BU Research Blog | Sociology & Social Policy

12 June 2018

Health & migration research in Nepal & India #BUFoL18

Festival of Learning, international, PG research, Public engagement Edwin van Teijlingen

Festival of Learning event 2018 with an international flavour: exploring recent research projects undertaken in Nepal by staff from the Faculty of Health and Social Sciences. The event focuses on Nepali migrant workers in India, women and migration and explores the health and social issues of transgender and the use of hormone therapy in male-to-female transitioning populations in Nepal.

Fusion Building: Create Lecture Theatre, Bournemouth University on Saturday 16 June 2018 from 5.00-6.00PM

Free tickets can be found here!

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen, Dr Pramod Regmi & Prof Padam Simkhada (BU Visiting Faculty)

25 May 2018

BU contribution to Routledge Handbook of Well-Being

Publishing, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

Congratulations to current and past academics in the Faculty of Health & Social Sciences and the Faculty of Science & Technology who contributed to the newly published Routledge Handbook of Well-Being. The editor Prof. Kate Galvin was previously based at Bournemouth University. She is currently Professor of Nursing Practice in the School of Health Sciences at the University of Brighton.

The following four chapters in the edited collection have been authored or co-authored by BU scholars and students past and present:

Dwelling- Mobility: An Existential Theory of Well-being Chapter 8 by Les Todres & Kate Galvin
Heritage and Well-being: Therapeutic places, past and present Chapter 11 by Timothy Darvill, Vanessa Heaslip & Kerry Barras
Embodied Routes to Well-being: Horses and Young People Chapter 20 by Ann Hemingway
Eighteen Kinds of well-being but there may be many more: A conceptual Framework that provides direction for Caring Chapter 30 by Kate Galvin & Les Todres.

Congratulations to all!

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

23 May 2018

Two reviews by BU academics in the American Anthropologist in 2018

international, open access, Publishing, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

The first review by a Bournemouth University academic in the prestigious journal American Anthropologist was published in its February issue. Dr. Sue Sudbury who is Principal Academic in Media Production reviewed the film ‘The Anthropologist’ [1]. She wrote in this Open Access review that this film raises many interesting issues about the role of the anthropologist and deftly illustrates the divide that exists when different cultures come together. Her conclusion of the review is that ‘The Anthropologist’ is an intriguing and memorable film about environmental anthropologists and the important work they do collecting and telling the stories of people whose lives are being reshaped by climate change. It is also about the relationship between female anthropologists and their daughters. As such, it does an important job of introducing the subject and will no doubt generate discussion, but it is not an anthropological film and doesn’t claim to be.

The second one, a book review this time, appeared this week in the June issue. Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen in Bournemouth University’s Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health (CMMPH) reviewed the book Midwives and Mothers: The Medicalization of Childbirth on a Guatemalan Plantation by the American anthropologist Sheila Cosminsky [2]. He reminds the reader that some of the work in this book work has previously been published in articles, as clearly stated in the acknowledgments (p. xii). He highlights that “on reading the book I remembered with joy snippets from some of the articles on Doña María I read nearly thirty years ago while working on my PhD thesis.” Cosminsky does a great job of bringing together a lifetime of anthropological (field)work in a comprehensive and easy‐to‐read book.

It is not often that we see reviews written by BU staff in this impressive journal, let alone two in subsequent issues.

References:

Sudbury S. (2018) The Anthropologist Seth Kramer, Daniel A. Miller, and Jeremy Newberger, dirs. 81 mins. English, Russian, Sakha, Kiribati, Spanish, and Quechua with English subtitles. New York: Ironbound Films, 2015, American Anthropologist 120(1): 169-170.
van Teijlingen E. (2018) Midwives and Mothers: The Medicalization of Childbirth on a Guatemalan Plantation by Sheila Cosminsky, American Anthropologist 120(2): 369.

21 May 2018

Grand Challenges – four missions and an opportunity to input ideas – and a Brexit promise

BU Challenges, Funding opportunities, innovation, Public engagement jforster

PM’s speech

This speech by the PM today was trailed in the press and here is the link to it as delivered. The Brexit bit is towards the end. [Selection of quotes below, my formatting and edited as otherwise it is a bit hard to follow, it was a long speech]

Government has always had a crucial role in supporting scientific research and the technological advancements that flow from it……from the founding of the learned societies under royal patronage in the seventeenth century to the expansion of state-funded research in universities through the twentieth century.

