Category / REF Subjects

Understanding disabled women’s experiences of pregnancy, childbirth and parenting

Birthrights, a national charity for the rights of women during pregnancy and childbirth has today launched the interim report of a study undertaken by staff from Bournemouth University and the University of Liverpool, about the experiences of disabled women during pregnancy, childbirth and early parenting.

The current work arises following their 2013 Dignity in Childbirth survey which highlighted less positive experiences of women who identified themselves as disabled (Birthrights 2013). In response, Birthrights commissioned research to explore the experiences of disabled women throughout pregnancy, childbirth and the first few post-natal weeks (the pregnancy continuum). A multidisciplinary team, comprising of Dr Jenny Hall, Jilly Ireland and Professor Vanora Hundley from CMMPH and Dr Bethan Collins from the University of Liverpool, have just completed the first phase of the study, which has been released by Birthrights as an interim report today. This first phase of the study used an online survey to identify experiences of women in the UK and Ireland with physical or sensory impairment or long term health conditions during the pregnancy continuum.

Although overall satisfaction with services in general was scored highly by most women, challenges were described in women’s experiences. These included lack of continuity of carer, meaning that women needed to repeat their information again and again; women feeling that they were not being listened to, which reduced their feeling of choice and control; feeling they were treated less favourably because of their disability. More than half of the women (56%) felt that maternity care providers did not have appropriate attitudes to disability. Accessibility of services was also highlighted as poor, in some situations.

These findings resonate with recommendations from the recent maternity services review (National Maternity review 2016), which highlights the importance of personalised care, that is woman-centred, with opportunity for choice and control, and continuity of carer for everyone. The current study highlights how imperative this approach is for disabled women.

A follow-up qualitative study is underway to establish in-depth views and experiences of human rights and dignity of disabled women during the pregnancy continuum to develop our understanding of how best to enable this group. This second phase is due to be completed in Spring 2017.

The Interim report outlining the results from phase 1 is released today by Birthrights and may be found on the CMMPH web site.
https://research.bournemouth.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Interim-Report-Sept16.pdf

FHSS seminar Prof McKie

Publishing, REF Subjects, Research assessment, Women's Academic Network, writing

linda-mckie-2016Prof. Linda McKie who is professor of Sociology at Durham University gave an excellent paper today in FHSS on Revitalising Spatial and Temporal Frameworks in the Analysis of Unpaid Care and Paid Work.  Her paper highlighted that published data have documented the persistence of the gender pay gap for all women with evidence of a deepening gap following maternity leave. These data generated numerous analyses on segregation and discrimination in education and working life and the many ways in which unpaid care for children, family members and elders remains a dominant factor in everyday gendered inequalities. Often little comment was made on women’s crucial role in reproducing generations many of whom will fund future pensions and services through their taxation. These intergenerational reciprocities are generally ignored in favour of the immediate time considerations for employers, workers and families with the need to generate profit, or income and resources for household or business survival.

In her seminar Prof. McKie revisited the analytical frameworks of ‘caringscapes’ and ‘carescapes’. In earlier work, it was asserted that both offer analytical potential to enhance analyses of the temporal and spatial dynamics of caring and working over the lifecourse in different places. Caring, critical to human flourishing and evident in many aspects of women’s lives, is captured in ‘caringscapes’. The framework of ‘carescapes’ explores the relationship between policies and services as determined by employers, the state and capital. Both frameworks are informed by feminist theorising and spatial and temporal perspectives on identifying and analysing how women perceive, engage with, and reflect on, the demands and pleasures of combining informal caring and paid work. ref-world

Yesterday Prof. McKie led a well-attended workshop for FHSS staff on preparing for the REF.  She offered insight into various REF processes as well advise on strategic planning and the importance of networking.   Prof. McKie has been a sub-panel member of the Research Excellence Framework 2014 (REF) Sub-panel 23: Sociology for the period 2010-2014.

