Amanda Lewis is an NIHR/NSPCR Research Fellow within the Primary Care Clincial Sciences Department at the University of Birmingham.
Her main research area is weight (obesity) management in Primary Care. She is involved with projects surrounding weight gain during pregnancy, the comparison of differing weight loss programmes and the effectiveness of brief GP interventions for weight management.
Amanda co-supervises a PhD student who is exploring different cognitive and behavioural approaches to weight control, in particular regular weighing and self monitoring techniques.
She is also interested in exploring the relationship between weight management and health conditions such as arthritis, back pain and diabetes.
Amanda started her academic career at the University of Birmingham where she completed her first degree in Sports, Physical Education and Community Studies.
To further her interest in the role of physical activity and diet in health promotion, she completed her MSc at Bristol University studying Nutrition, Physical Activity and Public Health.
To then put theory into practice, Amanda undertook her PhD at University of Birmingham investigating ‘Stair Climbing Interventions for Obesity Control’, specifically exploring the use of ‘contextual cues’. During this time, she was involved with additional projects within the Public Health department, in particular ‘Lighten Up’, which has recently been published in the BMJ (“Comparison of range of commercial or primary care led weight reduction programmes with minimal intervention control for weight loss in obesity: Lighten Up randomised controlled trial”).
Amanda is now part of the behavioural medicine team within the Department of Primary Care Clinical Sciences at the University of Birmingham with an aim of developing research focussing on obesity management in primary care.
Lewis, A.L. and Eves, F.F. (2012). Testing the Theory Underlying the Success of Point-of-Choice Prompts: A Multi-Component Stair Climbing Intervention. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 13, pp 126-132. DOI: 10.1016/j.psychsport.2011.10.001
Jolly, K., Lewis, A., Beach, J., Denley, J., Adab, P., Deeks, J.J., Daley, A. and Aveyard, P. (2011) Comparison of range of commercial or primary care led weight reduction programmes with minimal intervention control for weight loss in obesity: Lighten Up randomised controlled trial, BMJ, 343:d6500. doi: 10.1136/bmj.d6500
Lewis, A.L. and Eves, F.F. (2011). Specific Effects of a Calorie-Based Intervention on Stair Climbing in Overweight Commuters. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 42(2), 257-261. DOI: 10.1007/s12160-011-9283-z
Lewis, A.L. and Eves, F.F. (in press).Prompts to increase stair climbing in stations; the effect of message specificity. Journal of Physical Activity and Health.
Lewis, A.L. and Eves, F.F. Prompt before the choice is made; Effects of a stair climbing intervention in university buildings. British Journal of Health Psychology, accepted for publication.
Jolly, K., Daley, A., Adab, P., Lewis, A., Denley, J., Beach, J. and Aveyard, P. (2010). A randomised controlled trial to compare a range of commercial or primary care led weight reduction programmes with a minimal intervention control for weight loss in obesity: the Lighten Up trial. BMC Public Health, 10, 439.
Eves, F.F., Lewis, A.L. and Griffin, C. (2008). Modelling effects of stair width on rates of stair climbing in a train station, Preventive Medicine, 47(3):270-272.