
BUDI’s January 2016 Newsletter

Latest research and knowledge exchange news at Bournemouth University
The forthcoming editorial in Midwifery (Elsevier) by FHSS’s Dr Susan Way highlights the importance of midwifery education and its educators.[1] This editorial makes reference to the recent series on midwifery in The Lancet.[2] Of course, midwifery plays a vital role in improving the quality of care of women and infants globally. Dr. Way reminds us that consistent, high-quality midwifery care has a vital role to play in the reduction of maternal and newborn mortality. Outcomes are enhanced when care is led by midwives who are educated, licensed, regulated, integrated in the health system, and working in interdisciplinary teams, with ready access to specialised care when needed.
Midwifery one of the leading academic journals globally in the field of midwifery and maternity care. Dr.Way is based in the Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health in FHSS at the Lansdowne Campus.
Congratulations!
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
CMMPH
References:
On Wednesday Jan. 27th CMMPH PhD student Preeti Mahato will present her PhD research ideas under the title “Addressing quality of care and equity of services available at birthing centres to improve maternal and neonatal health in western Nepal.” Her presentation will be held at the Lansdowne Campus at 13.00 in room 301 in Royal London House.
Preeti’s research focuses on birthing centres in western Nepal; and quality and equity of service available at these facilities. In Nepal, birthing centres act as first contact point for the women seeking maternity services especially the basic obstetric care. The focus of this presentation will be to talk about the first review article Preeti Mahato wrote for the ‘Journal of Asian Midwives’ entitled “Birthing centres in Nepal: Recent development, obstacles and opportunities”. The article has been accepted for publication in June 2016 and focuses on introducing birthing centres, their current state of operation under the health system of Nepal, barriers they are facing and what could be done to improve their present state. The quality of care issue available at birthing centre is emphasised, since the number of these facilities are increasing however there is a growing trend to bypass and uptake services at hospitals. Despite barriers to utilisation of services at birthing centres, they can play an important role in increasing institutional delivery rate and proportion of births benefiting from a skilled birth attendant.
The second part of presentation will provide a brief summary on what Preeti has done since writing a review article, as she has worked on a systematic review on quality of basic obstetric care facilities in low and middle income countries.
Preeti Mahato has worked in the field of public health in Nepal for three years after completing her Master of Public Health. She has an interest in sexual and reproductive health, women’s health and maternal and child health. Working as a public health officer she was involved in maternal and neonatal health that developed her interest in pursuing a doctorate related to maternal and neonatal health. Part of her work in Nepal also included monitoring and supervision of birthing centres in rural areas of Nepal and that is how she became motivated to start a PhD at BU.
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
CMMPH
Bournemouth University’s Dr Ashley Woodfall and Dr Marketa Zezulkova have recently been published in the Special Anniversary Issue of the Journal of Children and Media. The journal is the most significant interdisciplinary one in the field of children and media, and the special issue features big-picture commentaries and analyses that address the challenges and opportunities facing children and media researchers.
As the journal editorial states: Ashley Woodfall and Marketa Zezulkova focus on the lived media engagement of children as dialogic and holistic, requiring us “to recognise the child as entry point, centre and interpreter of their media experience and learning.”
The paper is available on an open access basis, funded by BU’s open access publication fund.
Woodfall A & Zezulkova M., 2016. What ‘children’ experience and ‘adults’ may overlook: phenomenological approaches to media practice, education and research. In: Journal of Children and Media. 10(1) 98-106.