 

Prof.  Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH

Contesting corporate governance – research at BU

Research themes

Prime Minister Theresa May has recently mooted a Germanic-turn for corporate governance in the UK, an echo of a heated debate over the shape of boards of directors in listed companies raging over the past 25 years. By coincidence, BU’s Donald Nordberg, Associate Professor in the Faculty of Management, has been examining the controversies over board design since the Cadbury Code was written in 1992, as investors, corporate chairmen and others wrestled with whether to recommend continuing with unitary boards or follow the German model of dual boards with worker representation. His paper, “Contestation over board design and the development of UK corporate governance,” has just won the prize as Best Paper in Management and Business History at the British Academy of Management conference in Newcastle. Could history be about to repeat itself? The conference paper is at http://eprints.bournemouth.ac.uk/23744/.

Public Health England Physical Activity Tool

downloadPublic Health England has launched a Physical Activity Tool which brings together data at the local level for the whole of England on physical activity, including walking and cycling, as well as data on related risk factors and conditions such as obesity and diabetes. The tool also presents trend data and enables easy comparison of local authority data, allowing users to compare regional neighbours and local authorities with similar characteristics. The tool aims to help promote physical activity, develop understanding, and support benchmarking, commissioning and service improvement.

The data is grouped into three domains:

  • Key indicators – a summary overview of physical activity including a number of key outcomes from the Public Health Outcomes Framework (PHOF).
  • Related conditions – such as cancers, diabetes, obesity, hypertension and depression. Regular physical activity can reduce the risk of these.
  • Supporting information – population demographics, life expectancy and deprivation.

In addition PHE has also published a data spreadsheet: Physical activity levels among adults in England 2015, available on the PHE Obesity website. It presents physical activity measures (inactive, low activity, some activity and active) and key demographics from the Active People Survey at national, regional, upper and lower tier local authority and County Sports Partnership level.

Read more at: http://fingertips.phe.org.uk/profile/physical-activity

CQR Kicks Off “In Conversation” Seminars this Wed 7 Sept

Knowledge Exchange, PG research

Centre for Qual ResearchThe Centre for Qualitative Research is kicking off its new seminar series on Wednesday 7 September at 1 pm in Royal London House RLH 201 Masterclass Suite.

New to BU and FHSS, Prof. Sam Porter (Head of Social Work & Social Sciences Dept. at FHSS) will join CQR’s Kip Jones and Caroline Ellis-Hill “in conversation” about “The Relationship between the Arts and Healthcare”.

Because CQR is keen to make information available to students and staff about qualitative METHODS, the seminars will be arranged somewhat differently than the typical lunchtime seminar.

We are asking TWO (or more) presenters to agree to present each research method as a CONVERSATION…first, between each other, and then with the audience.  We are also asking that no PowerPoint be used in order that it is truly a conversation and NOT a lecture. The conversations will be about a particular research method and its pros and cons, NOT research projects or outcomes.

The “In Conversation with …” Seminar Series will be held on the FIRST WED of each month for nine months beginning in September. They will run from 1 pm until 1:50.

We are then hoping that many will join us for a CQR ‘KoffeeKlatch’ following at Naked Cafe next to RLH after the seminar.

We anticipate that by making the CQR Seminar Series really unique and exciting that they will inspire students and academics alike to investigate the wide range of qualitative methods and expertise available at CQR, and enrich their research projects by doing so.

See the list of all nine CQR Seminars over the Academic Year.

Congratulations to Prof. Brooks

Publishing, Women's Academic Network, writing

Ann Brooks 2016Congratulations to FHSS Prof. Ann Brooks on her latest academic article in the July issue of Cultural Politics. The article ‘The Cultural Production of Consumption as Achievement’ is co-authored with Lionel Wee.

Brooks, A. & Wee, L., The Cultural Production of Consumption as Achievement Cultural PoliticsCultural Politics (2016) 12 (2): 217-232

doi 10:10.1215/17432197-3592112

http://culturalpolitics.dukejournals.org/content/current

Everything has to be excellent!