In the last few years, government support has helped create new landmark institutions,…
And in the Industrial Strategy, we have made a commitment to take our support for UK science and technology to another level. £7 billion in new public funding for science, research and innovation: the largest increase for 40 years.

But to truly succeed we will go even further.

As a government, we have set the goal of research and development investment reaching 2.4 per cent of GDP by 2027 – more than ever before. That could translate to an additional £80 billion investment in the ideas of the future over the next decade.
But even that figure fails to capture the scale of the possibility this will create. Because science and technology have a dynamic relationship. The scientific breakthroughs of today will lead to technological advances which themselves open the door to further scientific discovery, the likes of which are beyond our imagination.
And it won’t just be public funding – our R&D target covers the combined power of government and business alike. That is what the Industrial Strategy is all about – not just the state spending money but using smart public investment to harness private funding. Not government running enterprise, but a strategic state using its power and influence to create the right conditions to allow us to thrive in the long term. A strategic approach means ensuring we have an education system that gives young people the skills they need to contribute to the economy of the future.
That means more free schools and academies providing great school places, a curriculum that sets the highest standards, and proper support for our teachers to deliver it…It means more rigorous science GCSEs preparing young people better for further study and work, and more young people going on to do sciences at A-level. And to attract talented science graduates into the teaching profession, we are offering tax-free bursaries worth up to £26,000 in priority subjects.
And it means going even further in the future. Transforming technical education with new high-quality T-levels that are every bit as good as A-levels. New Institutes of Technology to provide higher-level education and training. And a national re-training scheme to help workers of all ages adapt their skills to the jobs of tomorrow.

This is action from a strategic state to drive policy changes that will benefit our economy, our society and the individuals we serve.

……

So today I am setting the first four missions of our Industrial Strategy – one in each Grand Challenge. If they are to be meaningful, they must be ambitious and stretching. That means that our success in them cannot be guaranteed. But I believe that by setting a high ambition, we can achieve more than we otherwise would. So these are the missions I am setting today.

AI and data

First, as part of the AI and Data Grand Challenge, the United Kingdom will use data, artificial intelligence and innovation to transform the prevention, early diagnosis and treatment of diseases like cancer, diabetes, heart disease and dementia by 2030.

Late diagnosis of otherwise treatable illnesses is one of the biggest causes of avoidable deaths.
And the development of smart technologies to analyse great quantities of data quickly and with a higher degree of accuracy than is possible by human beings opens up a whole new field of medical research and gives us a new weapon in our armoury in the fight against disease.
In cancer, our ambition is that within 15 years we will be able to diagnose at a much earlier stage the lung, bowel, prostate or ovarian cancer of at least 50,000 more people a year. Combined with the great treatment and care provided by our NHS, that will mean every year 22,000 fewer people will die within five years of their diagnosis compared to today.
We will work with industry and the medical research community to announce specific ambitions in a range of other disease areas over the coming weeks and months. Achieving this mission will not only save thousands of lives.
It will incubate a whole new industry around AI-in-healthcare, creating high-skilled science jobs across the country, drawing on existing centres of excellence in places like Edinburgh, Oxford and Leeds – and helping to grow new ones.

Healthy ageing

Second, through our healthy ageing grand challenge, we will ensure that people can enjoy five extra healthy, independent years of life by 2035, whilst narrowing the gap between the experience of the richest and poorest.….

We can do that by supporting more people to stay happy, healthy and independent in their own homes for longer, instead of going into hospital. It will take a collective effort to achieve this.
Employers can help, by meeting the needs of people who have caring responsibilities and by doing more to support older people to contribute in the workplace – and enjoy the emotional and physical benefits of having a job if they want one.
Businesses can contribute, and benefit, by supplying the needs of a growing market.
Innovative and well-designed products and services – from housing adaptations that make our homes safer for older people to live in, to smart technologies that help people continue to enjoy life if they have a health condition. These innovations can also be exported to a rapidly growing market around the world.
And we can all play our part – by making healthier lifestyle choices ourselves, and by supporting our friends and neighbours as they get older.
We can build a stronger society, where more people can contribute their talents for longer and fewer people face loneliness and isolation.

Future of mobility

Third, in the future of mobility grand challenge, we have a mission to put the UK at the forefront of the design and manufacturing of zero emission vehicles and for all new cars and vans to be effectively zero emission by 2040. Technology is revolutionising how we power vehicles, how they are driven, how we navigate and how we access information about public transport.

