BU Research Blog | Social Work and Social Policy

20 January 2019

Migrant workers & mental health in Nepal

international, Publishing, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

Congratulations to Dr. Nirmal Aryal and Dr. Pramod Regmi in BU’s Faculty of Health & Social Sciences on the acceptance of their latest paper ‘Adolescents left behind by migrant workers: Call for community-based mental health interventions in Nepal’ [1]. This paper has just been accepted by WHO South East Asia Journal of Public Health. This academic journal is Open Access and published by the Regional Office for South-East Asia of the World Health Organization (WHO) in Delhi, India. Co-authors of this scientific paper are: Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen in the Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health (CMMPH); BU Visiting Prof. Padam Simkhada (based at Liverpool John Moores University);and Dr. Pashupati Mahat from CMC-Nepal (Center for Mental Health & Counselling- Nepal).

The paper argues that there exists an increased risk of mental health problems in Nepali adolescents, especially those left-behind by migrant workers. There is a paucity of research on mental health intervention among adolescents in low and middle income countries (LMICs) such as Nepal. The paper calls for more and better community-based mental health intervention in Nepali adolescents including the special group of left-behind adolescents. Doing this work in Nepal, a country with a very high proportion of its population working abroad will have a broader implication for a other low-and middle-income countries. This article is a welcome addition to BU’s growing publications on migrant workers and health in Nepal [2-11].

References:

Aryal, N., Regmi, P. van Teijlingen, E., Simkhada, P & Mahat, P. (2019) Adolescents left behind by migrant workers: Call for community-based mental health interventions in Nepal, WHO South East Asia J Public Health (forthcoming).
Adhikary P, Sheppard Z., Keen S. van Teijlingen E (2018) Health and well-being of Nepalese migrant workers abroad, Int J Migration, Health Social Care 14(1): 96-105
Simkhada, P.P., van Teijlingen, E.R., Gurung, M., Wasti, S. (2018) A study of Health Problems of Nepalese Female Migrants Workers in the Middle-East & Malaysia, BMC International Health & Human Rights 18(1):4.
Adhikary, P., Sheppard, Z., Keen, S., van Teijlingen, E. (2017) Risky work: Accidents among Nepali migrant workers in Malaysia, Qatar and Saudi, Health Prospect 16(2): 3-10
Simkhada, P, Regmi, P., van Teijlingen E., Aryal, N. (2017) Identifying gaps in Nepalese migrant workers’ health & well-being: A review of literature J Travel Med 24(4): 1-9
Aryal, N., Regmi, PR., van Teijlingen, E., Simkhada, P., Adhikary, P., Bhatta, YKD., Mann, S. (2016) Injury & Mortality in Young Nepalese Migrant Workers: A Call for Public Health Action. Asian-Pacific Journal of Public Health 28(8): 703-705.
Aryal, N., Regmi, PR., van Teijlingen, E., Dhungel, D., Ghale, G., Bhatta, GK. (2016) Knowing is not enough: Migrant workers’ spouses vulnerability to HIV SAARC Journal of Tuberculosis, Lung Diseases & HIV/AIDS 8(1):9-15.
Sapkota, T., Simkhada, P., van Teijlingen, E. (2014) Nepalese health workers’ migration to United Kingdom: A qualitative study. Health Sci J 8(1):57-74.
Adhikary P, Keen S, van Teijlingen E. (2011) Health Issues among Nepalese migrant workers in Middle East. Health Sci J 5: 169-75.
van Teijlingen E, Simkhada, P, Adhikary P. (2009) Alcohol use among the Nepalese in UK. BMJ Rapid Response www.bmj.com/cgi/eletters/339/oct20_1/b4028#223451
Adhikary, P., Simkhada, P., van Teijlingen, E., Raja, A. (2008). Health and Lifestyle of Nepalese Migrants in the UK; BMC International Health & Human Rights, 8(6).

16 January 2019

Beautiful Work Challenge: Podcast on Birth

Centre for Excellence in Learning, international, Public engagement, Publishing, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

A few months ago Dr. Ann Luce (Faculty of Media & Communication) and I were interviewed by the US-based organisation Catalysta TM on the issue of the portrayal of childbirth in the media. This week Catalysta released the podcast which is available here!