Fusion Investment Fund

In 2015, I was awarded a prestigious Visiting Fellowship at the University of Oxford- Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism (RISJ). The next question was how do I fund such an initiative? Having looked at the various Fusion Investment Fund strands, the Santander Scheme appeared to be the most appropriate since it provides BU staff with travel and subsistence funds to support individual staff mobility and networking in the development of research, education and or professional practice.

During the fellowship period I conducted British Academy/Leverhulme funded research into the successful digital transformations of media firms. This work integrated three primary areas: business models, organisational strategy and dynamic capabilities in a longitudinal analysis (1995-2015).

Being able to conduct this research at one of the world’s greatest institutions has been an incredible experience. Whilst I have undertaken small project work with the RISJ over the past few years, there was a world of difference in living and working at the University. Academic work at the University of Oxford is a ‘lifestyle’ and one based on the pursuit of academic excellence. The work doesn’t stop at 5pm as there are numerous talks and lectures by distinguished people every night of the week!

The RISJ is a part of Green Templeton College which is a postgraduate college whose provision centres on health and management disciplines. At first, one might think that this is a strange combination, but their researchers were able to help with me some innovative work that I’m currently doing with the Boston Consulting Group in New York.

Perhaps the most striking aspect of my stay was the university’s focus on conducting research that aims to produce both conceptual and instrumental impact (vanity based research is clearly not on their radar). There is also a real ‘simplicity’ about the University of Oxford. You can see it everywhere, from the clean toilets, the pristine gardens, the student dress codes and the quality of their research. That ‘simplicity’ can be summed by saying that “everything they do has to be excellent!”

 

Dr John Oliver

Associate Professor of Media Management

Faculty of Media & Communication

Friday 16th September: Professor Christoph Teller presents ‘Why consumers shop where they do’

Image result for christoph teller

Professor Christoph Teller, Chair in Retailing and Marketing at the University of Surrey, will discuss why shoppers shop where they do through a presentation of a meta-analyses study.  The study he presents aims to identify the major antecedents of offline and online retail patronage. In his talk he will outline the retail patronage work of Pan and Zinkhan (2006) and discuss how he extends their view and develops conceptual models of offline and online retail patronage based on Sheth’s (1999) integrated theory of patronage behaviour and Finn and Louviere’s (1996) specification in a retail patronage context. The models he identifies proposes direct effects between antecedents (stimuli), i.e., mainly manageable attributes of retailers, and the retail patronage (response or shopping predisposition). The study is based upon a meta-analysis of more than 300 empirical studies and makes a theoretical as well as practical contribution to the topic area as it provides an overview on, and detailed insights into, patronage research in an offline as well as online context.

This free event, hosted by the Influences on Consumer Behaviour Research Cluster, will take place on Friday 16th September 2016, 2-3.30pm in the Inspire Lecture Theatre.  Please book your place through Eventbrite: ‘Why consumers shop where they do’

Widening Participation Fieldnotes: Emotional Work

Centre for Excellence in Learning, Knowledge Exchange

20160826_092210

BU’s Fair Access Research project concentrates on the idea of learning and working together to transform higher education. We are interested in how widening participation works differently in different institutions.

With this in mind, Maggie Hutchings and Alex Wardrop have been doing some fieldwork with colleagues in the north of England.

Widening participation is emerging as emotional work.  It is an emotional labour which sees personal stories intersect with and sometimes rub up against complex economic and political landscapes.

You can join us in this collective reflection and learning exercise by contributing to our survey. For more information about the organisational learning project, email Maggie on mhutchings@bournemouth.ac.uk

For more information about BU’s innovative Fair Access Research, email the Principal Investigators, Dr Vanessa Heaslip (vheaslip@bournemouth.ac.uk) and Dr Clive Hunt (chunt@bournemouth.ac.uk)

Research in the news: ‘Making a difference in stroke care: the human aspects of care and practice’

Publishing

Research team at RBH BU researchers Dr Caroline Ellis-Hill and Dr Carole Pound, from the Centre for Qualitative Research have been working with a team of older people with experience of stroke and staff from the Royal Bournemouth Hospital stroke team to explore the human dimensions of stroke care.

