Active Brains Research Study

Earlier in the year, our Research Team opened the Active Brains research study.

Active Brains aims to find out if using the Active Brains website is useful for people aged 60-85, who are proactively taking steps to keep their brain healthy.

The Active Brains website is designed to help people get a bit more active, practising thinking skills, and eating healthily. As we get older, it’s more important than ever to do things to keep our brain and body active and healthy. 

The research study tests whether using Active Brains helps people to do this and the study lasts for five years.

We have had great uptake in the study, particularly from a Primary Care perspective, as patients have signed up from their GP Practices.

About two thirds of those signed up are in a group who can use Active Brains straight away. The remaining one third of people carry on with their usual care and will get some brief advice about a healthy lifestyle. The idea being that we can then analyse the impact Active Brains is making on the groups identified.

Everyone involved in the study will carry on receiving their usual NHS care. Those who are placed in the Active Brains group will be expected to complete online activities for a few minutes on a regular basis.

Clive Nicholson, Research Nurse/Practitioner for Primary Care, Humber Teaching NHS Foundation Trust, said:

“Our GP Practices in Market Weighton and Cottingham have seen almost 70 people sign up and we are opening the study in some of our other Practices soon. This is a really great opportunity for people in the community to get involved in research. It's easy to enrol, with support along the way.”

Sue Smith, Senior Practice Manager at Market Weighton Practice, Humber Teaching NHS Foundation Trust, said:

“Our Practice has recently supported the Active Brains study and the support we have received from the research team has been great. Having had a good number of our patients already signed up to get involved, we are hopeful that they will find this a beneficial experience and that this will be the start of more positive research engagement in the future.”

To find out more about the Active Brains research study, please contact Clive via email clive.nicholson1@nhs.net  

This research is funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) and sponsored by the University of Southampton.