The online interviews with a journalist and podcast producer in the USA was based on our publications around the topic, such as our highly cited BMC Pregnancy& Childbirth paper ‘“Is it realistic?” the portrayal of pregnancy and childbirth in the media ‘ [1] and our 2017 book Midwifery, Childbirth and the Media published by Palgrave Macmillan [2], as well as papers in UK midwifery journals [3-4].

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH

References

Luce, A., Cash, M., Hundley, V., Cheyne, H., van Teijlingen, E., Angell, C. (2016) “Is it realistic?” the portrayal of pregnancy and childbirth in the media, BMC Pregnancy & Childbirth 16: 40
Luce, A., Hundley, V., van Teijlingen, E. (Eds.) (2017) Midwifery, Childbirth and the Media, London: Palgrave Macmillan [ISBN: 978-3-319-63512-5].
Hundley, V., Duff, E., Dewberry, J., Luce, A., van Teijlingen, E. (2014) Fear in childbirth: are the media responsible? MIDIRS Midwifery Digest 24(4): 444-447.
Hundley, V., Luce, A., van Teijlingen, E. (2015) Do midwives need to be more media savvy? MIDIRS Midwifery Digest 25(1):5-10

12 January 2019

Migration research dissemination in Kathmandu

conferences, international, PG research Edwin van Teijlingen

Last week we presented key findings from our various research projects on health and migration in Nepal. The research meeting was held in a hotel in central Kathmandu. More than seventy people turned up, in fact more people than had registered so the kitchen had to add to the lunch buffet at short notice. The chief guest was the Deputy Speaker of the Nepal’s Federal Parliament, Shivamaya Tumbahangphe. Dr. Tumbahangphe was the first female MP in Nepal with a PhD (in Political Sciences). She is speaking on the photo right, standing next to BU’s Dr. Bibha Simkhada.
The event was organised jointly with Liverpool John Moores University, Green Tara Nepal, and POURAKHI Nepal. the latter is an organisation of women migrant workers established in 2003. It aims to ensure the rights of women migrant workers and their families in the entire process of migration. The organisation focuses its work on women migrant worker’s concerns regarding issues that arise at the different stages of migration, namely pre-employment, pre-departure, employment and post-arrival periods through support programmes.

Nearly one-seventh of the world’s population is now living in a location different from the one in which they were born. Some 3.5 million Nepali are working as migrant workers in the Gulf countries, Malaysia, and India, contributing nearly one-third of the Nepal’s gross domestic product. Despite Nepal’s long history of work-related migration, the national dialogue has only recently become more prominent. Migration has become a political as well as a social issues, for example, we see migration mentioned in the national media on a daily basis. Our meeting was reported on TV and in an English-language newspaper The Himalayan Times on January 6th (to read article click here!).

The BU team comprises: Dr Pramod Regmi (FHSS Lecturer in International Health), Dr. Nirmal Aryal (Post-doctoral Research Fellow), Dr. Bibha Simkhada (FHSS Lecturer in Nursing), and in the Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health (CMMPH) Dr. Catherine Angell and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen. The team is complemented by Liverpool John Moores University’s Prof. Padam Simkhada (who is also Visiting Professor at BU), Dr. Pratik Adhikary (BU graduate based at Green Tara Nepal) and colleagues at Datta Meghe Institute of Medical Sciences, India.

12 January 2019

Developing our partnership in Nepal

Centre for Excellence in Learning, Fusion, international, Knowledge Exchange, Public engagement, Student Engagement Edwin van Teijlingen

Last year BU signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) with Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences (MMIHS) in Kathmandu, Nepal. This week Dr. Bibha Simkhada, Lecturer in Nursing, Dr. Shanti Shanker, Lecturer (Academic) in Psychology, and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen in the Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health (CMMPH) delivered one-day workshop on qualitative and mixed-methods research approaches. The workshop was very well attended by MSc students, not just from MMIHS, but also those from several other colleges and universities.

MMIHS is part of BU’s latest bids for ERASMUS Higher Education Student & Staff Mobility between Programme and Partner Countries (Key Action 107) – International Credit Mobility. Bournemouth University’s strategic plan known as BU2015 has as one of its pillars our desire to “enrich society by having a significant impact on challenges world-wide“. Through Fusion BU aims to (a) have a positive impact world-wide on the challenges facing society; (b) ensure staff, students and graduates enrich society as active citizens in their communities; and (c) strengthen our shared impact through worldwide partnerships. Expanding and developing the existing BU-MMIHS partnership is a excellent stepping stone for the ERASMUS application.

