Co-Manage

Together with academics and practitioners, in a project led by Dr David Maidment at Loughborough University, we have been developing a practical online hub to support both self- and co-management of health in the workplace.

The project began with a rapid evidence review to identify what is already known about effective self-management practices. From there, we adopted a collaborative approach through a Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement (PPIE) group, to make sure the tools and resources are relevant, practical, and capable of driving real change. A mixed-methods questionnaire study gathered both quantitative and qualitative insights, which directly informed the development of the hub's content. This content has undergone multiple rounds of feedback with input from the research team and the PPIE group before being transferred to the online platform.

The next stage—usability testing—will precede the full trial with participating organisations early next year, to rigorously evaluate the hub's impact in real-world settings.

The team:
Lead investigator: David Maidment
Research Team: Fehmidah Munir, Jo Yarker, Katie Clarkson, Hannah Karrlein

We are looking for organisations of all sizes to join us in our next phase – to trial the intervention.

If you are interested in finding out more – please contact us hello@affinityhealthatwork.com

There are 13 million workers in the UK with long-term health problems or disabilities, who's skills, knowledge and expertise is too valuable to lose. To help people stay well at work, the UK government and professional groups want employers to support workers to self-manage their health.

Self-management refers to the actions individuals take to understand and manage their health and maintain their quality of life. This can include:

• Monitoring and responding to symptoms
• Taking medications or following treatment plans
• Making lifestyle or workplace adjustments
• Seeking out information, resources, or support

When people can self-manage effectively this can lead to:

• Improved physical health and quality of life
• Reduced anxiety and depression
• More confidence in making health decisions
• Less reliance on healthcare services.

Yet, there is little to no specific advice for employers or individuals on how to achieve this goal working collaboratively.

The foundation, to tackle this problem and empower individuals living with long-term conditions as well as employers on how to best manage work together, was laid through the NIHR Development Award.

The project, led by Dr David Maidment at Loughborough University, aimed to bring together different groups of researchers, employers, civil servants, healthcare, professionals, and workers to help us how to best to translate research into practical tools that can help improve workplace self-management.

The team:
Lead investigator: Dr David Maidment: d.w.maidment@lboro.ac.uk
Research team: Fehmidah Munir, Karina Nielsen, Jo Yarker, Dr Sally Hemming (nee Bridges), Kim Burton, Serena Bartys, John Ballard, Charlotte Edwardson, Helen Barrow, Steven Marwaha, Lara Shemtob

Outputs:

• Read up on our rapid evidence review to see what we have learned so far from the current standpoint of research and evidence.
• We have more research coming soon!