Preparing to develop and test an equitable weight management intervention to improve outcomes for seldom reached groups affected by breast cancer: FOR ALL

Background Women affected by obesity are at increased risk of mortality and poorer outcomes following a breast cancer diagnosis compared to women with a healthy weight. Both mortality from breast cancer and obesity are more common in females living in the most deprived areas of the UK.

South Asian and Black women are more likely to live in deprived areas, and are at higher risk of cardio-metabolic diseases linked to excess weight.

Weight management programmes can improve outcomes for breast cancer survivors, but in the UK there is a lack of interventions appropriate for groups that are underrepresented in research, including South Asian, Black African and Caribbean communities, and people from more deprived areas.

Aims and Objectives There is a need for culturally-tailored weight management programmes to support women living with and beyond breast cancer who are affected by excess weight and from seldom reached communities, to lose weight.

The overarching aim of a future Programme Grant for Applied Research (PGfAR) is to develop and test a co-designed weight management intervention in women from these underrepresented communities, who are more at risk of poor health and worse cancer outcomes.

To do this successfully, we need to demonstrate we can conduct inclusive research and work effectively with the communities we want to support.

Key research questions for this Programme Development Grant are: Can we work with Community Leaders within our target populations to set up a diverse Community Advisory Group and identify Community Champions to act as Peer Researchers?

What are healthcare professionals and community service providers experiences of weight management services and trials for people from our target populations? What are the barriers and facilitators to engagement with weight management and trials for our target populations? Can we co-design strategies to support recruitment and retention among our target populations within our planned PGfAR?

Development work plan Workstream 1: Establish a diverse Community Advisory Group and identify Community Champions to collaborate with throughout the PDG and PGfAR- Months 1-12 Workstream 2: Enhance existing collaborations with community service providers and oncology healthcare professionals and explore their experience of weight management services and trials via qualitative interviews- Months 1-12 Workstream 3: Identify barriers and enablers to weight management and trial participation among women living with and beyond breast cancer from our target communities via a systematic scoping review of previous research and qualitative interviews - Months 2-10 Workstream 4: Co-design strategies to support recruitment and retention via a series of workshops using the Behaviour Change Wheel as a guiding framework - Months 5-10 Workstream 5: Prepare the PGfAR application with the team, including patient, community and healthcare professional stakeholders- Months 7-12 Anticipated Impact and Dissemination The work will develop clear ways to engage with underrepresented groups in the PGfAR, and could ultimately support equitable uptake and engagement with weight management services in oncology.

We will prepare plain language and visual updates of our findings to share with our community partners and professional networks via our planned meetings and relevant external events.