…We can make our towns and cities cleaner, safer and more productive places to live and work.
We can set a global standard for managing technological change to maximise economic and environmental benefits.
We will work with industry to achieve this ambition, and share the benefits this opportunity presents.

Clean growth

And fourth, in the clean growth grand challenge, we will use new technologies and modern construction practices to at least halve the energy usage of new buildings by 2030.

Heating and powering buildings accounts for 40 per cent of our total energy usage. By making our buildings more energy efficient and embracing smart technologies, we can slash household energy bills, reduce demand for energy, and meet our targets for carbon reduction.
By halving the energy use of new buildings – both commercial and residential – we could reduce the energy bills for their occupants by as much as 50 per cent. And we will aim to halve the costs of reaching the same standard in existing buildings too.
Meeting this challenge will drive innovation and higher standards in the construction sector, helping it to meet our ambitious homebuilding targets and providing more jobs and opportunity to millions of workers across the country. It will be a catalyst for new technologies and more productive methods, which can be exported to a large and growing global market for clean technologies.

….These four missions are just the beginning – and in setting further missions across the four grand challenge areas, we will work closely with businesses and sectors. ….

Science is an international enterprise and discoveries know no borders. The United Kingdom today is at the centre of a web of international collaboration.

Our immigration system supports this, with no cap on the number of the students who can come to our universities, and thousands coming every year, learning from some of the finest academics and contributing to the success of some of the best universities in the world. Indeed, since 2010 the number of overseas students coming to study at UK universities has increased by almost a quarter.
The UK will always be open to the brightest and the best researchers to come and make their valued contribution. And today over half of the UK’s resident researcher population were born overseas.

When we leave the European Union, I will ensure that does not change.

Indeed the Britain we build together in the decades ahead must be one in which scientific collaboration and the free exchange of ideas is increased and extended, both between the UK and the European Union and with partners around the world.
I know how deeply British scientists value their collaboration with colleagues in other countries through EU-organised programmes. And the contribution which UK science makes to those programmes is immense.
I have already said that I want the UK to have a deep science partnership with the European Union, because this is in the interests of scientists and industry right across Europe. And today I want to spell out that commitment even more clearly.
The United Kingdom would like the option to fully associate ourselves with the excellence-based European science and innovation programmes – including the successor to Horizon 2020 and Euratom R&T. It is in the mutual interest of the UK and the EU that we should do so.
Of course such an association would involve an appropriate UK financial contribution, which we would willingly make.
In return, we would look to maintain a suitable level of influence in line with that contribution and the benefits we bring.

The UK is ready to discuss these details with the Commission as soon as possible.

Grand challenges

And to go with the speech, new Grand Challenges content.

AI and data: “To begin, we have one question: Where can the use of AI and data transform our lives?”
Ageing society: “To begin, we would like to hear your thoughts on the following: How can we best support people to have extra years of being healthy and independent?”
Clean Growth: “To begin, we would like to hear your thoughts on the following: How can our construction industry use its existing strengths to halve energy use in buildings?”
Future of mobility: “To begin, we have one question: How can we ensure that future transport technologies and services are developed in an inclusive manner?”

They want new ideas, case studies etc – please contact policy@bournemouth.ac.uk if you would like to be involved

20 May 2018

New Sociology book by BU’s Dr. Hyun-Joo Lim

international, Publishing, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

Congratulations to Dr. Hyun-Joo Lim, Senior Lecturer in Sociology, on the publication of her book East Asian Mothers in Britain: An Intersectional Exploration of Motherhood and Employment. This book focus on how Chinese, Japanese and Korean mothers in the UK make sense of their motherhood and employment. It addresses questions such as: “What are the intersecting factors that shape these women’s identities, experiences and stories?”

Contributing further to the continuing discourse and development of intersectionality, this book examines East Asian migrant women’s stories of motherhood, employment and gender relations by deploying interlocking categories that go beyond the meta axes of race, gender and class, including factors such as husbands’ ethnicities and the locality of their settlement. Through this, Dr. Lim argues for more detailed and context specific analytical categories of intersectionality, enabling a more nuanced understanding of migrant women’s stories and identities.