In August the team launched a Humanising Care Toolkit in a celebration attended by service users, relatives, staff and Board members at the Royal Bournemouth Hospital Foundation NHS Trust. The toolkit is a flexible resource which can be used by staff members once they have been through their own humanisation development. It includes a DVD of stories of humanising care, a set of creative materials to use in workshops and a pack of humanising care cards as well as a user manual and electronically produced presentations and handouts. Feedback from the launch event suggests hospital staff and managers are keen to explore ways the framework and toolkit may enable different units and staff groups across the Trust to notice, value and reconnect with compassionate, human centred care and practice.

‘It’s absolutely fantastic work that is going to be crucial to developing an inclusive human culture in the Trust.’

 Service user stories also highlighted the value they placed on both humanising care and being part of a research team. For example, Wynn New one of the service user participants commented:

When I first joined the action research group I was terrified of having another stroke. I thought I would never go out by myself again.  Taking part in the group allowed me to share my experiences and feedback – what worked and what truly made a difference to my recovery. I finally have my confidence back and my fear has disappeared. I count my blessings everyday.’ 

Funded by the Burdett Trust for Nursing and inspired by the ground-breaking work of Les Todres (Emeritus Professor of Health Philosophy at BU) and Kate Galvin (Professor of Nursing PractHumanising care treeice, Brighton University) the research team explored experiences of both stroke service users and providers in relation to a conceptual framework of humanising care. This framework, described in a seminal paper by Todres et al (2009) describes eight interacting dimensions that help capture the depth and breadth of being treated as human within complex, busy healthcare systems.  The work is part of a larger study led by Professor Kate Galvin.  A second site in Yorkshire worked with service users and NHS providers in a Dermatology out-patient department in order to look at the transferable aspects of humanisation theory and learning.

The project used action research methods with a focus on creative methods and collaborative sharing of stories and experiences. The team aimed to explore the relevance of the humanising care framework and get beneath the surface of what makes care feel more or less human. The stories, techniques and findings were then collated into a resource to support a new wave of busy NHS practitioners to understand and sustain humanising care in practice and become ‘Humanising Care Champions’.

For more information on the Humanising Care Toolkit contact Carole Pound cpound@bournemouth.ac.uk or Caroline Ellis Hill cehill@bournemouth.ac.uk

For further information about the breadth of work at BU inspired by the humanisation framework please visit the Humanisation pages of the Faculty for Health and Social Care.

The launch of the toolkit was reported in a number of local papers, including the Blackmore Vale magazine.

Bringing FUSION to Nepal

Fusion, innovation, international, Knowledge Transfer, Publishing, Research Integritiy, student research, Training

FUSION abroad 2016We have written in many previous BU blogs about progress of our THET-funded project in southern Nepal (e.g. here AND here ). Today’s blog reflects on the use on BU’s unique FUSION approach in our project ‘Mental Health Training for Maternity Care Providers in Nepal‘.

DSC_0151Our BU-led project brings highly experienced health professionals, such as midwives, health visitors or mental health nurses, to Nepal to work as volunteer trainers. The training is aimed at community-based maternity care practitioners and addresses key mental health issues relevant to pregnancy and for new mothers and offers the required communication skills. These health professionals will bring their experience as health care providers as well as trainers in the field of mental health and maternity care/midwifery, mental ill-health prevention and health promotion. They volunteer for two to three weeks at a time to design and deliver training in southern Nepal.

logo THETThe Centre for Midwifery & Maternal Health (CMMPH) collaborates in this project with Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU), the Department of Health, and Physical & Population Education at Nepal’s oldest university Tribhuvan University’s (TU). The project is supported in the field by a local charity called Green Tara Nepal. Our project is part of the Health Partnership such as Nepal. HPS itself is funded by the UK Department for International Development and managed by THET (Tropical and Health Education Trust).