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

31 December 2018

Final publication of 2018

PG research, Publishing, student research, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

Congratulations to Orlanda Harvey on the publication of her paper ‘Shades of Grey’: The Ethics of Social Work Practice in Relation to Un-prescribed Anabolic Androgenic Steroid Use. Orlanda Harvey is a PhD student in the Faculty of Health and Social Sciences with a research interest in image and performance enhancing drug (IPED) use. Her paper will be published in Practice: Social Work in Action.

This paper highlights ethical dilemmas that social workers face when assessing risk in relation to those using substances. It explores how legislation and societal factors can impact not just on people’s choices and decisions but also on their ‘vulnerability’ and access to services. Vulnerability, a contested term, is linked, in this paper, to assessment of risk. There are ethical issues that arise when assessing risk with people who use Anabolic Androgenic Steroids (AAS) from both service user and professional perspectives. These ethical issues concern a person’s right to choose whilst making potentially harmful decisions. The paper argues that using substances such as AAS in and of itself does not suffice to make a person vulnerable but this does not mean that people using AAS are not in need of support. It suggests that there may be some groups of people who are more at risk to starting AAS use and that social workers should be aware of these. It also recommends the need for further qualitative research to understand the reasons for starting use and support to help people stop using AAS.

Well done!

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH

21 December 2018

Congratulations to FHSS student Raksha Thapa

international, open access, PG research, Publishing, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

On the last working day of 2018 at Bournemouth University we congratulate FHSS student Raksha Thapa on the publication of her first PhD paper in her first PhD year. The paper Uptake of Health Services by People from the Dalit Community was published today in the Journal of BP Koirala Institute of Health Sciences [1]. Raksha is supervised by Dr. Pramod Regmi, Dr. Vanessa Heaslip and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen.

The paper discusses a variety of studies and reports on the uptake of health services in Nepal and other low-income countries by socio-economic cultural status in South Asia. These reports often focus on limitations due to physical factors, such as travel distance to health facility, or lack of medical facilities or electricity at the health care centre or focus on resources, such as lack of service providers, or lack of appropriately trained staff. Therefore, this article highlights the importance of discrimination as a reason for people not seeking available health care. Discrimination is particularly a barrier to service usage among the most deprived people in society, such as the Dalit community in Nepal and South Asia more generally. The authors discuss the caste-based discrimination in Nepal and its effects on health outcomes of those groups who experience such discrimination.

Reference:

Thapa, R., van Teijlingen, E., Regmi, P. , Heaslip, V. (2018) Uptake of Health Services by People from the Dalit Community, Journal of BP Koirala Institute of Health Sciences 1(2): 1-6.

19 December 2018

Successful Away Day for the Centre for Midwifery, Maternal and Perinatal Health

Fusion, HSS Our 9 Research Entities, international, NHS sueway

CMMPH held its annual away day on the 12^th December and was led by the Centre leads, Professors Edwin van Teijlingen and Susan Way. It is an opportunity for BU staff, PGR students and Visiting Faculty to come together and share their research development and impact over the previous year. Time is also given to thinking ahead to ensure the Centre is meeting its aims of promoting the health and wellbeing of women, babies and their families by enhancing practice through education, research and scholarship.

The morning started with an update about EDGE, an NHS IT platform that provides a governance framework for tracking NHS research studies. Doctoral students whose studies require NHS ethics approval will have their research tracked through this system. Other discussions included an update on REF and BU2025, developing a publications strategy and match-funded PhD studentships.

Luisa Cescutti-Butler Malika Felton

Several PGR students presented their work to date, ranging from rising caesarean section rates in hospitals in Nepal (Sulochana Dhakal working towards Probationary Review); acute and chronic effects of slow and deep breathing upon women who have pregnancy-induced hypertension (Malika Felton working towards Major Review); updating the understanding perineal practice at the time of birth by midwives (Sara Stride working towards Probationary Review) and women’s experiences of caring for their late preterm babies (Dr Luisa Cescutti-Butler recently awarded doctorate). The presentations were all excellent and produced a lot of questions and discussion. Well done to all those who presented.

Sulochana Dhakal Sara Stride

The afternoon was used as an opportunity to think ahead about future collaborative research, how this fits in with the Centre aims and objectives as well as meeting the university’s ambitions to be a world class organisation.

