Healthy Families

The Healthy Families theme of the NIHR Applied Research Collaboration Yorkshire and Humber works with the public, service providers and researchers to improve health, wellbeing and promote fairer futures for families living in deprived areas across the Yorkshire and Humber region. The theme is co-led by Professor Rosie McEachan and Dr Sunil Bhopal and builds upon the foundations established by the previous Collaborations for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (CLAHRCs).

Research is undertaken across five broad topic areas (Best Start; Oral Health; Healthy Bodies and Minds; Healthy Learning; Healthy Places) and complemented by a cross-cutting Systems Change topic. Healthy Families research projects which were established in 2020 to understand the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic can be found on the COVID-19 page. We have over 50 research projects in our theme and are always interested in hearing new ideas – please do get in touch. Explore the topic areas below to find out more about our current projects.

Healthy Families Projects

Healthy Families

Born in Bradford’s Better Start (Phase 3)

Over 5500 children enrolled into Born in Bradford’s Better Start (BiBBS) birth cohort between January 2016 and July 2024. BiBBS is the world’s first interventional birth cohort and data is...

Healthy Families

Born in Bradford’s Better Start – Achieve

BiBBS ACHIEVE (Addressing Childhood Inequalities through EVidence-Based Early interventions) builds upon the Born in Bradford’s Better Start (BiBBS) birth cohort, which has followed over 5500 ethnically diverse children since 2016....

Healthy Families

UPLIFT: Understanding Perinatal Mental Health Inequality in Refugees and Those Seeking Asylum

UPLIFT is a research project aimed at improving perinatal mental health support for asylum seekers and refugees (ASRs) in the UK. Many ASR women face significant barriers in accessing care, including language difficulties, cultural stigma, lack of awareness,...

Making a Difference: Our Latest Healthy Families case studies

Healthy Families

A breakthrough for BRUSH

Healthy Families

A breakthrough for BRUSH

Healthy Families

Evaluating the ‘Me and My Baby’ (MaM-B) parent-infant bonding tool for use in UK universal healthcare settings

Healthy Families

Evaluating the ‘Me and My Baby’ (MaM-B) parent-infant bonding tool for use in UK universal healthcare settings

Healthy Families

Join Us: Move Play (JU:MP)

Aim: Increase physical activity in children and young people aged 5 to 14 who are living in some of the most deprived areas of the UK

Healthy Families

Join Us: Move Play (JU:MP)

Aim: Increase physical activity in children and young people aged 5 to 14 who are living in some of the most deprived areas of the UK

Sunil Bhopal

Theme Co-Lead

Healthy Families

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Kate Morton

Research Fellow

Healthy Families

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Sarah Blower

Principal Research Fellow

Healthy Families

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Our latest Healthy Families publications

Healthy Families

Ambient air pollution and childhood obesity from infancy to late childhood: An individual participant data meta-analysis of 10 European birth cohorts

Healthy Families

Children’s happiness and the school route: Linking perceptions of the built environment to wellbeing

Healthy Families

Yearlong study of indoor VOC variability: insights into spatial, temporal, and contextual dynamics of indoor VOC exposure

Healthy Places

The Healthy Places topic seeks to understand how our environments can impact on our health. We use a range of methods from engagement and citizen science projects with our children, families, and communities, to collecting and analysing environmental and health data and evaluating interventions.

Healthy Schools

The Healthy Schools topic seeks to develop interventions and methods to improve mental and physical health in schools through across sector collaborations with health and educational professionals.

Oral Health

The Oral Health topic aims to improve children's oral health by researching and implementing evidence-based oral health promotion across early years services.

Systems Change

The cross cutting Systems Change topic helps to establish and harness linked routine data to plan and evaluate services, facilitate collaboration, and integrate services across health, social care, education and community settings.

Healthy Bodies and Minds

The Healthy Bodies and Minds topic aims to co-produce scalable community and system interventions to tackle the child and family obesity crisis. It seeks to support the optimum physical health of children and families including prevention of obesity.

Best Start

The Best Start topic aims to improve the mental and physical health of parents and infants from conception onwards. This includes developing and evaluating interventions, co-producing and testing measures, and promoting equitable access to support for families.

Theme lead(s): Sarah Blower

Healthy Families