Of interest to somebody thinking about a sponsored PhD?

Best wishes
 
Tom
 

Barriers and facilitators to weight loss in post-partum women: a 
qualitative study

Supervisors: Dr Julia Lawton, Dr Nina Hallowell

Overweight and obesity increases the risks of many common chronic 
diseases including diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease and 
some cancers. Many women experience weight gain during pregnancy and 
struggle to lose this weight after childbirth, even though they are 
motivated to do so and tend to be receptive to health promotion messages 
at this time. Whilst some research has highlighted psychological (e.g. 
lack of confidence) and practical (e.g. childcare commitments) barriers 
to undertaking physical activity and dieting in the post-partum period, 
we know very little about the perceptions and experiences of women at 
this point in the lifecourse.

The aim of this doctoral work will be to develop a better understanding 
of the barriers and facilitators to weight loss (including dieting and 
undertaking physical activity) amongst, and from the perspectives of, 
post-partum women. A key objective will be to inform the information and 
support offered to post-partum women in the future, in order to help 
them to lose weight gained during pregnancy. Depending on the student's 
background and interests, this studentship could also be used as an 
opportunity to provide a recommendation for developing a specific weight 
loss intervention. Alternatively, it could be used as a vehicle to 
engage with, and develop, key (medical) sociological concepts and 
theories, in areas such as embodiment, risk, gender/identity and the 
lifecourse.

An appropriate qualitative methodology will need to selected and/or 
developed for this doctoral work (e.g. focus groups, (serial) in-depth 
interviews, ethnography). While it is anticipated that most study 
participants will be post-partum women, the student may also decide to 
explore the perspectives of other respondent groups, such as partners 
and healthcare providers.

This studentship would be supervised by Dr Julia Lawton and Dr Nina 
Hallowell, both of whom are experienced medical sociologists, based in 
Public Health Sciences at Edinburgh University.

For application details, please go to:
http://www.chs.med.ed.ac.uk/cphpcr/researchTraining/studentships.php

-- 
Dr Julia Lawton
Senior Research Fellow
Research Unit in Health, Behaviour and Change
School of Clinical Sciences and Community Health
The University of Edinburgh
Medical School
Teviot Place
Edinburgh
EH8 9AG
tel: 0131 6506197
fax: 0131 6506902
[log in to unmask]

The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in
Scotland, with registration number SC005336.

**********************************************************************
1. For general enquires or problems with the list or to CHANGE YOUR EMAIL
ADDRESS send a message to:
[log in to unmask]
2. To suspend yourself from the list, whilst on leave, for example,
send an email to [log in to unmask] with the following message:
set medsocnews nomail
3. To resume email from the list, send the following message:
set medsocnews mail
4. To leave MedSocNews, send an email to [log in to unmask] with the
message (leave the subject line blank and do not include a signature):
leave medsocnews
5. To join or subscribe to MedSocNews, send an email to
[log in to unmask] with the message (leave the subject line blank and
do not include a signature):
SUBSCRIBE medsocnews firstname lastname
6. Further information about the medsocnews discussion list (including
list archive and how to subscribe to or leave the list) can be found
at the list web site:
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medsocnews.html
**********************************************************************