The day was really enjoyable with a lot of positive feedback.

Edwin and Sue

9 December 2018

MIDIRS reproduced Afghanistan paper

international, PG research, Publishing, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

Dr. Rachel Arnold’s paper ‘Parallel worlds: an ethnography of care in an Afghan maternity hospital’ [1] originally published in Social Science & Medicine (Elsevier) has been reprinted in full in MIDIRS. This is quite an accolade and should help this paper reach a wider audience. Rachel graduated with a Ph.D. from the Faculty of Health & Social Sciences in 2016, illustrating that some of the best papers get into print (long) after completing one’s Ph.D. thesis.

Reference:

Arnold, R., van Teijlingen, E., Ryan, K., Holloway, I. (2018) Parallel worlds: an ethnography of care in an Afghan maternity hospital, Social Science & Medicine 126:33-40.

7 December 2018

REF Internal Review Panels – Recruiting Now!

BU Challenges, REF Subjects, Research assessment sastringer

To help us prepare for our upcoming submission to the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2021 we are establishing a number of internal review panels to review and assess BU’s research outputs and impact case studies.

Expressions of Interest (EoI) are invited from academic staff who are interested in being a Panel Member. There will be one panel per Unit of Assessment (UOA) listed below. Those interested should identify which UOA Panel they would like to be considered for and put forward a short case (suggested length of one paragraph) as to why they are interested in the role and what they think they could bring to it. EoIs should be emailed to ref@bournemouth.ac.uk by 14th December 2018.

UOA Teams would particularly welcome EoIs from those who have:

Experience reviewing for previous REF stocktake exercises
Experience in editorship
Experience peer review

Full details of the role, the process of recruitment and terms of reference for the panels themselves can be found here.

Any queries regarding a specific panel should be directed to the UOA Leader. General enquiries should be directed to Shelly Anne Stringer, RKEO.

Unit of Assessment		UOA Leader(s)
2	Public Health, Health Services and Primary Care	Prof. Edwin Van Teijlingen
3	Allied Health Professions, Dentistry, Nursing and Pharmacy	Prof. Edwin Van Teijlingen
4	Psychology, Psychiatry and Neuroscience	Dr. Peter Hills
11	Computer Science and Informatics	Prof. Hamid Bouchachia
12	Engineering	Prof. Zulfiqar Khan
14	Geography and Environmental Studies	Prof. Rob Britton
15	Archaeology	Prof. Kate Welham and Prof. Holger Schutkowski
17	Business and Management Studies	Prof. Dean Patton
18	Law	Dr Sascha-Dominik Bachman
20	Social Work and Social Policy	Prof. Jonathan Parker
23	Education	Prof. Julian McDougall and Prof. Debbie Holley
24	Sport and Exercise Sciences, Leisure and Tourism	Prof. Tim Rees (Sport) Prof. Adam Blake (Tourism)
27	English Language and Literature	Prof. Bronwen Thomas
32	Art and Design: History, Practice and Theory	Prof. Jian Chang
33	Music, Drama, Dance, Performing Arts, Film and Screen Studies	Prof. Kerstin Stutterheim
34	Communication, Cultural and Media Studies, Library and Information Management	Prof. Iain MacRury

5 December 2018

National media coverage in Nepal

international, PG research, Publishing, student research, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

Congratulations to FHSS Dr. Pramod Regmi & Dr. Nirmal Aryal on their media appearance yesterday in a national English-language newspaper Republica. The newspaper article covers one of the key social issues in Nepal today namely migration, especially for work. Moreover, there was a different story on the Britain-Nepal health and medical relationship over the past fifty year. This feature article appeared on BBC Nepali (if you can read Nepali click here !).

In FHSS we have been working on health and migration issues in Nepal and the health and well-being of Nepali migrant workers abroad for over ten years, resulting in numerous publications [1-9].

Well done!

