A RESEARCH project on how to tackle obesity is to be relaunched in Dudley – banning the word ‘weight’ because it puts people off. 

Council chiefs have decided to delay a survey into the major health problem after only 42 people responded to a letter sent out to 5,000 homes.

The project was part of a programme to improve health living in the borough which has one of the highest rates for hospital admissions relating to obesity in England.

But members of Dudley’s health and wellbeing board were told people were put off by the question, “What can communities and organisations do together to help more people in Dudley be a healthy weight?”

A report to board members said: “It’s difficult to know why (without running a research project in its own right) we have had such an unprecedented low response to our letters, but we suspect the mention of “weight” could have acted as a deterrent (stigma, embarrassment etc.).”

The original letters asked residents to join four focus groups to discuss ways of reducing obesity and promote healthier lifestyles and it was hoped some 150 people would volunteer. 

Deborah Harkins, the council’s chief officer for health and wellbeing, told the board the low response meant the research was being put on hold while a new approach is devised.

 “What we are going to do is ditch the word weight,” she explained. 

“Our hypothesis is that the word is putting people off so we are going to talk about health and wellbeing.”

She added:  “If we are going to do this we have to do it properly because we want really meaningful recommendations coming out of it.”

 “So number one, we're going to delay the times scale which give us time to recruit more people. 

“Secondly, we are going to slightly change the format so that we bring people together in a big citizens’ assembly at the end of the process.”

A new recruitment strategy will now be launched in July this time including mailings to schools, visits to community venues asking a more generic health and wellbeing question that doesn’t mention weight.