The book is published by Palgrave Macmillan (hardcover ISBN978-3-319-75634-9), see website: https://www.palgrave.com/gb/book/9783319756349

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

18 May 2018

New GCRF-funded study in South Asia

international Edwin van Teijlingen

A new multidisciplinary project in South Asia, run between two of Bournemouth University’s Faculties, has recently been funded. The cross-faculty project “Scoping Study to understand the maternal health, ageing and wellness in rural India to develop a grass-root centre addressing these issues” has Dr Shanti Shanker (Psychology) as its principal investigator in collaboration with Prof Edwin van Teijlingen (Human Sciences & Public Health). These BU lead researchers have been working in India and Nepal for more than a decade.

This project was recently awarded £76k from the HEFCE GCRF (Higher Education Funding Council for England, Global Challenge Research Funds) Call, at Bournemouth University. The project will be running from 2017 to 2021 between Maharashtra, India, Nepal and the UK. This important research initiative aligns closely with Bournemouth University’s strategic plan around South Asia through Connect India. Connect India is BU’s hub of practice which focuses on the world’s most populated areas and a global region which is developing rapidly in many ways.

22 April 2018

CMMPH PhD student Preeti Mahato publishes latest paper on Nepal

international, Knowledge Exchange, PG research, Publishing, student research, Training, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

This week saw the pre-publication of ‘Qualitative evaluation of mental health training of auxiliary nurse midwives in rural Nepal’ in the international journal Nurse Education Today (published by Elsevier). The paper is a report of an evaluation of a THET-funded projectwhich run from 2015 to 2017. Bournemouth University led a team comprising Liverpool John Moores University and Tribhuvan University (the oldest university in Nepal). These three universities worked together on a training project of Auxiliary Nurse Midwives in Nawalparasi focusing on key aspects of mental health and mental health promotion. The project was funded under the Health Partnership Scheme (HPS) which is managed by a London-based organisation called THET (Tropical Health & Education Trust).

Mental illness is increasingly recognized as a global health problem. However, in many countries, including Nepal, it is difficult to talk about mental health problems due to the stigma associated with it. Hence a training programme was developed to train auxiliary nurse midwives, who otherwise are not trained in mental health as part of their pre-registration training in rural Nepal, on issues related to maternal mental health. After the training programme a selection of auxiliary nurse midwives were interviewed to establish their views on the training, its usefulness and ways to improve it.

Preeti Mahato is a PhD student in the Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health (CMMPH) who undertook an in-depth evaluation of our project as part of her PhD research. This qualitative study has three themes emerging: (1) issues related to training; (2) societal attitudes; and (3) support for women. The ‘training’ theme describes the benefits and limitations of training sessions. ‘Societal attitudes’ describes society’s attitude towards mental health which is largely negative. ‘Support’ describes the positive behaviour and attitude towards pregnant women and new mothers.

The paper concludes that there is a need for continued training for auxiliary nurse midwives who are based in the community. This gives them the opportunity to reach the whole community group and potentially have influence over reduction of stigma; offer support and diagnosis of mental ill-health. There is still stigma around giving birth to a female child which can lead to mental health problems. It is imperative to increase awareness and educate the general public regarding mental health illnesses especially involving family members of those who are affected.

Reference:

Mahato, P., van Teijlingen, E., Simkhada, P., Angell, C., Ireland, J. on behalf of THET team (2018) Qualitative evaluation of mental health training of Auxiliary Nurse Midwives in rural Nepal. Nurse Education Today 66: 44-50. http://www.nurseeducationtoday.com/article/S0260-6917(18)30150-3/abstract

20 April 2018

Dorset Global Health Meeting on 25 April ‘Focus on Nepal’

international, Knowledge Exchange Edwin van Teijlingen

Next week the Dorset Global Health Network will have its inaugural meeting on April 25th. The meeting will focus on Nepal starting at 18.30 with a Nepalese buffet.

There will be three short presentations followed by the film ‘Hospital’.

Voluntourism in Nepal : A lesson in the grey areas of global health (Dr Emer Forde, Bournemouth University)
The challenge of perinatal mental health in Nepal (Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen, Bournemouth University)
Supporting Training and innovative solutions to the provision of rural health care in Nepal (Dr Ollie Ross, Consultant Anaesthetist, Southampton General Hospital)

The Film “Hospital” provides a portrait of a state-run hospital in one of the most remote and poor districts of Nepal and how individuals can make a difference to people’s lives. It will be introduced by Dr Ollie Ross, who is a consultant to the Nick Simons Institute working in Nepal.

This will be followed by a discussion about the development of Dorset Global Health Network.

