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graphic showing a blue translucent body, showing bones, with arteries, spine and heart hi lighted in red, next to the 'SPICES' logo
Brighton & Sussex Medical School

Spices

Spices

SPICES: Scaling-up Packages of Interventions for Cardiovascular disease prevention in selected sites in Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa.

About the project

Cardiovascular (heart) disorders (CVD) are the single greatest cause of death worldwide. The areas that have the highest numbers of heart disease also often have the poorest uptake of traditional medical interventions available in their communities, for example visiting GP surgeries.

SPICES research project stands for Scaling-up Packages of Interventions for Cardiovascular disease prevention in selected sites in Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa. BSMS is one of five sites across the EU. It is an implementation science project funded by the European Commission through the Horizon 2020 research and innovation action.

The SPICES-Sussex project was run team of researchers based at Brighton and Sussex Medical School (BSMS) who are working alongside well-known and trusted local community organisations to help make their communities healthier. The SPICES project focused on the heart health of the people within four local communities in Sussex. The SPICES project ran from 2019-2022 and is now in the process of publishing it’s findings.

We recruited and trained community health workers from four local communities in Sussex to support our project to be trained in motivational behavioural change and healthy lifestyle skills. Once trained, these community health workers then provided one-to-one sessions to people within their own community, supporting them to set and achieve goals regarding their own health.

SPICES is a co-designed project. Co-design means that we are developing the project alongside the communities that we are working with. We recognise that research is more relevant, valuable, and enjoyable when it involves the participation of people who have direct experience of the issues that the research is investigating.  Partner community organisations and the community health workers were involved in the development of how the project was provided in each of the local areas to ensure that the needs of each of the communities are met. Our hope is that by involving communities all the way through the research process, people who may not have accessed health through traditional means will find the support that they need to improve their heart health.

“If we can empower them (community members) to find their own solutions then it will be sustainable.” Community partner organisation

Learn more about the project here >

Research outputs

Grice-Jackson, T., Rogers, I., Ford, E., Van Marwijk, H., Topham, C., Musinguzi, G., ... & Nahar, P. (2023). The pre-implementation phase of a project seeking to deliver a community-based CVD prevention intervention (SPICES-Sussex): a qualitative study exploring views and experience relating to intervention development. Health Promotion Practice, 15248399231182139.

A protocol paper: community engagement interventions for cardiovascular disease prevention in socially disadvantaged populations in the UK: an implementation research study. Nahar P, van Marwijk H, Gibson L, Musinguzi G, Anthierens S, Ford E, Bremner SA, Bowyer M, Le Reste JY, Sodi T, Bastiaens H.Glob Health Res Policy. 2020 Mar 12;5:12. doi: 10.1186/s41256-020-0131-1. eCollection 2020.

Acceptability of a community cardiovascular disease prevention programme in Mukono and Buikwe districts in Uganda: a qualitative study. Ndejjo R, Musinguzi G, Nuwaha F, Wanyenze RK, Bastiaens H.BMC Public Health. 2020 Jan 16;20(1):75. doi: 10.1186/s12889-020-8188-9.

An implementation science study to enhance cardiovascular disease prevention in Mukono and Buikwe districts in Uganda: a stepped-wedge design. Musinguzi G, Wanyenze RK, Ndejjo R, Ssinabulya I, van Marwijk H, Ddumba I, Bastiaens H, Nuwaha F. BMC Health Serv Res. 2019 Apr 25;19(1):253. doi: 10.1186/s12913-019-4095-0.