Authors' objectives: Many women are overweight or obese when they become pregnant, or gain more weight in their pregnancy than they need to. These women are more likely to suffer problems such as diabetes or high blood pressure, to need interventions during birth and are less likely to breastfeed. They are also more likely to have ongoing weight problems, increasing the risk of poor outcomes in future pregnancies and of long term health conditions such a heart disease. Babies born to women who are overweight or obese are more likely to have heavier birthweight, congenital birth defects, to be stillborn or to become obese themselves. Women who live in disadvantaged communities are more likely to have weight management problems. Developing good quality postnatal advice on diet and lifestyle is an important way of supporting women and their families in these communities. However, it still is unclear how or when to engage women and how best to support them with weight management. We want to study if attendance at Slimming World groups, supported by good quality information on healthy lifestyles, could support women in a deprived inner city population to better manage their postnatal weight and to take up more positive health behaviours, such as breastfeeding, increasing physical activity and stopping smoking. Firstly, we need to conduct a feasibility study , which will provide information as to whether running a much larger scale study is likely to succeed. This will enable us to see if women would take part in a study where they will be randomly selected to the Slimming World (intervention) or usual care only (control) groups. We want to know how many eligible women could be recruited, and how long it would take to recruit the numbers we need; if it is possible to weigh women who are normal weight at the start of pregnancy later in their pregnancy to measure weight gain during pregnancy; if women would be willing to be randomised; when best to start postnatal weight-management; if women would stick to their groups (i.e. attend Slimming World groups if randomised to the intervention group and not attend if randomised to the control group); what effect the intervention has on outcomes that may be important; and what value is provided by the lifestyle information leaflet. The intervention will be the group version of Slimming World, as there is evidence that weight management groups work. We will recruit women at 36 weeks of pregnancy who were overweight or obese at the start of pregnancy or gain more weight during pregnancy than they need to. A Research Midwife will provide women in the intervention group with a positive lifestyle leaflet giving advice on health behaviours from 36 weeks to 8 weeks postnatally (when maternity care ends) and offer free access to a local Slimming World group. Women will be able to choose the time and location of the group, and will be able to join the group anytime from 8 weeks up to 16 weeks after birth. Women in the control group will receive usual care. At the time of recruitment, and at 6 and 12 months after birth, all women will asked to complete a questionnaire (which will be sent by post/email at 6 and 12 months) to complete, for example, on weight management, diet, lifestyle, and infant feeding. They will also be asked to attend an appointment to be weighed by the Research Midwife and some may be invited to take part in interviews with a member of the research team.

Project Status: Completed

URL for project: http://www.nets.nihr.ac.uk/projects/phr/146714

Year Published: 2020

URL for published report: http://www.nets.nihr.ac.uk/projects/phr/146714

English language abstract: An English language summary is available

Publication Type: Not Assigned

Country: England, United Kingdom

Organisation Name: NIHR Public Health Research programme

Contact Address: NIHR Journals Library, National Institute for Health and Care Research, Evaluation, Trials and Studies Coordinating Centre, Alpha House, University of Southampton Science Park, Southampton SO16 7NS, UK

Contact Name: journals.library@nihr.ac.uk

Contact Email: journals.library@nihr.ac.uk

Copyright: Queen's Printer and Controller of HMSO