On Friday January 22nd 2016 FHSS Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen delivered a keynote address at the Annual Research Conference of the Dutch Midwifery Schools. The Dutch name for the event is ‘conferentie kennispoort’, in English ‘conference knowledge portal’ OR in a slightly different translation ‘conference knowledge gate’. The presentation aimed to get midwives, maternity care researchers and midwifery students and others in the audience to think differently about the world in which they work / practise. Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen used notions of a social versus a medical model in his talk. These are based on a number of sociology and midwifery publications of this concept over the past decade.[1-4]
Sociologists recognise two different approaches or philosophies as first a social model and, secondly, a medical model of childbirth. The social model stresses that childbirth is a physiological event that takes place in most women’s lives. The medical model highlights that childbirth is potentially pathological (or risky). In the latter view every pregnant woman is potentially at risk, hence she should deliver her baby in an obstetric hospital with its high-technology screening equipment supervised by obstetricians, the experts when something goes seriously wrong in childbirth. In other words, pregnancy and childbirth are only safe in retrospect.
References:
Margaret Hogg, Fulgoni Professor of Consumer Behaviour and Marketing at Lancaster University, will be visiting the University on Wednesday, 10th February, to give a research seminar. This will be held at 3pm in the Lawrence Lecture Theatre on the Talbot Campus. Refreshments will be available after the seminar.
Professor Hogg is on the editorial board of the Journal of Business Research, the Journal of Marketing Management and the Handbook of Marketing Theory and she is co-author of Consumer Research: A European Perspective (Solomon, Bamossy, Askegaard & Hogg, 2013). Margaret’s research has a broad inter-disciplinary base with a particular interest in family consumption and buying behaviour including consumer behaviour in single mothers, care leavers, and fatherhood. Margaret’s talk is entitled ‘Becoming Respectable: Low income young women, consumption and the pursuit of socially appropriate mothering’.
Congratulations to Professor Vanora Hundley in the Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health (CMMPH) on the publication of her latest international paper ‘How do midwives in Slovenia view their professional status?’ [1].
The paper explores Slovenian midwives’ views of their professional status, linkng this to the participants’ educational background. Most participants did not consider midwifery to be a profession in its ow right. Midwives with secondary education were more likely to consider practical skills to be important than theoretical midwifery knowledge. In general Slovenian midwives did not feel enabled to practise autonomously causing them several ethical dilemmas. All participants with midwifery secondary school education thought that obstetrics jeopardises midwifery scope of practice, but only half of the B.Sc. participants thought this. One-fifth of all participants estimated that midwifery is also threatened by nursing. The respondents reported feeling a lack of control over their professional activity and policy making; however the majority of midwives claimed that they were willing to take on more responsibility for independent practice. The authors conclude that Slovenian midwifery cannot be considered to be a profession yet. It faces several hindrances, due to its historical development.
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
CMMPH
Reference:
Mivšek, P., Pahor, M., Hlebec, V., Hundley, V. (2015) How do midwives in Slovenia view their professional status? Midwifery 31(12):1193-201
All staff and students welcome. Please feel free to bring your lunch.
Abstract:
“Performative Social Science” was a term first coined by Norman Denzin in 2001, the year that Kip Jones received his PhD and began to explore new ways to communicate Social Science findings to wider audiences.
What is Performative Social Science (PSS) then, Art or Science? It isn’t one or the other. It is enriching the ways in which Social Science subjects might be researched and/or findings disseminated or communicated to various communities. Ideally, audiences should be almost unaware of the seams where practitioners have cobbled together in-depth, substantial scholarship with artistic endeavor. PSS is defined as the use of tools from the Arts or Humanities in investigating and/or disseminating Social Science research.
The Seminar will explore Jones’ journey from early productions produced on his PC in his bedsit, to gatherings (physical and virtual) of like-minded academics (Illustrated above), to the production of a major short film based in solid qualitative research methods including auto-ethnography, and back again to ‘kitchen sink’ work, producing creative productions which inform his future efforts.
