Enable Exercise in Crohn's

  • Saynor, Zoe (PI)

    Project Details

    Description

    Background:
    We know that people with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), of which one of the main forms is Crohns, are at a high-risk of not meeting the physical activity recommendations for health, due to a combination of bowel and general physical symptoms (e.g. abdominal pain, diarrhoea and fatigue). Additionally, there are currently no physical activity and exercise guidelines for young people with IBD – making it difficult to advise what people should be doing. Researchers within our team have been monitoring the effects of COVID-19 and associated lockdowns on physical activity and mental health on a global scale, and saw negative impacts in both people with long-term conditions and in the wider population. However, there is currently no data to tell us how young people with e.g. Crohns have been impacted during this time. in our centre, we are seeing an increasing number of people with Crohns transitioning from paediatric to adult care with metabolic syndrome and we anticipate this will rise in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

    Objectives:
    Assess the barriers to, and facilitators of, physical activity and exercise participation in young people with Crohns disease. Additionally, comparing their views to their parents/guardians and clinicians.

    Design and Methods:
    The proposed research will be a qualitative cross-sectional study consisting of individual semi-structured interviews with the three participant groups (in clinic for young people; videoconference for parents/guardians and clinicians). The interview schedule will be co-developed with people living with Crohns. Information from the interview will be digitally recorded, transcribed verbatim and thematically analysed. For the young people with Crohns involved in the study, we are interested in documenting their disease activity and nutritional/growth status at the time of interview so will use the Paediatric Crohns Disease Activity Index (PCDAI) to determine remission, mild activity, or moderate-to-severe activity and growth ‘weight height and BMI’ Z-scores for this.

    Clinical and Scientific Impact:
    Physical activity is important for both mental and physical health and is particularly important in people with a long-term condition. This work will provide important understanding of the views and experiences of young people with Crohns, their parents/guardians and clinicians surrounding physical activity and exercise. The findings from this qualitative study will provide insight as to why young people with Crohns may not undertake physical activity and exercise and will help inform the design and delivery of future appropriate physical activity and exercise programmes for this population. This information would complement our ongoing research (The ACTIVE-IBD Study), and will inform future funding applications to develop, evaluate and implement educational and interventional resources to increase the physical activity and exercise undertaken by young people living with Crohns. This funding award will help expedite our journey to the end goal of improving this provision and, ultimately, the quality of lives of people with Crohns.

    Layperson's description

    Background
    Symptoms such as abdominal pain, cramping, blood in the stools and chronic diarrhoea may indicate a condition called inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), in which parts of the intestinal tract become inflamed. IBD is quite common, with one of the main forms being Crohns disease. Regular medications and visits to the doctor can help many young people feel better and resume many of their regular activities; however there is currently no cure. It is therefore important that people live an active life and limit their sedentary behaviour, both for their mental and physical health. Whilst we know some information around the activity of young people with a number of chronic health conditions, we know relatively little about the typical time that children and adolescents with Crohns disease spend being active, as well as the things that help or stop them from being active and taking part in exercise.


    At present, there are no clear guidelines for young people with Crohns to say what kind of physical activity and exercise they should do. We also don’t know how much physical activity young people with Crohns are currently doing. We are currently doing a large study (The ACTIVE-IBD Study) to measure lots of things, such as how much physical activity young people with IBD are doing, their fitness, how well they are, what they eat and what their poo is like. However, for us to be able to give good advice around physical activity and exercise, we also need to understand what young people think helps or makes it more difficult for them to be active. We will also have conversations with parents and doctors to see what they think.

    Research Aims
    Our research study aims to help us understand what helps and stops young people living with Crohns from being active and taking part in physical activity and exercise. We will talk to young people with Crohns, their parents and doctors who look after young people with Crohns, to understand their general thoughts and feelings around physical activity and exercise participation.

    Benefit for patients
    We know that people with IBD are very likely to be inactive, due to things like stomach pain, diarrhoea and feeling tired, but we need to know more about this topic. The findings from this study will help us understand why young people with Crohns may not undertake physical activity and exercise. This is important, as physical activity and exercise are good for both mental and physical health, particularly in people with a long-term condition. All this information, alongside our other current research study ‘The ACTIVE-IBD Study’, will help us to design appropriate physical activity and exercise resources and training to benefit young people living with Crohns and perhaps also other forms of IBD. Our longer-term aim is to improve the quality of life of people with Crohns through exercise as medicine.
    StatusFinished
    Effective start/end date1/02/2231/01/23

    Fingerprint

    Explore the research topics touched on by this project. These labels are generated based on the underlying awards/grants. Together they form a unique fingerprint.