Ethnic minorities in the UK live with higher rates of overweight and obesity than white British counterparts. In Bradford, children of South Asian heritage live with 10% higher rates of childhood obesity by age 11 than white British children. Various socio-ecological factors contribute to this inequality, including levels of physical activity and dietary habits. South Asian girls are amongst the least physically active demographic group in the UK.
Born in Bradford research established that 90% Muslim South Asian children in Bradford attend mosque or madrassa every day after school for 2 hours for supplementary Islamic teaching. This creates a captive audience of children within an educational setting. Our research led to the identification of mosques and madrasas in Bradford as a potential location for delivery of childhood obesity prevention interventions. Islamic leaders, madrasa staff and parents of children attending madrasa informed us that they would attend madrasas for health promotion programmes if they are delivered with cultural sensitivity.
Born in Bradford research on involving Islamic faith settings for health portion made an impact on wider systems of health promotion. Bradford Council and Bradford Council for Mosques developed a unique collaboration with Born in Bradford to receive a grant for Trailblazer Childhood Obesity Prevention. This enabled BiB researchers to coproduce a toolkit with detailed guidelines on how sessions and workshops on healthy diet, physical activity, madrasas as healthy places can be delivered with children and families.
Between 2022-2024, our research group co-delivered the intervention in 30 IRS in Bradford with the help of a purpose-built local community organisation, Faith in Communities, who facilitated the delivery of funding, employed community engagement managers, and provided training to health groups and health champions affiliated with IRS. Active Faith Settings funded by Sport England focused on encouraging physical activities and Living Well Faith Settings funded by Bradford Council encouraged promotion of healthy diet. We coproduced the model for the delivery of childhood obesity prevention intervention through IRS and learned how the intervention delivery works and for whom. Our coproduced model for the intervention delivery involves four key components: 1) a purpose-built delivery organisation, 2) Community Engagement Managers, 3) Toolkit, 4) Health groups in IRS facilitating delivery.
Our model of involving Islamic faith settings for coproducing health promotion interventions has made an impact on research programmes beyond childhood obesity prevention. Other research programmes on the theme of increasing uptake of cancer screening, preventing youth violence, and involving young people through qualitative longitudinal research for better health outcomes have used similar approaches. The learning about health promotion through faith settings is facilitated by longitudinal research, and faith settings are used as points of community recruitment for Age of Wonder: Bradford’s Teenage Stories project. This ensures ongoing learning for Born in Bradford and captures the experiences of growing up for Bradford’s children and young people.
