The stakeholder interviews Introduction

One element of the recruitment strategy proposed to use community outreach to identify eligible men. It would focus on venues that obese men were likely to frequent. To identify potential venues and the best ways to gain access to them, interviews were conducted with key stakeholders. These were individuals in managerial positions who frequently encounter men in the target group, and who could thus act as gatekeepers for recruitment of participants. Such individuals were also likely to have insight into the

willingness of potential participants to discuss taking part in the study. The stakeholder interviews investigated opportunities for meeting with potential participants and possible venues for delivering the intervention.

Methods

Sampling and recruitment

Stakeholders were purposively sampled from a variety of venues that members of the target population were likely to attend either for work or for pleasure. Six interviews were conducted with stakeholders who were managers of venues in the local community, specifically a golf club, a community centre, a sports centre, an employment support service, a concert auditorium and a theatre.

Data collection and analysis

Data were collected from brief semistructured interviews. The stakeholders were told that the aim of the research was to encourage men to drink less and to lose weight. They were also told about the method of recruitment and that the intervention would be delivered by a face-to-face session followed by text messages. The interview schedule was structured around the issues of recruiting men for the study and delivering the face-to-face component of the intervention. All interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed. Thematic analysis was conducted by two members of the research team (KBC and AM).

Results

The interviews explored three main themes: (1) views on the research topic, (2) recruitment of participants and (3) venues for intervention delivery. The results are presented in these themes. No details of the stakeholders’ job titles or organisations are included, in order to protect their anonymity.

Views on the research topic

All of the stakeholders considered alcohol consumption and weight to be major public health issues. They believed that research exploring ways to reduce alcohol consumption in obese men aged 35–64 years would be challenging yet very worthwhile:

I think the aim is very worthy . . . if you’ve got some techniques that can pull out a bit more information around both alcohol consumption, levels of activity, that would be great, and certainly tying it into weight, that would be fantastic.

Stakeholder 6

It will be very challenging I should imagine! Because men don’t like to think they’re getting older either, so they don’t like to appreciate they need to drink less, so I think it will be very, very challenging . . . I think it’s hugely important . . .

. . . you’ve got the social aspect, I think, of it, as well, and most of them will say to you that going for a drink is a social kind of thing to do. But then when it does start to over indulge . . . that’s where the weight comes in.

Stakeholder 3

Benefits to stakeholders

The stakeholders were willing to help to facilitate the research by assisting with the recruitment of participants and by providing venues for the delivery of the intervention sessions. The main reason for this positive

response was that the aim dovetailed with their organisation’s philosophy and aims. Some commented that they saw it as part of their role and responsibility to their organisation’s staff and/or customers to provide access to health promotion initiatives:

It would be a positive for the workplace, so the aims of the study are brilliant, even as a standalone . . . in relation to work environment and management it would be useful, because obviously healthier members of staff are going to be more productive.

Stakeholder 2

Partly what we’re in the business of, is helping to improve people’s quality of life around physical activity and health . . . And the study seems to fit into that . . . So we were quite happy to support . . .

Stakeholder 6

I think it’s from the area that we work in, and what we see while we’re doing the work and the effects that alcohol and everything else has on the local community.

Stakeholder 3

I suppose because we’re interested in improving . . . anything that can improve people’s health and employment, and understanding, that’s why we’re interested in anything like that. Because it’s a whole . . . employment is a whole culmination of a lot of different things and employment and health is part of that . . . So yeah, if we can make people more aware of what’s going on, what’s surrounding them, what’s out there to help them, then that’s got to be better for us.

Stakeholder 5

Recruitment

All of the stakeholders indicated that men meeting the eligibility criteria of age 35–64 years and BMI of> 30 kg/m2_{frequented their organisation either as members of staff or as customers. Some of the} stakeholders were able to provide estimates of the numbers of such men. These numbers ranged from roughly 50 per week (community centre) to 200 members (golf club). No stakeholders were aware of the amount of alcohol consumed by the men meeting the eligibility criteria of age and BMI. The stakeholders were willing to identify opportunities for members of the research team to meet with potential participants and were happy to facilitate such meetings. In general they did not believe that men would be embarrassed about being approached to take part in a study on the topics of alcohol consumption and weight and they did not anticipate any adverse reactions from men approached:

We see a lot of people through the doors here, who need to take action. It’s in the press all the time isn’t it, how obesity is causing the NHS no end of grief, so from what’s coming in here, it’s not going to get any better.

Stakeholder 1

I know we have lots of candidates here!