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If you have any queries, please get in touch with seminar series coordinator Dr Mastoureh Fathi, mfathi@bournemouth.ac.uk
Congratulations to Miguel Moital from the Department of Events & Leisure, Faculty of Management, on his new publication which appears in the latest issue of Psychology & Marketing. The paper, entitled “Segmenting the Business Traveler Based on Emotions, Satisfaction, and Behavioral Intention” is the result of a collaboration with Angel Millan and Maria Luisa Fanjul from Spain. The study demonstrates that the relationship between emotions and satisfaction is not unidirectional as far as business tourism is concerned. For two of the four segments, the valence of emotions translated into an opposite level of satisfaction/intention.
Full reference
Campos, A. M, Fanjul, M. L., and Moital, M., 2016. Segmenting the business traveler based on emotions, satisfaction and behavioral intention, Psychology & Marketing, 33(2), 82-93
I’m Sharon Docherty and I have just joined the Bournemouth University Clinical Research Unit (BUCRU) team as a Research Fellow in Quantitative Methods. My background is in Biology with a particular interest in Physiology and I’ve been involved in clinical research for the past 12 years. I also have lots of experience working with large datasets (too many years to think about) and love trying to figure out the best way of presenting results.
My main area of research interest is looking at the effects of clinical conditions (neck pain, Parkinson’s disease, diabetes) on people’s perception of vertical. How we perceive upright is dependent on our brain’s ability to integrate visual, vestibular (inner ear) and proprioceptive (positioning of joints) information. When the information from one of these systems is faulty, the brain has to overcome this by relying on signals from the other sources. This could lead to problems such as an increased risk of falling.
Some of you may already know me as I have taught across various programmes (Anatomy and Physiology, Research Methodology) within Health and Social Sciences. I’m also one of the co-founders and organisers of Bournemouth Café Scientifique, a public engagement forum for discussing scientific ideas.
So what will I be doing? As a member of the BUCRU team I am here to help you with any health related research you may be doing/thinking about doing. In particular, I can help with the design of quantitative studies as well as what to do with the collected data. I am also here to support you with developing grant proposals. You can find me on the 5th floor of Royal London House or email me sdocherty@bournemouth.ac.uk.
BBC Arts Online and the British Council, supported by the GREAT Britain campaign, are collaborating to enable audiences, in the UK and overseas, to experience and discover the best of British Shakespeare in all art forms. The plan is to open with a 24 hour live-stream on 23 April 2016 and to offer new content on a regular basis over six months.
The British Council, on behalf of the GREAT Britain campaign, is calling for ideas from artists and cultural organisations across the UK. Funding is available for international rights clearances and to support the production of new content.
Five key cultural organisations are already working with to provide world-class content – Shakespeare’s Globe, The Royal Opera House, the British Film Institute, Hay Festivals and the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Shakespeare400 consortium coordinated by King’s College.
The content will be hosted on BBC Shakespeare Lives (bbc.co.uk/shakespearelives ) and promoted internationally by BBC Worldwide online ( bbc.com/culture) so global rights need to be cleared . The campaign will be supported by social media campaigns in order to drive audiences to this unique festival.
This is an unprecedented partnership project for the BBC and the British Council and believe it has great potential for all organisations involved to increase their international reach and reputation.
We are particularly looking for ideas which appeal to younger audiences and convey the diversity and creativity of the UK’s Arts sector. If you are interested in applying, please complete the attached form.
Click here for more information including the application form.
Congratulations to Janet Scammell, Vanessa Heaslip and Emma Crowley in FHSS on their new publication which appeared at the very end of 2015. Their most recent paper is the first systematic review of service user involvement in non-mental health specific preregistration nurse education. The paper ‘Service user involvement in preregistration general nurse education: a systematic review’ is published in the current issue of the Journal of Clinical Nursing. [1]
Well done!
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
CMMPH
Reference:
Expressions of Interest sought:
A new interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary Research Centre is proposed by Professor Ann Brooks, Prof of Sociology and Head of Research and Professional Practice in the Department of Social Sciences and Social Work (HSS). The Centre has already attracted academic colleagues from across BU and is designed to encourage the building of research synergies across different disciplinary areas.
