Jess Brock

Overview

Jess has an MSc in Public Health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and a Bachelors of Nursing from the University of Edinburgh.

Qualifications

1. MSc in Public Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, United Kingdom, Sep 2018 – Sep 2019
2. Bachelor of Nursing (Honours), University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom, Sep 2014 – Jul 2018

Title of thesis: What difference does co-designing and co-creating actions with young people make to the development and delivery of policy and actions to create an urban environment that enables healthier food choices?

Oct 2019

Summary of research

Overweight and obesity has serious consequences for children’s short-term and long-term physical and mental health. Being overweight or obese as a child increases the risk of lifelong health problems, including type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, specific types of cancer, musculoskeletal disorders and depressive symptoms.

Policies designed to promote the health of children and young people rarely utilise a child-centred approach that puts those with the lived experience at the forefront. As such, there is often a disconnect between what policies suggest is good for the health of young people, and what young people suggest they require for good health.

One proposed approach to improving the relevance of policies or actions is to co-create or co-design these policies or actions with young people. However, the co-creation of public health policy has not been well studied or described in the literature, particularly in regard to the co-creation of policies or actions with young people to enable healthier food choices.
The PhD will therefore aim to answer the question: “What difference does co-designing and co-creating actions with young people make to the development and delivery of policy and actions to create an urban environment that enables healthier food choices?”