Health(y) Transitions

The Health(y) Transitions theme, led by Dr Alison Cooper from Cardiff University and Dr Natalie Brown from Swansea University, takes a closer look at the various transitions across a person’s life and how health and wellbeing are impacted.

From infant to adult, women experience a series of both reproductive and non-reproductive transitions. These transitions include everything from transitions happening around puberty and starting menstruation to the transitions in education from primary school to secondary school.

Health(y) Transitions will focus on key transitions from both reproductive and non-reproductive angles. Currently, the focus is on three main areas: women’s health education, healthcare models, and physical activity as prevention strategy across the life course.

Why is this work important?

By putting the transitions in the context of a healthy life, the theme aims integrate transitions into preventative strategies to better health outcomes for women, girls, and people assigned female at birth. They will also look to address barriers in health literacy so that health education is more accessible across all life stages.

Key Objectives

The theme has four key objectives that it aims to tackle. The first objective aims to understand the unmet needs, risks, and moderators of women’s health across key transitions in order to maximise initiatives focused on prevention.

The second objective is to advance theory-informed practice in the creation of measurement and preventative tools to better support women across their lifespan. The third objective is to develop and evaluate interventions and education to support health promotion.

The fourth objective is to embed the findings and preventative practices into policy, practice, and systems to change and improve women’s health across all transitions.

Conclusion

In doing so, along with the focus on female health literacy, the goal is to create a cohesive approach that is designed to adapt to the changing needs of health and well-being across all key transitions and all life stages.

Dr Natalie Brown	Dr Alison Cooper