Together we can improve healthcare in Wales
HealthWise Wales Research outcomes
HealthWise Wales has supported research grants worth over £13m in the past five years. Below are some of the research outcomes as a result of the HealthWise Wales participants taking part.
Dementias Platform UK – Over 3,000 HealthWise Wales participants have taken part:
Clinical Studies and Great Minds Register: protocol of a targeted brain health studies recontact database.
— Koychev I, Young S, Holve H, Ben Yehuda M, Gallacher J. ( BMJ Open, November 2020 10(11))
UCL COVID19 Social Study - more than 7,000 HWW participants taking part:
Abuse, self-harm and suicidal ideation in the UK during the COVID-19 pandemic
— Iob E, Steptoe A, Fancourt D (The British Journal of Psychiatry, July 2020)
HealthWise Wales publications:
Developing and evaluating a model of public involvement and engagement embedded in a national longitudinal study: HealthWise Wales
— Townson J, Davies J, Hurt L; Ashfield-Watt P, Paranjothy S.
(International Journal of Population Data Science, Sept 2020)
HealthWise Wales central research themes are mental health, dementia and cancer. We will be expanding our themes through key research collaborations.
View all research publications HWW Participants have supported – visit our publications section
COVID-19 Research
How Healthwise Wales participants are helping during the pandemic
Since March 2020, we have asked our 40,000+ participants to contribute to COVID-19 studies conducted by organisations from across Wales and the UK such as: Cardiff University, Cardiff Metropolitan University, Swansea University, University College London and King’s College London. With research topics ranging from the mental health effects of the lockdown, to the opinions of people in Wales on using contact-tracing apps to track the virus, and much more, we are proud that the involvement of HealthWise Wales participants in COVID-19 studies has surpassed 31,000 so far. Thank you very much to all our participants who are helping researchers monitor the virus and its effects on society during these unprecedented times.
To see which COVID-19 projects we are currently promoting and to find out how you can take part, or for more information on the studies that we have already helped, please visit our dedicated COVID-19 page
Researchers working with HealthWise Wales
HealthWise Wales is working with the DPUK-led Great Minds register to match cohort volunteers with relevant dementia research studies. HealthWise Wales is also one of the cohorts available for dementia researchers to access via the DPUK Data Portal. The Data Portal gives researchers fast access to the cohort data that will provide new insights into dementia. https://www.dementiasplatform.uk/our-impact/dpuk-cohorts/healthwise-wales
What researchers say about working with HealthWise Wales
The response from people in the Healthwise Wales Database has indeed been amazing
Professor Marjorie Weiss, School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Cardiff University.
The HWW Participant response rates are absolutely great! This is a huge achievement for our team and I wanted to thank everyone for taking part.
Dr Rhiannon Philips, Cardiff Metropolitan University
The number of responses achieved so far could not be possible without the (HWW) team support. We are extremely thankful to all the participants for sharing your sincere thoughts on death and dying with us. It is inspiring that some participants directly contacted us which not only showed their high level of engagement and sincerity towards the survey but also helped in improving the quality of our future work.
– Professor Annmarie Nelson, Marie Curie Palliative Care Research Centre.
What is HealthWise Wales?
HealthWise Wales is your unique opportunity to be part of shaping the health and wellbeing of future generations in Wales, and help the NHS in Wales to plan for the future. For more information, watch this short film or read more here.
Register now to join inCan you help shape Wales health future?
What does it involve?
- Register online or by phone to say that you are willing to take part in research. This takes no more than 10 minutes.
- Complete short questionnaires every 6 months, so that we get an ongoing picture of your lifestyle and health.
- You may be invited to provide biological samples to link to the research questionnaire data you have shared.
- We'll let you know when there are new studies to join; you choose whether to take part or not.
Research is vital to develop better treatments and manage diseases
- There are many challenges in healthcare including diagnosing and detecting disease early, and helping people stay well for longer.
- People are living longer, but one in three adults say that their daily activities are limited by a health problem and one in two people over 65 are being treated for two or more health conditions.
- There are many studies taking place to address these issues, but researchers find it difficult to recruit enough people.
Help spread the word
Help us by following us on social media and sharing with your friends or encouraging them to join up too!
Recent News
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Many people think that lead is a problem of the past, but there is a possibility you could still be exposed to lead in your home or surrounding environment. We spoke with Dr Sarah Jones, a Consultant in Environmental Public Health at Public Health Wales.
28/10/2019Join the HealthWise Wales Team
Could you be part of our team?
25/09/2019Ground-breaking Research into Parkinson's Disease
Healthy volunteers required for Parkinson's research
24/09/2019Building stronger public involvement
Healthwise Wales is built on a foundation of strong patient and public involvement, allowing us to ensure that our research offers accessible involvement opportunities for all.
20/09/2019Recent Tweets @HealthWiseWales
Tweets by HealthWiseWalesDue to COVID-19, our telephone lines are currently closed. For all enquiries, please email healthwisewales@cardiff.ac.uk
