Improving Prediabetes Conversations: Training Medical Students to Deliver Effective Behaviour Change Support in Underserved Coastal Communities (LOWRYE_U26FMH)
Key Details
- Application Deadline
- 31 March 2026 (midnight UK time)
- Location
- UEA
- Funding type
- Competition funded project (Home applicants only)
- Start date
- 1 October 2026
- Mode of study
- Full-time
- Programme type
- PhD
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Project description
Primary supervisor - Dr Ellen Lowry
Preventative healthcare is central to the NHS Long Term Plan, with emphasis on early intervention, chronic disease prevention and reducing health inequalities. Prediabetes represents a critical “teachable moment” in which progression to type 2 diabetes can be prevented through medication and lifestyle modification. Yet despite prediabetes affecting 6.3 million people in the UK, uptake of the NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme (NDPP) remains low. Approximately 11% of UK adults now live with type 2 diabetes, contributing substantially to primary care workload and costing the UK around £14 billion annually.
This PhD project addresses a pressing public health challenge and is aimed at improving engagement with diabetes prevention services in deprived coastal communities. Barriers to diabetes prevention programme uptake include low health literacy, limited understanding of personal risk, reduced self-efficacy and missed opportunities for meaningful clinician–patient communication. Addressing these barriers is essential to reducing health inequalities and strain on the NHS workforce.
This innovative, community-based research will pilot a structured and person-centred educational and behavioural intervention in primary care. Empowering medical students to deliver supervised, theory-informed, person-centred consultations to adults with prediabetes registered at general practices in deprived coastal areas of Norfolk.
The intervention translates classroom-based and simulated communication training into real-world clinical encounters. It creates structured opportunities for personalised healthcare, delivered through health promotion conversations that may otherwise not occur due to NHS capacity pressures. At the same time, enhancing experiential learning, reflective practice, and communication skills among future doctors.
The study will adopt a mixed-methods observational design within UK primary care. Outcome measures will include i) feasibility and acceptability of student-led behavioural change consultations in general practice, ii) educational impact, including changes in medical students’ communication confidence, competence, and satisfaction and iii) patient-level outcomes, including changes in risk understanding, perceived self-efficacy, readiness for lifestyle change, and intention to engage with the NDPP.
This interdisciplinary PhD integrates clinical communication, medical education, public health, primary care research, health psychology, behavioural science, behaviour change, and health services research. The underlying communication and behaviour change framework is highly transferable across multiple long-term conditions, with potential implications for sustainable NHS workforce models and prevention-focused care delivery.
This project will suit applicants with interests in clinical communication, behaviour change, preventative medicine, diabetes prevention, health inequalities, coastal poverty, behavioural interventions, motivational interviewing, health psychology, health promotion, medical education research, mixed-methods and applied research. Candidates with backgrounds in psychology, medicine, medical education, public health and health services research, or related disciplines are encouraged to apply. A demonstrated interest in academic writing and data analysis using appropriate software (e.g. SPSS, R, Python…) desirable.
By targeting modifiable risk factors for type 2 diabetes in underserved coastal communities, this research directly aligns with national priorities around chronic disease prevention, workforce innovation, and reducing inequalities in access to care. It offers the opportunity to contribute to scalable, evidence-informed models of community-based prevention within the NHS.
Entry requirements
Healthcare, medical education, psychology, social science background or relevant Healthcare Professions training/ related disciplines are encouraged to apply. Masters level training or relevant research training needs to be demonstrated.
Funding
This project is fully funded for 3 years. Funding includes tuition fees, an annual tax-free maintenance allowance and a research training support budget.
References
i)
Reeves, David, et al. "The influence of demographic, health and psychosocial factors on patient uptake of the English NHS diabetes prevention programme." BMC Health Services Research 23.1 (2023): 352.
ii)
Ross, J., Cotterill, S., Bower, P., & Murray, E. (2023). Influences on patient uptake of and engagement with the National Health Service Digital Diabetes Prevention Programme: qualitative interview study. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 25, e40961.
iii)
Aljafri, A., Abba, P., Sedghi, A., Conte, A., & Jerjes, W. (2025). Evaluating the impact of Community-Based medical education on health literacy and patient empowerment in underserved populations: A pilot cohort study. Clinics and Practice, 15(6), 97.