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH

References:

Adhikary P, Sheppard, Z., Keen S., van Teijlingen E. (2018) Health and well-being of Nepalese migrant workers abroad, International Journal of Migration, Health & Social Care 14(1): 96-105, https://doi.org/10.1108/IJMHSC-12-2015-0052
Simkhada, P.P., van Teijlingen, E.R., Gurung, M., Wasti, S. (2018) A study of Health Problems of Nepalese Female Migrants Workers in the Middle-East and Malaysia, BMC International Health & Human Rights 18(1):4. doi: 10.1186/s12914-018-0145-7.
van Teijlingen E, Simkhada, P., Adhikary, P. (2009) Alcohol use among the Nepalese in the UK BMJ Rapid Response: www.bmj.com/cgi/eletters/339/oct20_1/b4028#223451
Adhikary P., Keen S., van Teijlingen, E. (2011) Health Issues among Nepalese migrant workers in Middle East. Health Science Journal 5: 169-175. www.hsj.gr/volume5/issue3/532.pdf
Adhikary, P., Sheppard, Z., Keen, S., van Teijlingen, E. (2017) Risky work: Accidents among Nepalese migrant workers in Malaysia, Qatar and Saudi, Health Prospect 16(2): 3-10.
Aryal, N., Regmi, PR., van Teijlingen, E., Simkhada, P., Adhikary, P., Bhatta, YKD., Mann, S. (2016) Injury and Mortality in Young Nepalese Migrant Workers: A Call for Public Health Action. Asian-Pacific Journal of Public Health 28(8): 703-705.
Simkhada, PP., Regmi, PR., van Teijlingen, E., Aryal, N. (2017) Identifying the gaps in Nepalese migrant workers’ health & well-being: A review of the literature, Journal of Travel Medicine 24 (4): 1-9.
Aryal, N., Regmi, PR., van Teijlingen, E., Dhungel, D., Ghale, G., Bhatta, GK. (2016) Knowing is not enough: Migrant workers’ spouses vulnerability to HIV SAARC Journal of Tuberculosis, Lung Diseases & HIV/AIDS 8(1):9-15.
Sapkota, T., Simkhada, P., van Teijlingen, E. (2014) Nepalese health workers’ migration to United Kingdom: A qualitative study. Health Science Journal 8(1):57-74.

2 December 2018

Two papers rejected the day after submission in same week

international, PG research, Publishing, student research, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

This week we had this enviable record of two academic papers on health topics being rejected the day after submission. The first paper was submitted on Monday to Issues in Mental Health Nursing. Our paper reported the Content Analysis of a review of the nursing curricula on mental health and maternity care issues in Nepal. The journal editor emailed us the next day to inform us that the topic was interesting, but not relevant enough to the journal’s readers.

The second paper submitted by a different configuration of staff was submitted last Friday to the Journal of Youth & Adolescence. The second paper reported a qualitative study on students views on abortion in the south of England. This journal’s rapid reply came the next day (yesterday) stating that:

Unfortunately, the editors have completed an internal review of your study and have deemed your manuscript inappropriate for our journal. Although your manuscript has important strengths, the journal has moved away from supporting qualitative work (unless it would be part of a journal special issue). Please rest assured that our decision has nothing to do with the quality of your study or findings.

On both occasion we had discussed potential journals and we thought we had targeted appropriate journals for the respective manuscripts. Moreover, in both manuscripts we managed to cite at least one paper published in the journal to which we had submitted it. The general message to my colleagues is that it does not matter how many papers you have written and submitted, you will: (1) occasionally opt for the wrong journal; (2) continue to face regular rejection by journal editors; and (3) have an opportunity to submit to another journal.

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health

26 November 2018

Welcome to the Carnival!

Centre for Excellence in Learning, Festival of Learning, Public engagement, Women's Academic Network Sara Ashencaen Crabtree

Last year the Women’s Academic Network hosted ‘Project Vagina’, an interactive art exhibition by the feminist art collective, Red Luna, who have since reformed into The Leggy Blondes, a creative, visual and performative group, led by Rebekah Brown and Megan Juniper, whose work features at art exhibitions, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, schools and universities.

Student feedback from last year’s event was so positive that they had to be brought back for an even bigger bash at BU. This year the Leggy Blondes strutted their stuff as part of the ESRC Festival of Social Sciences public engagement event, the Carnival of Sex, Sexuality & Gender. The Carnival was designed to be a fun, tongue-in-cheek pedagogic event using a mixture of subversive, merry mayhem and serious scholarship. The topic carries huge social relevance in contemporary society where gender has become deeply politicised – interpreted both as a source of liberation but at the same time problematised and angst ridden.

Badging this WAN event with The Centre for Excellence in Learning (CEL) and Athena Swan, the morning was devoted to the amazing, revamped ‘Vagina’ artefact itself, party games and objects d’art to explore, and a ‘Banging and Screwing’ cabaret featuring cheeky workmen – all thanks to the ‘Blondes’.

