NHS staff from different ethnic backgrounds and job roles are far less likely to get enough physical activity, putting them at higher risk of heart disease and poor mental health—yet most workplace health programmes have been too short, too small, and not designed with these diverse groups in mind. This matters because the NHS workforce is large and highly diverse, and existing interventions have failed to reach the people who need them most. The THRIVE project will build a national network of NHS trusts (NHS-CHORUS) committed to workforce health, map all current physical activity interventions across the service, and conduct a rapid review of the last decade’s evidence. Using the COM-B behaviour change framework, the team will identify what works, for whom, and under what conditions—including how interventions have been culturally adapted. If successful, THRIVE will produce a clear evidence map and an engaged trust network ready to co-create a large-scale physical activity programme tailored to ethnically and occupationally diverse NHS staff. This could shift how the NHS supports its own workforce’s health, reducing preventable illness among the people who care for the rest of us.
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Research Question: What are the most effective and acceptable workplace physical activity interventions for improving the health and well-being of NHS staff from diverse cultural and occupational backgrounds? Background: The NHS workforce is large and highly diverse. Evidence indicates that some groups are at risk of cardiometabolic and mental health conditions. Low levels of physical activity increase the risk of these conditions; HCWs from certain ethnic and occupational groups have low levels of physical activity. Although initiatives to increase HCW physical activity have been tested they have often been limited by being short-term, small-scale and not co-developed with diverse staff groups representative of the NHS workforce. Aims: To improve understanding of what has been, is being, and can be done to improve the physical activity levels of healthcare workers (HCWs) in different jobs and ethnic groups. Methods: Mixed-methods study of three-interlinked work packages (WP) WP1: Establish network of NHS trusts (NHS-CHORUS: NHS trusts Collaborating for Healthcare workers research Studies) from across England with an interest in workforce health initiatives and employing staff from diverse socio-demographic and occupational backgrounds. NHS-CHORUS will facilitate information sharing, function as a community of practice and become a sustainable resource for future research on workforce-related issues. WP2: Mapping NHS physical health interventions for staff using NHS-CHORUS, NHS Health at Work Network and other NHS collaborators to obtain/identify information about ongoing/completed physical activity interventions undertaken with staff in and/or outside work. Information/documents about interventions will be coded using the COM-B (Capability, Opportunity, Motivation – Behaviour) framework to summarise the characteristics of the interventions, populations studied and barriers/facilitators to implementation. WP3: Rapid literature review and synthesis of evidence on physical activity interventions for healthcare workers which will be registered with PROSPERO with searches limited to the last ten years. Using COM-B model as a framework we will identify the characteristics of interventions, which health outcomes they have measured (physical/mental health, activity levels) and how they have measured them, their effectiveness and cost-effectiveness. Given our focus on staff from diverse cultural and occupational backgrounds, we will examine adaptations reported within a cultural adaptation framework. Timelines and Outputs: WP1: Month(M) 1-10 Outputs: Active Microsoft Teams channel for NHS Stakeholder Network members (M4-9); engaged trust network (NHS-CHORUS); NHS-CHORUS Meetings (M3,7,&9)l NHS-CHORUS webpage. WP2: M1-10 Outputs: Presentation to NHS-CHORUS (M9), report to NHS-CHORUS (M9); WP2&3 combined journal paper pre-printed and submitted (M10) WP3: M1-10 Outputs: Plain English report of key themes and findings (M7), presentation to NHS-CHORUS (M7); WP2&3 combined journal paper pre-printed and submitted (M10) Anticipated Impact: THRIVE will set out the research evidence and landscape for HCW physical activity interventions and create a national NHS trust network. THRIVE will support an application to deliver an ambitious large-scale programme of research to co-create/adapt, test and evaluate a physical activity intervention suited to ethnically and occupationally diverse NHS staff.
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