All are welcome. Book your place at www.focusnepal.eventbrite.co.uk

18 April 2018

An evening with Human Rights barrister Professor Philippe Sands

Jonathan Parker

On Tuesday evening, we were most fortunate to host a talk byProfessor Philippe Sands QC, the eminent human rights barrister and Professor of Law at University College London. The evening was a collaborative event between the Westbourne Literary Festival – the ‘Book Binge’ – and the Department of Social Sciences and Social Work’s Centre for Seldom Heard Voices: Marginalisation and social integration.

The talk concerned Philippe’s Sands extraordinary book East West Street: On the origins of genocide and crimes against humanity, which is described as part detective story, legal thriller and part family history. The family connections that Sands identifies with the two Nuremberg prosecutors who developed law relating to human rights and genocide, Hersch Lauterpacht and Rafael Lemkin, are made even stronger when drawing on the close association all three have with promoting human rights and fighting crimes against humanity, connected family histories, places and education. We were reminded, importantly in our current period in history, that the development of human rights in international legislation was undertaken and promoted by the British at the Nuremberg trials. The tradition of compassion, fair play and commitment to human rights that has characterised British society was again emphasised with a warning that we must not lose it.

The talk, and the wide-ranging Q&A held afterwards, was not restricted to the book. Indeed, the consequences of Brexit, Trump’s United States, and world turmoil that allows the rise of the far Right link directly to questions of human rights, abuses of those and to crimes against humanity. Just a few days after the US, UK and French strike on Syrian targets it is not surprising that discussion turned also towards these contemporary events.

The evening was open to the public and a large crowd supported it. Attendees were transfixed by Philippe Sands’ easy yet erudite manner, and our honoured guests, the Mayor and Mayoress of Bournemouth, Councillor and Mrs Williams, were eloquent in their praise of this fascinating, challenging and most timely talk.

Professor Jonathan Parker

17 April 2018

Good representation BU research at 2018 BNAC conference

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

Today on the second day of the 2018 BNAC (Britain-Nepal Academic Council) conference there was a very good representation of Bournemouth University (BU) research at Durham University. BU’s Professor Michael Wilmore presented his paper: Construction of ‘Community’ in Research on Nepalese Commons. In the morning FHSS’s PhD student Jib Acharya had an oral presentation on Impact of Healthy Snacks on Children’s Health: An Overview of a Pilot Study.

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen presented joint work between BU, Liverpool John Moors University (LJMU) and the University of Oxford on the topic Skills transfer, employability & entrepreneurship of returnee labour migrants in Nepal. Bournemouth University was involved in this project through Dr. Pramod Regmi, Dr. Nirmal Aryal and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen.

The final talk of the day (and of the conference) was by Prof. Padam Simkhada from LJMU. Prof. Simkhada is also Visiting Professor at the Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health at Bournemouth University. He was presenting Debate on Educational Reform in Nepal: Outcomes of the International Conference on Quality of Higher Education in Federal Nepal on behalf of LJMU, Bournemouth University and Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences (MMIHS) in Nepal. Earlier this year BU signed a Memorandum of Agreement with MMIHS in Kathmandu.

17 April 2018

Challenging Hate Crime on Campus: Encouraging student awareness, interaction and debate through Forum Theatre

Awarded & submitted bids, Public engagement, Student Engagement Jane Healy

Hate crime as a hot topic

Hate Crime on university campus has attracted widespread attention in the media of late, with a spate of high profile incidents targeting Black Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) students in particular in the UK. Despite increased awareness of it, it is estimated that hate crime is considerably under-reported by students (Universities UK, 2016; NUS, 2012). BU’s Equality and Diversity Unit, supported by Dr James Palfreman-Kay, was awarded funding by HEFCE in late 2017 as part of their Catalyst Fund to tackle hate crime and online harassment on campus. This is a joint project, working with partners in SUBU, CPS Wessex, Dorset Police, Access Dorset, the Dorset Police and Crime Commissioner as well as colleagues and academics at BU and from other agencies associated with Prejudice Free Dorset.

What does the project involve?

The objective of the project was to provide students with the knowledge of what a hate crime is, how to respond to it and where to seek support, both on and off campus. This was achieved through the use of a drama based format called Forum Theatre (FT) which uses actors to share scenes of discrimination and hate crime (Dwyer, 2010; Hamel, 2015). FT has previously been used in promoting social change and critical thinking (Boal, 1974) and the value of this approach was that it would enable students to try out courses of action which could be applicable to their everyday lives and provide a gateway for increasing reporting.