The afternoon consisted of a Q&A panel discussion, chaired by Professor Sara Ashencaen Crabtree. Dr Katie Lonie from the University of Sidney discussed her research work on young women’s political engagement. Dr Conor Doaks from the University of Bristol elucidated his area of expertise: masculinities and culture. WAN colleagues, Dr Shelley Thompson and Dr Paola Vizcaino-Suárez made up the panel quarter by presenting their work on firstly: women, STEMM, news and popular culture, followed by gender-based violence and tourism.

Over lunch participants crowded around Mr Aaron Lownie, Japanese Shibari artiste, demonstrating this esoteric, erotic art form of graceful, sedate, head-scratching complexity. Following this staff from CEL led an arts-based workshop. Curie Scott and Anne Quinney run workshops on using creative methods in research and education practice. They invited participants to produce an individual or group creative artefact based on a theme from the day. On hand were dressing up clothes, modelling clay, magazines, recycled material, paper, fabric, sequins, and pipe cleaners (to name a few!). The open space and time helped people to create visually provoking images. The dressing up box was especially well used!

The Carnival theme was closed in style by the amazing Norm, ‘Mr Balloon Man’, now a regular to BU, whose fantastic and transitory works-of-art were hugely popular with participants and carried off protectively into the dark, rainy, windy night following a colourful day of diverse public pedagogy.

Finally, many thanks to colleagues for their support and help, including Dr Lorraine Brown, Professor Jonathan Parker, Dr Frances Hawkhead, Genna del Rosa, Amanda Lazar and Beverley Allen.

19 November 2018

Highly topical BU article on BREXIT

international, NHS, open access, Publishing, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

Congratulations to Dr. Rosie Read and Prof. Lee-Ann Fenge in the Faculty of Health & Social Sciences who just published in the academic journal Health and Social Care in the Community. Their paper is called ‘What does Brexit mean for the UK social care workforce? Perspectives from the recruitment and retention frontline’ [1]. You can’t have a more topical academic paper and it is freely available on the web through Open Access!

The paper is based on research on research they undertook last year on the impact of Brexit on the social care workforce. A key finding is that, irrespective of whether they employ EU/EEA workers or not, research participants have deep concerns about Brexit’s potential impact on the social care labour market. These include apprehensions about future restrictions on hiring EU/EEA nurses, as well as fears about increased competition for care staff and their organisation’s future financial viability. This article amplifies the voices of managers as an under‐researched group, bringing their perspectives on Brexit to bear on wider debates on social care workforce sustainability.

Congratulations!

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

Reference:

Read R, Fenge L‐A. (2018) What does Brexit mean for the UK social care workforce? Perspectives from the recruitment and retention frontline.
Health Soc Care Community [online first] :1–7. https://doi.org/10.1111/hsc.12684

21 October 2018

Journal of Asian Midwives

international, open access, PG research, Publishing, student research, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

As co-editor of the Journal of Asian Midwives I receive occasional updates from the Aga Khan University (AKU) library in Pakistan on the number of downloads of articles published in the journal. The journal is fully Open Access and does not charge a submission or processing fees! All articles in the Journal of Asian Midwives are stored online in the AKU Institutional Repository. The latest update with data until end of September 2018 informed us that there had been: 18,462 downloads, from 167 countries/regions, across 56 articles. Nearly 20,000 downloads is not bad for a fairly new journal, which only published its inaugural issue online in 2014.

What is interesting is that the detailed download figures show that Bournemouth University is the highest ranking university of all the downloading organisations. Listed as fifth on the download list, Bournemouth is behind two commercial organisations, the Pakistan library network and Bangladesh-based Icddr-B. The latter is one of the largest NGO (Non-Governmental Organisations in the world based on staff numbers. Of course it helps that Bournemouth academic staff and PhD students have published five scientific articles in the past four editions of the journal [1-5].

