Talk: Physical activity and pregnancy guidelines – from evidence to infographic
University of Oxford Department of Continuing Education
Rewley House, 1 Wellington Square, OX1 2JA
5.30pm, 4 March 2019
Register HERE!
Speaker: Charlie Foster PhD – Reader in Physical Activity and Public Health, University of Bristol
Pregnancy provides a unique opportunity to promote physical activity behaviour change especially given the increased contact with healthcare professionals (HCPs). However, HCPs lack confidence, training, knowledge and resources to deliver appropriate physical activity advice to pregnant women. Consequently, pregnant women may receive inconsistent, vague and conflicting guidance.
In response to the need for clear evidence and resources for HCPs, the four UK Chief Medical Officers commissioned the Physical Activity and Pregnancy Study, led by Dr Foster, to review the available evidence and, if sufficient, provide evidence-based recommendations in the form of an infographic.
This presentation will describe how public health recommendations are constructed using different types of research evidence, and share the evidence reviews and development process of guidelines for physical activity and pregnancy.
About the speaker:
Charlie Foster is a global leader in systematic reviews and meta-analysis of the evidence base for physical activity, with reviews on epidemiology, correlates, interventions and evaluation of natural experiments.
He has published nearly 200 papers including research in JAMA, the Lancet and the BMJ, with over 100 as senior author. He has global policy and advocacy experience working with WHO, EC, and CDC USA.
Since 2015 he has been the Chair of the UK Chief Medical Officers (CMO) Expert Committee for Physical Activity. He is leading the work on the update of the UK CMO 2019 physical activity guidelines, provide support for the Expert Working Groups (EWGs) and lead the CMO Guidelines Writing Group to produce the final report. He was awarded an OBE in the 2019 New Year’s Honours list for services to physical activity promotion.
He feels the promotion of physical activity is both an art and a science.
This talk is being held as part of the Introduction to Study Design and Research Methods course which is part of the Evidence-Based Health Care Programme. This is a free event and members of the public are welcome to attend.