The aims of the new Centre are as follows:
The range of research areas covered by the proposed new Centre to date includes:
The wide range of research interests will provide colleagues with opportunities to participate in events locally, regionally and nationally and provide opportunities to work collaboratively with colleagues who may be located in different faculties.
Expressions of Interest in the proposed new Research Centre are welcome. Please contact Prof Ann Brooks: abrooks@bournemouth.ac.uk
A few days I posted a short report of our first session as part of the THET-funded project ‘Mental Health Training for Community-based Maternity Providers in Nepal’, see this previous post here. Yesterday we completed the final third day training of the first session of this BU-led project. Over three days we had 70 ANMs (Auxiliary Nurse Midwives) in attendance, which we think is (nearly) all such staff based in all birthing centres in the district (=province). The three days were the same, i.e. each session was repeated twice so each day one third of the ANMs could attend, and two-third could be at work in the birthing centre ensuring women could deliver safely.
As part of this project we send UK volunteers (health and/or education) experts to Nepal to offer high quality training in areas where it is most needed. Further detail on this BU-led THET project can be found in our scientific paper Mental health issues in pregnant women in Nepal published in the Nepal Journal of Epidemiology available through Open Access. Mental illness is still very much a taboo topic in Nepal as it has often a serious stigma attached to it. Moreover, the relatively short training of ANMs is often fairly basic and the national curriculum does not cover mental health issues in any detail. This joint project between Bournemouth University, Liverpool John Mooores University, Tribhuvan University and the local charity Green Tata Nepal addresses issues about mental health in general and in pregnant women and new mothers in particular. Tribhuvan University is the oldest university in Nepal and one of the ten largest universities in the world (based on student numbers). The project is multi-disciplinary involving midwives, (mental health) nurses, and doctors as well as global health researchers, educationalists and sociologists.
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
CMMPH
Bournemouth University, as all good universities, has an in-depth risk assessment form for staff to complete prior to their travel on university business. The form is required for all travel even it is on the train to Southampton for a research meeting. Before I left for Nepal late last year I completed the form, assessed the usual travel risk to a low-income country, including the risk food poisoning, malaria and car accidents. The latter is usually the most serious risk for a healthy educated academic traveller to a low-income country.
I have been to Nepal nearly twenty times, I have in many a house of office with low ceilings and low door frames, so why did I not duck deep enough this morning in the training centre we use for running our THET project. To add to my shame it was not even the first day in this training centre as we were here all day yesterday. The good thing is (as a sociologist) I got to do some in promptu participant observation in the local A&E in the health centre in Parasi. Not that I can use it in my research as I didn’t apply for ethical approval for this unique additional part of the fieldwork.
For the record, the A&E service in Parasi is excellent, but it helps, of course, that we are doing training with the support of the District Health Office and we were only two minutes driving away from the health post. The other good thing is that it hurts a little, but no damage done! ethical approval for this part of the fieldwork. The other good thing is that it hurts a little, but no damage done!
Finally, I would like to say “Thank you!” to the ANMs (Auxiliary Nurse Midwives) who pick up off the floor and my Nepali colleagues for worrying about me.
Professor Edwin van Teijlingen
CMMPH
Today, after months of delay, UK volunteers managed to deliver the first THET-funded training as part of the BU-led project ‘Mental Health Training for Community-based Maternity Providers in Nepal’. The first serious delays occurred due to the devastating earthquake in April 2015 when we are just about to start our project. Then more delays happened due to the political unrest in the country after the signing of the new Constitution of Nepal in September 2015. Whilst there are still plenty of people living in make-shift shelters today in some of the more remote districts affected by the earthquake and there is still a serious shortage of petrol and cooking gas due to politically-driven blockages at the Indian-Nepali border, the situation is now safe enough to start bringing UK volunteers to Nepal.