The project is funded for the remainder of 2018, and a pilot was run in March with a cohort of social science Level 4 students. Jane Healy, Lecturer in Sociology & Crime & Deviance, worked with James to embed the Forum Theatre process within a learning session with 85 students from across BA Sociology, BA Sociology & Criminology, and BA Sociology & Anthropology programmes. The students were exploring Hate Crime as one element of their Level 4 Social Exclusion and Discrimination Unit, and the FT company were invited into the Wollstonecraft lecture theatre on the Lansdowne site. Four actors created two scenarios based on a fictitious university campus, involving religious and homophobic hate crimes but also acknowledging other, intersecting elements of identity. The scenarios were drawn from examples of similarly reported crimes provided by CPS Wessex. None had occurred at BU, but were designed to engage students and encourage discussion and debate.

The students were thoroughly engaged in the FT scenarios. As the first scenario was played out, silence descended on the room and students (and staff) held their breath as the ‘student’ characters experienced an unpleasant encounter near their halls of residence. The second involved online hate crime and the impact it had on victims, friends and bystanders. Once the scenes were completed, actors returned to the stage in their ‘roles’ and students were able to ask questions of them. The response was at times rambunctious as members of the audience quizzed and at times challenged ‘bystanders’ about their participation. Ultimately, however, the serious message of hate crime as a corrosive and socially divisive aspect of contemporary society was conveyed in a respectful and thought-provoking manner.

What next?

In order to evaluate the success of the programme, students were asked about their knowledge of hate crime both before and after the FT event and what impact it has had on them, through an evaluation questionnaire. Initial findings suggest an improved awareness of hate crime, although some students unfortunately had previous experience of hate crimes and incidents. Students are also being invited to do a follow up interview.

The FT event provided a unique method of engaging with and debating hate crimes on campus, in a safe and respectful environment. Embedding it within a Unit enabled the project’s exposure to a large cohort. As a result of positive feedback, it will be rolled out across all three sociology programme year groups over the coming months.

Interested in attending the next Forum Theatre?

There are two further forum theatre open events on Campus before the end of term; 23 April in Lansdowne and 17 May on Talbot. Details can be found at the bottom of this post. However, any interested academics and/or teaching staff can contact James to discuss a bespoke session to suit their student cohort.

By raising awareness and increasing reporting, BU is sending a positive message that hate crime, in all its forms, is unacceptable.

Open Event Dates

Everyone is welcome to the following:

23 April 10-12 open Lansdowne campus session:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/responding-to-hate-crime-tickets-44832749962

17 May 10-12 open Talbot campus session:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/responding-to-hate-crime-tickets-44832816160

**********************

Jane Healy has recently completed a PhD in disablist hate crimes and is a Lecturer in Sociology & Crime & Deviance in the Faculty of Health & Social Sciences.

11 April 2018

#BU OUTDOORS is getting ready

Public engagement hcrossen

An exciting new research project will be launched this Saturday and the team is getting ready. Last November during the ESRC Festival young people told us what they liked doing outdoors. Next Saturday the research team from across BU will be releasing the top ten favourite things that young people enjoyed outdoors on a rock drop in partnership with Bournemouth Rocks. Young people can find out the results of our research and help develop our study by logging their finds and sharing their use of green space with the research team – Dr Holly Crossen-White, Dr Nathan Farrell and Dr Angela Turner-Wilson. The Rock Drop site will be released on Friday on social media (more…)

26 March 2018

New CMMPH paper accepted in Nurse Education Today

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

Congratulations to Mrs. Preeti Mahato on the acceptance of her paper ‘Qualitative evaluation of mental health training of Auxiliary Nurse Midwives in rural Nepal’ by Nurse Education Today, an academic journal published by Elsevier. Preeti is currently registered as PhD student in the Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health (CMMPH). The paper is co-authored by CMMPH’s Catherine Angell and Edwin van Teijlingen as well as BU Visiting Faculty Padam Simkhada and Jillian Ireland. The paper is a result of the evaluation part of the ‘Mental Health Training for Community-based Maternity Providers in Nepal’ project and written on behalf of this THET team.

Our THET project in Nepal is a collaboration between the Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health (CMMPH), Tribhuvan University (Nepal’s oldest university) and Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU). The project receives funding from DFID, and is managed through THET and supported locally in Nepal by a charity Green Tara Nepal.