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH (Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health)

References:

Ireland, J., van Teijlingen, E., Kemp, J. (2015) Twinning in Nepal: the Royal College of Midwives UK and the Midwifery Society of Nepal working in partnership, Journal of Asian Midwives 2 (1): 26-33.
Mahato, P., van Teijlingen, E., Simkhada, P., Angell, C. (2016) Birthing centres in Nepal: Recent developments, obstacles and opportunities, Journal of Asian Midwives 3(1): 18-30.
Baral, YR., Lyons, K., van Teijlingen, ER., Skinner, J., (2016) The uptake of skilled birth attendants’ services in rural Nepal: A qualitative study, Journal of Asian Midwives 3(3): 7-25.
Sharma, S., Simkhada, P., Hundley, V., van Teijlingen, E., Stephens J, Silwal, R.C., Angell, C. (2017) Evaluation a Community Maternal Health Programme: Lessons Learnt. Journal of Asian Midwives. 4(1): 3–20.
Mahato, P., van Teijlingen, E., Simkhada, P., Angell, C. (2017) Determinants of quality of care & access to Basic Emergency Obstetric & Neonatal Care facilities & midwife-led facilities in low & middle-income countries: A Systematic Review, Journal of Asian Midwives 4(2):25-51.

17 October 2018

Seldom Heard Voices at BridLit Fringe Festival

Public engagement lfenge

There is an opportunity to see a live performance of the Seldom Heard Voices project as part of the BridLit Fringe Festival on Monday 12th November 2018 from 2-3.30pm at the Lyric Theatre in Barrack Street Bridport. This builds on two research projects undertaken by Professor Lee-Ann Fenge and Wendy Cutts from the Centre for Seldom Heard Voices in FHSS. The event will include film, photography and performance and promises to be an engaging event. Please do come along.
To book a ticket for this event please follow the link:
https://www.bridlitfringe.co.uk/workshops/2018/11/12/seldom-heard-voices

Lee-Ann Fenge and Wendy Cutts have also recently had a paper published detailing their Seldom Heard Voices project with St Paul’s hostel and the use of poetic inquiry as a qualitative research tool:
‘Understanding homelessness through poetic inquiry: Looking into the shadows’ Social Work & Social Sciences Review 19(3): 119-133
https://journals.whitingbirch.net/index.php/SWSSR/article/view/1194

15 October 2018

Final Safeguarding Adults ESRC seminar: Fusion in practice

Jonathan Parker

The final seminar in our ESRC seminar series concerning the development of legal literacy and adult safeguarding was held at the Friends’ Meeting House in London on the 11^thOctober bringing together three years exploration of meanings, interpretation and learning from the implementation of the Care Act 2014. The series brought together expertise in adult safeguarding from the universities of Bournemouth, Bedford, East Anglia, Chester and led by Keele University, alongside practitioner expertise from 39 Essex Chambers and PASA-UK (Practitioner Alliance for Safeguarding Adults).

The morning session was chaired by Prof Jonathan Parker, who introduced the retired high court judge Sir Mark Hedley to begin the day by examining professional power and responsibility and the complexities of decision-specific capacity and the need for care, brought to life through a range of often heart-wrenching cases. Prof Paul Kingston (Chester) and Luke Joannou of the Royal British Legion then considered the topical area of safeguarding in the charitable sector that highlighted contemporary demands for good governance brought to the fore by recent cases involving Oxfam and Save the Children. The final session of the morning was presented by Kenny Gibson, the recently appointed head of safeguarding for NHS England. Kenny, only 120 days in post, articulated some of the changes NHS England was making to roll out understanding and improve practice in safeguarding across the workforce.

Prof Michael Preston-Shoot (Bedford) chaired the afternoon session. The Rt Hon Norman Lamb MP, the former minister who ushered through the Care Act 2014 began the afternoon, reflecting on transformative approaches to care and Winterbourne View. He was followed by Prof Jill Manthorpe (King’s College, London) who presented aspects of her research group’s work on whether or not powers of entry would be beneficial for practitioners working in adult safeguarding; a fraught and contested area of practice that raises the importance of debate in this area. Bridget Penhale (UEA) then took us back into the history of identifying elder abuse – a very recent history – showing the political twists and turns, and the ways this has added to calls for a UN Convention of the Human Rights of Older People. The afternoon was completed by Alex Ruck Keane (39 Essex Chambers) who took us back to the beginnings of the seminar programme and the elusive processes in developing adequate definitions to negotiate this complex practice milieu.

