hayes, R. Moore, D.G. et al (2009) Evaluation of community level interventions to address social and structural determinants of health: a cluster randomised controlled trial. BMC Public Health 9:207 Open access:http://www.biomedcentral.com/content/pdf/1471-2458-9-207.pdf