THET team:

Edwin van Teijlingen, Padam Simkhada, Shyam K Maharjan Preeti Mahato, Bhimsen Devkota, Padmadharini Fanning, Jillian Ireland, Bibha Simkhada, Lokendra Sherchan, Ram Chandra Silwal, Shyam K Maharjan, Ram K Maharjan, Catherine Angell, Flora Douglas.

19 March 2018

The Conversation article reproduced by Indian media

Centre for Excellence in Learning, international, Knowledge Exchange, open access, Publishing, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

Last week Sacha Gardener reported on this BU Research Blog on the publication of our most recent article ‘Why suicide rates among pregnant women in Nepal are rising’ in The Conversation. Since then we have been informed that this piece was reproduced in two Indian independent online newspapers, last week in The Wire and today in Scroll.in (India’s leading independent source of news, analysis and culture). Scroll.in used the heading ‘A project is training midwives in Nepal to stem rising suicides of pregnant women’, whilst The Wire used the title ‘Why Suicide Rates Among Pregnant Women in Nepal Are on the Rise’. Suicide in pregnant women and soon after birth is an important issue in both Nepal and India. Just for completeness the original article, written by BU’s Visiting Faculty Dr. Bibha Simkhada and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen based in BU’s Centre for Midwifery, Maternal and Perinatal health (CMMPH), can be found here!

16 March 2018

BU hosts international conference on the state of the world, fifty years after it was turned inside out (circa 1967) and upside down (circa 1968)

Fusion themes, innovation, international, Knowledge Exchange cyates

Association for Psychosocial Studies Biennial Conference

Bournemouth University, 5th-7th April 2018

‘Psychosocial Reflections on a Half Century of Cultural Revolution’

http://aps2018.bournemouth.ac.uk

A half century after the hippie counterculture of 1967 (‘the summer of love’) and the political turbulence of 1968 (‘May 68’), one aim of this conference is to stage a psychosocial examination of the ways in which today’s world is shaped by the forces symbolised by those two moments. It will explore the continuing influence of the deep social, cultural and political changes in the West, which crystallised in the events of these two years. The cultural forces and the political movements of that time aimed to change the world, and did so, though not in the ways that many of their participants expected. Their complex, multivalent legacy of ‘liberation’ is still developing and profoundly shapes the globalising world today, in the contests between what is called neo-liberalism, resurgent fundamentalisms, environmentalism, individualism, nationalisms, and the proliferation of identity politics.

A counter-cultural and identity-based ethos now dominates much of consumer culture, and is reflected in the recent development of some populist and protest politics. A libertarian critique of politics, once at the far margins, now informs popular attitudes towards many aspects of democratic governance; revolutionary critiques have become mainstream clichés. Hedonic themes suffuse everyday life, while self-reflection and emotional literacy have also become prominent values, linked to more positive orientations towards human diversity and the international community.

The programme is now available on the conference website:

http://aps2018.bournemouth.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Provisional-Programme.pdf

There are five keynotes and eighty papers, with presenters from all continents, as well as a number of experiential workshops. As well as examining the main theme of societal change, there is an open stream of papers on a wide range of topics. Methods of psychosocial inquiry are applicable to most topics. As an academic community, the psychosocial is a broad church defined only by a commitment to exploring and linking the internal and external worlds – the deeply personal and the equally deeply societal as sources of experience and action.

BU colleagues can attend the whole conference at the hugely discounted rate of £40, or £25 per day.

1 March 2018

BU signs agreement with MMIHS in Nepal

Centre for Excellence in Learning, conferences, international, Publishing, student research, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

This weekend Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences (MMIHS) in Kathmandu, Nepal signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) with Bournemouth University (BU). The ceremonial signing took place on the final day (24th Feb.) of the International Conference on Quality Education in Federal Nepal. Prof. Stephen Tee, who also spoke at the conference, represented our university.

The UoA formalises a long-standing collaboration between the two institutions. MMIHS and BU academics have jointly applied for research grants, conducted collaborative research and published together. Several BU staff [1-3] and students [4] in the Faculty of Health & Social Sciences have published in the Journal of Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences, an Open Access journal. Moreover, Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen in the Centre for Midwifery, Maternal and Perinatal Health has been a Visiting Professor at MMIHS for nearly a decade and has given several guest lectures over the years to staff and students at MMIHS.