Stakeholder 4

I would think if you send someone here on a Saturday afternoon, that’s a Saturday or a Sunday, or both preferably. If you want people who don’t know each other, come both days . . . I don’t think . . . you won’t get any abuse or adverse reactions, they’ll either say, no, or they’ll make a joke about it.

Stakeholder 4 THE STAKEHOLDER INTERVIEWS

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I think once you can get them engaged, I think they’ll be OK. I think they’ll be . . . certainly on a one to one basis, we’re interviewing people pretty much all the time on a one to one, even quite disengaged people quite like speaking about themselves!

Stakeholder 5

. . . they wouldn’t think they were particularly overweight you know? But the bigger guys that we see in the main, I suppose, are usually quite jovial people, so I don’t think they would be too negative. But if they just went,‘No’, that would be it, that’s it.

Stakeholder 1

Anticipated barriers to recruitment

The main barriers to recruitment were thought to be gaining access to individuals and reluctance because of the time it might take. The view was that people visit a location for a purpose and once that purpose is served they want to move on:

I know the initial barrier is actually accessing them, but it’s just . . . yes . . . I mean, we also have the Box Office, now whether it would be worth, sometimes, you being in there, for a couple of hours a day, you can’t guarantee who’s going to come in, but there are a certain level of people who come in who do need to look at their weight, men, you know?

Stakeholder 1

I suppose it’s just that thing of, ‘Do I want to actually participate in that?’ so it’s just time more than anything else. It depends on what they’re being required to do . . .

Stakeholder 2

I think there’s a general reluctance, and part of that is about . . . I think people who are coming into a sports centre, particularly . . . if it’s a winter sports centre or swimming pool, a lot of time they’re going there to do their activity and go away again. Particularly at lunch times or . . . they’re doing their five-a-side football, or their badminton, and they’re coming in, they’re doing their activity, getting changed and going away.

Stakeholder 3

Again, getting them at a time where it’s going to be suitable for them, and they’re going to feel like, ‘Yes, I want to’, that might be another barrier. But, I cannot think of anything else, any other barriers.

Stakeholder 6

Being aware of the potential barriers to recruitment led some stakeholders to try to identify potential solutions. It appeared that their enthusiasm for the research encouraged them to volunteer to assist in the process, often to make the first approach to potential participants:

I would say the easiest thing to do would be to use either myself or one of the administration assistants as a medium, just if you send . . . a similar e-mail to what you had sent to me, but maybe a bit more relevant to specifically what you need from them, we could pass it on, as basically an all-staff e-mail.

Stakeholder 2

If you e-mail me one [information sheet] for him, then I could just pass the e-mail on to him, and he can have a look at it, and then he can decide and get back in touch. But I’ll tell him to get back in touch and say, yes or no, just so that you know.

Stakeholder 1

I think it would be easier for us to facilitate that, but . . . , so giving us some information and we could go and set something up, to start off . . . try and get some staff’s interest.

Venues for intervention delivery

Stakeholders were often positive about providing rooms within their organisations for the delivery of the face-to-face component of the intervention. Some were apologetic that a lack of space meant that they were unable to provide a room:

Yes, absolutely, you could do that in a number of ways. You could either do it on a general . . . setting up some sort of stall I suppose, in a reception area, whether it be here or elsewhere, or where we’ve got particular sessions that we know are attended by a number of people within that target group, you could come along and directly speak to them there.

Stakeholder 3

Yes, you could do it in here if you want. . . . This room’s only used once a month for a meeting, so . . . As long as you tell me, just give me a phone . . . As long as they know you’re coming, that’s fine, it’s not a problem.

Stakeholder 4

[Do you have a room that we could use?] Oh, there’s no problem with that, yes.

Stakeholder 1

Availability of rooms

The willingness to provide rooms was tempered in some cases by an awareness of the practical difficulty of accessing rooms. This was not meant as a barrier, but as advice on how best to ensure that rooms would be available:

Yes, we’ve got rooms and stuff that you can book, as long as it’s booked in advance, then normally we can.

Stakeholder 6

Yes, I think in principle, yes, it’s not a problem doing that. So if you’ve got a group of people who are using the [buildings mentioned], the principle is yes it’s not a problem, I think in practice it’s about finding the space at any particular time.

Stakeholder 3

And if you’re linking in with the time they’re in, then that’s fine. If you were coming into the factory and doing it there, then I imagine you’re more likely to get the factory willing to let you come in and spend whatever amount of time with each individual, rather than them having to go some place, because you’re not taking them away for any other time.

Stakeholder 5