Fusion Diagram Our maternal mental health project is a good example of BU’s FUSION approach as it combines EDUCATION (through the training of Auxiliary Nurse-Midwives in Nepal) by UK volunteers (representing PRACTICE) through an intervention which is properly evaluated (representing RESEARCH) is a perfect example of BU’s FUSION in action. Moreover, the project will be partly evaluated by FHSS’s Preeti Mahato as part of her PhD thesis research. This PhD project is supervised by Dr. Catherine Angell (CEL & CMMPH), BU Visiting Professor Padam Simkhada (based at LJMU) and CMMPH’s Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen.BU’s focus on the FUSION of research, education and professional practice is a unique variant of the way UK universities (and many abroad) blend academic teaching, research and scholarship. FUSION is a key concept derived from BU’s strategic Vision & Values).

 

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH

Building Research Collaborations with Chinese Academy of Sciences, Peking University, and Tsinghua University

Fusion Investment Fund, Post-award

Owing to a BU Fusion Investment Fund, I was able to create and consolidate research collaborations with researchers in a number of top research institutions in China over the past two years. The main objectives of the project were to extend my existing collaboration with the Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and to create new research ties with Peking University and Tsinghua University. These objectives were materialised through several planned visits to the institutions during the summer periods between July 2014 and July 2016. I am grateful to my co-investigators, Drs. Angela Golsing, and Xun He, for assisting the implementation of the plans. Together, we were able to accomplish more than our original plans by creating additional ties with Renmin University and Shanghai Maritime University. In total, we have created refereed journal articles, conference presentations, and grants during the two-year grant period. Our continuous on-going activities and future plans promise sustainability and long-term impact of the project. The following are some highlights of the project.

 

Collaboration with Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS)

The purpose of my annual visits to CAS was to consolidate and extend an existing collaboration established in 2006. CAS is the largest and highly influential research institute in China. It has a strong focus on research and recruited only postgraduates until quite recently. I began collaboration with a then early career researcher, Dr. Wenfeng Chen, about 10 years ago. He worked with me in Hull as a postdoctoral research fellow supported by the Royal Society, and later by CAS in 2008. He has since been promoted to an associate professor in a few years time. Together we secured several grants for my returning visits to CAS. We have collaborated on many papers over the past years and have recently edited a special issue for Frontiers in Psychology during the period of the FIF project. Many of our papers involved postgraduate students in his lab. Some students have now become lecturers at various institutions. I extended my network with some of them. For example, I became a co-investigator in a grant with a former PhD student, Dr. Junchen Shang, who is now at Changchun University. Through requests for my involvements in their new projects, my collaboration through CAS has grown substantially.

 

Collaboration with Tsinghua University and Peking University

These are widely recognised as the top two universities in China. Like CAS, both universities regularly receive a large number of requests for collaboration from different parts of world. It is therefore highly competitive to build a new research tie with them. I was lucky to have known Prof. Jie Sui at Tsinghua when she was still a PhD student. After completing her PhD degree at Peking University, she worked as my postdoctoral fellow for three years, supported by Marie-Curie and Royal Society fellowships. A few years later, she became highly successful and was appointed at Tsinghua University as a professor specialised in social neuroscience. This has made the new collaboration between BU and Tsinghua possible. Because of the world-class research and outstanding research facilities for fMRI and EEG at Tsinghua, there are clear benefits for the BU team to develop a close collaborative relationship with their research group. Through the FIF support, we have developed co-supervision for her postgraduate students.

 

To establish a research tie with Peking University, Xun and I visited Prof Shihui Han, an internationally renowned leader in social neuroscience. During Prof. Han’s research fellowship to Oxford University this year, we invited him to BU to present a seminar. Prof Han has proposed the idea for conducting social neuroscience experiments during the summer months at his lab.

 

Collaboration with Renmin University and Shanghai Maritime University

Apart from the proposed collaborations, I also explored similar networking opportunities with other universities in China. As a result, I have started co-supervising postgraduate students with Prof Ping Hu at Renmin University. Some of her students attempted to pursue a PhD at BU. I have also created tie with Shanghai Maritime University and have since become a co-investigator on Dr Miao Song’s recent grant.

 

I am pleased to see that quite a few other members of staff in Psychology are now successful in establishing their research collaboration with China. I hope these successes will create a lasting impact on BU’s development, internationalisation, and fusion.