Kidney Beam for kids
Dr Pelagia Koufaki and her team are looking to replicate the enormous success of the Kidney-BEAM platform by creating a bespoke version of the portal for children and young people with chronic kidney disease (CKD).
Kidney Research UK are delighted to support this work after having funded Kidney-BEAM. The unique combination of live and on-demand classes, along with community support that has been seen in Kidney-BEAM will be made available to children and young people for Pelagia to complete a feasibility study.
The problem
Children and young people with chronic kidney disease (CKD) have identified that tiredness, lack of social activities and physical activities are among the biggest problems that they want to improve. This group of patients often face spells of time away from school, removing them from all-important social interaction and sources of support. Perhaps paradoxically, physical activity can reduce feelings of tiredness by improving the quality of sleep. There is a clear need to reach these people with physical activities that are appropriate for their health needs. There are many physical activities that children and young people with CKD can do but they need support and guidance.
Not just a pipe BEAM
With support from Kidney Research UK, Kidney-BEAM was established to offer adults with kidney disease a space to access approved exercise classes that are available live and on-demand. Pelagia and her colleagues are looking to provide similar content for children and young people with CKD.
They will carry out a study to see if the same approach for Kidney-BEAM in adults can be tailored to children and young people. By using questionnaires and interviews Pelagia will find out if Kidney-BEAM-KIDS has been appropriately tailored and if it helps improve their experiences. In addition to these benefits, Kidney-BEAM-KIDS will collect data about physical activity in this population and record any incidences of adverse events. This will be invaluable since there is a lack of data concerning any risks of physical activity in this group.
What this might mean for kidney patients
Pelagia’s project will provide a unique online space for children and young people to access tailored exercise programmes safe in the knowledge that the activities won’t aggravate their condition. Their ongoing appraisal of Kidney-BEAM-KIDS will continue to improve the offering and make it an incredible resource.
We have already seen the impact that Kidney-BEAM has had for adult kidney patients. Why should adults have all the fun?
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