Today’s first training was delivered in Kathmandu to our friends and colleagues at MIDSON, the Midwifery Society of Nepal (the equivalent of the Royal College of Midwives in the UK). Joining Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen to deliver the first training session to Nepali midwives is Dr. Bibha Simkhada from Liverpool John Moores University. Bibha is a nurse in Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust as well as BU Visiting Faculty. The audience at MIDSON was very helpful in giving feedback on the planned training in the southern district of Nawalparasi (starting Sunday 10th January). The agreement is to run a one-day training session for ANMs (Auxiliary Nurse Midwives), and run this three day in a row for one-third of all the birthing centre staff from across the district. This means that the government birthing centres can stay open with the other two-thirds on the staff on any one day. Further detail on this BU-led THET project can be found in our recent academic article, which is available through Open Access: click here.
Professor Edwin van Teijlingen
CMMPH
A £100,000 Wellcome Trust Seed Award has been granted to fund a project using fruit flies (Drosophila) to examine an important yet poorly understood aspect of human heart physiology.
The heart senses and adapts to its own highly dynamic mechanical environment. This environment changes beat-by-beat, as well as over longer timescales, due to altered physiology or as a consequence of disease. Failure to detect and adjust cardiac performance accordingly is associated with arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death. The mechanism for this adaptation is not known.
The goal is to study the cellular and molecular basis of this mechanism using the Drosophila heart as a simple model. Preliminary data obtained for an Honours project suggests that stretch-activated mechanosensitive ion channels are key components.
Research supported by Paul Hartley’s lab here at Bournemouth University and led by Dr Barry Denholm (University of Edinburgh) will investigate the hypothesis that these channels provide a direct link to convert physical force (stretch of the cardiac tissue) into biochemical signal (ion flux), which in turn regulates heart physiology and function (contractility).
BU is continuing to strengthen the partnership with Financial University under the Government of Russian Federation (FU) in Moscow, Russia. Faculty of Management academics, Dr Elvira Bolat (Department of Marketing), Dr Sukanay Ayatakshi Endow and Dr Parisa Gilani (both from the Department of Leadership, Strategy and Organisations) are organising one day FBU workshop titled ‘Digital momentum for SMEs’. FU is hosting the event which will take place on 12th March 2016. The FBU interactive workshop is targeting 40 attendees including Russian SMEs, marketing and management academics, and FU students.
Digital technologies have expanded the business opportunities made possible by the invention of the Internet. SMEs are particularly benefiting from the deployment of digital technologies and respective capabilities. Benefits include new jobs, new experiences in the form of services and products, innovative and cost-effective business models, new ways to fund startups as well as numerous options to effectively communicate with various stakeholders. Numerous workshops and conferences across the subjects around SMEs’ finances, SMEs’ marketing and management are all fragmented focusing on particular nuances of various aspects within the SMEs’ decision-making processes. Nevertheless, an interdisciplinary nature of this research field requires collective academic thinking – to result in recommendations which are meaningful and instrumental to increasing the impact of SMEs globally.
BU has teaching, research and professional practice interests across the disciplines contributing to the theme of the workshop, “Digital momentum for SMEs”. The aim of the FBU workshop is to communicate the existing research expertise of BU academics. Hence, the FBU workshop is grounded on previous events hosted and delivered by BU academics, (1) BU Festival of Learning 2013 workshop “Mobile momentum: Creating opportunities and being SMART ” (led by Dr Bolat); (2) “Social Entrepreneurship – What, How and Why?” event, in association with the School for Social Entrepreneurs (SSE) Hampshire (led by Dr Ayatakshi Endow). Hence, in addition to nurturing the BU and FU partnership, the FBU workshop will boost BU’s interdisciplinary research output, and increase contributions to teaching and grant proposals related to the following themes: (1) digital marketing; (2) entrepreneurship.
The FBU international workshop will cover the following list of research areas unique to BU:
The overall visit to Moscow will last up to four days which will include meetings with Russian academics regarding collaborative research agendas.