As the series drew to a close we have turned attention to sustainability, dissemination and taking forwards the learning. One of the central elements of the three years has been to raise awareness and knowledge amongst the next generation – public, professional and academic – of adult safeguarding and to identify and challenge blurred lines within society. One way of doing so has been to ensure spaces are available for students, at all levels of study. As an example of our BU fusion approach, promoting the interface of research, education and practice, final year Sociology & Criminology student, Andreas Bubier-Johnstone joined the seminar, his interests developing through the degree programme. His reflections are useful:

As a third year Sociology & Criminology student wanting to pursue a future career in Adult Safeguarding I found the seminar overall a tremendous help. On arrival I was greeted by many fantastic minds, and felt instantly welcome. All of the speakers provided me with new and, more importantly, useful information, whether it was from textbook legalities and standard protocols, to their own personal experiences; it was both fascinating, and stimulating. I found the overall diversity of the speakers, something of great interest. Being able to gauge information from different people, and perspectives was a great touch in showing different fields and how they function.

What I took away from the day simply was clarity. I knew after the seminar was over, that I really did want to pursue a career in adult safeguarding. It gave me a new founded drive, speaking to people who are developed in the field really has given me a boost, and hunger to achieve my future career goals. The people who attended the seminar were all very helpful, and provided me with information on how to further achieve my goals for the future.

Jonathan Parker and Andreas Bubier-Johnstone

15 October 2018

Public involvement in health research: a concept analysis

HSS Our 9 Research Entities, NHS, open access, Public engagement mhughes

Within the Bournemouth University PIER (Public Involvement in Education and Research) partnership and the BU Research Centre for Seldom Heard Voices we have been re-evaluating the nature and purpose of PPI (what, why and how) in order to identify ways of broadening the models and approaches used by researchers. This stems from our on-going work to identify, pilot and evaluate models which have the most impact and which involve a more diverse range of voices in shaping and informing health and social sciences research. As part of this process we conducted a concept analysis drawing on published research where claims of PPI were made. As a result, we identified five operational definitions for conducting PPI. The five definitions which outline different models or approaches to conducting PPI, were: undefined involvement; targeted consultation; embedded consultation; collaboration and coproduction; and user led research. We deliberately avoided presenting these as a ladder or pyramid of involvement given the significant impact on the research cycle which can be achieved with each approach. The definitions provide a useful tool for researchers to consider how best to incorporate public involvement into their research and to consider what the impact of doing so might be. The paper is available for open accesss at https://rdcu.be/5uin Hughes, M. and Duffy, C 2018 Public involvement in health and social sciences research: a concept analysis. Health Expectations.

11 October 2018

Congratulations to Dr. Alison Taylor

PG research, Publishing, student research, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

Congratulations to Dr. Alison Taylor whose PhD paper ‘The therapeutic role of video diaries: A qualitative study involving breastfeeding mothers‘ has just appeared online [1]. This paper, in Women and Birth (published by Elsevier), was co-authored with her PhD supervisors Prof. Emerita Jo Alexander, Prof. Kath Ryan (University of Reading) and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen.

The paper highlights that despite breastfeeding providing maximum health benefits to mother and baby, many women in the United Kingdom do not breastfeed, or do so briefly. Alison’s study explored in a novel way the everyday experiences of first-time breastfeeding mothers in the early weeks following birth. Five UK mothers were given a camcorder to capture their real-time experiences in a video diary, until they perceived their infant feeding was established. This meant that data were collected at different hours of the day by new mothers without a researcher being present. Using a multidimensional approach to analysis, we examined how five mothers interacted with the camcorder as they shared their emotions, feelings, thoughts and actions in real-time. In total mothers recorded 294 video clips, total recording time exceeded 43 hours.

This paper focuses on one theme, the therapeutic role of the camcorder in qualitative research. Four subthemes are discussed highlighting the therapeutic impact of talking to the camcorder: personifying the camcorder; using the camcorder as a confidante; a sounding board; and a mirror and motivator. The paper concludes that frequent opportunities to relieve tension by talking to “someone” without interruption, judgement or advice can be therapeutic and that more research is needed into how the video diary method can be integrated into standard postnatal care to provide benefits for a wider population.

Alison is Senior Lecturer in Midwifery and a member of the Centre for Midwifery, Maternatal & Perinal Health.

Reference:

Taylor, A.M., van Teijlingen, E., Alexander, J. & Ryan, K. The therapeutic role of video diaries: A qualitative study involving breastfeeding mothers, Women Birth (2018), (online first) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wombi.2018.08.160

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