Healthy Living in Richmond
Our work, in partnership with Public Health Richmond, sought to understand those circumstances for our most deprived populations and to identify how they can be addressed at a locality level, for people at risk of ill-health and at borough level.
Ultimately the aim of this work is to inform actions that reduce ill-health in the population of Richmond.
Data Collection
The survey was distributed to residents in Richmond through outreach sessions, engagement in public areas, postal distribution and shared via social media and GP messaging services.
We received 815 responses to our survey across the borough. We also conducted 7 focus groups with participants and representatives from public health with the aim of co-designing interventions in the borough based on the behaviours examined.
Findings
Healthy Eating
Our findings showed that healthy eating had the highest proportion of people who had changed their behaviour across all behaviours examined. Maintaining and improving current health, healthy ageing and independence as well as weight loss and appearance, were given as primary reasons for wanting to change eating habits.
Physical Activity
Our survey demonstrated that residents in Richmond have a strong desire to be physically active. The main reasons expressed for being physically active or wanting to become more active were to improve general health and thereby healthy ageing and maintaining independence. Improving physical appearance was also a key reason for many participants.
Alcohol
Only 17.5% of our participants intended to change their behaviour. This is around half the level of people known to drink at harmful levels. Many (1 in 3) people reported that they did not think their level of consumption was harmless, and 1 in 5 did not drink alcohol at all. Participants who would consider reducing their alcohol consumption would largely do so for health reasons.
Smoking
The great majority of people in the sample claimed that they do not smoke. This is unsurprising as data suggests that just 14.1% of Richmond smoke. The challenges in reducing or quitting smoking were largely related to issues breaking the habit and stopping cravings.