References:

van Teijlingen, E., Simkhada, P., Luce, A., Hundley, V. (2016) Media, Health & Health Promotion in Nepal, Journal of Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences 2(1): 70-75. http://www.nepjol.info/index.php/JMMIHS/article/view/15799/12744
Regmi, P., van Teijlingen, E., Simkhada, P, Kurmi, O, Pant, P. (2017) What can we learn from the Nepal Health Facility Survey 2015? Journal of Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences 3(1): 1-5.
van Teijlingen, E., Marahatta, S.B., Simkhada, P., McIver, M., Sharma, J.P. (2017) Developing an international higher education partnerships between high & low-income countries: two case studies Journal of Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences, 3(1): 94-100.
Vickery, M. van Teijlingen, E., (2017) Female infanticide in India and its relevance to Nepal Journal of Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences (JMMIHS) 3(1): 79-85.

28 February 2018

Migration research dissemination in Kathmandu

international, Knowledge Transfer, Public engagement Edwin van Teijlingen

Yesterday (Monday 26^th February) we disseminated the preliminary findings of our study on ‘Health vulnerabilities of cross border migrants from Nepal.’ The study was funded by IOM (International Organisation for Migration) in Kathmandu. The main findings were outlined one of the researchers from Green Tara Nepal.

The study was conducted in Nepal by Nepali researchers Drs. Pratik Adhikary, Nirmal Aryal and Raja Ram Dhungana, with methodological support from Prof. Padam Simkhada (Liverpool John Moores University) and BU’s Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen. The mixed-methods study included a cross-sectional study of 752 Nepali migrant workers who had returned from working in India as well as focus groups and interviews with a sub-sample of returnees and interviews with two key informants. The research team also highlighted some key issues raised in two recent migration and health papers co-authored by some of the contributors to the dissemination event [1-2].

The project has strong link with Bournemouth University, Prof. Simkhada is Visiting Professor in BU’s Faculty of Health & Social Sciences (FHSS), Dr. Pratik Adhikary is a BU Ph.D. graduate and Dr. Nirmal Aryal has just been appointed in FHSS as a Post-Doctoral Researcher in preparation for REF 2021.

References:

Simkhada, P.P., Regmi, P.R., van Teijlingen, E., Aryal, N. (2017) Identifying the gaps in Nepalese migrant workers’ health and well-being: A review of the literature, Journal of Travel Medicine 24 (4): 1-9.
Simkhada, P.P., van Teijlingen, E.R., Gurung, M., Wasti, S. (2018) A survey of health problems of Nepalese female migrants workers in the Middle-East and Malaysia, BMC International Health & Human Rights 18(4): 1-7. http://rdcu.be/E3Ro

26 February 2018

Health-related community engagement in Nepal

international, Knowledge Exchange, Knowledge Transfer, Public engagement Edwin van Teijlingen

This morning we disseminated the findings of an evidence synthesis on ‘Effectiveness of community engagement and participation approaches in low and middle income countries’ in the Himalayan Hotel in Kathmandu. The study was designed to identify, analyse and summarise the findings of existing systematic reviews that have examined the effectiveness of community engagement/participation approaches in improving health, service delivery and sustainability outcomes. Therefore the overarching research question was: “How effective are community engagement/participation approaches for delivering better health outcomes, improving service delivery and sustaining benefits?”

Systematic Review of Reviews included 31 systematic reviews which examined community engagement/participation approaches in improving health (maternal and child health, infectious or communicable diseases, ‘other’ disease areas), service delivery and sustainability outcomes. There was wide variation in the aims and objectives, and methods of analysis across the included systematic reviews. In part this reflected a lack of a standard definition or terminology in how community engagement and participation approaches were described or characterised. The overall strength of the systematic review-level evidence has been categorised as of limited or moderate, however many systematic reviews reported consistent findings.

Community engagement and participation approaches continue to be viewed as important, particularly in LMICs. The general trend in the evidence identified suggests that community engagement and participation approaches have played a role in successful intervention delivery across health system domains and areas of health. However the extent to which community ownership and empowerment is achieved greatly impacts on the sustainability of these approaches and our evidence draws out some key factors for consideration in the delivery of successful community engagement and participation.

The study was led by Prof. Padam Simkhada from Liverpool John Moores University with support from staff based at the University of Liverpool, Bournemouth University and Green Tara Nepal. The study was commissioned and funded by the Research and Evidence Division in the Department for International Development. The forthcoming report has been funded by UK aid from the UK Government.

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

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