What was the impact

LifeGuide is having an international impact with academics globally using it to develop new, cost-effective digital interventions that can be modified and reused without the need to buy in expensive web programming support. The LifeGuide platform has facilitated a large international community of behavioural scientists and clinicians who are designing and trialling digital behaviour change interventions at scale, and the successful dissemination of these interventions has established new care pathways benefiting many thousands of patients and healthcare service providers.

The free LifeGuide software has been downloaded more than 1,000 times since 2009 and the LifeGuide Community website has nearly 3,000 members who are using the software to develop interventions across the UK and internationally.

LifeGuide is already being used in a range of initiatives including:

• Disseminating an effective intervention to 435,000 members of the Royal College of Nursing to reduce the occurrence of hand dermatitis
• Promoting hygienic behaviour to reduce the transmission of infection
• Substantially reducing the prescribing of antibiotics in six European countries
• Helping patients and health professionals to better manage numerous common and serious health problems such as asthma, dizziness, back pain, hypertension, weight loss, stroke rehabilitation and cancer
• Supporting cochlear implant recipients remotely at home

Research collaborations with the LifeGuide team have also attracted well over £50m funding from the Medical Research Council, Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, Economic and Social Research Council, National Institute for Health Research, European Commission and medical charities.