BU Research Blog | Sociology & Social Policy

24 March 2017

Nepal conference at BU

conferences, international, Knowledge Exchange, PG research, student research, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

FHSS has the honour of hosting the 15th BNAC (Britain-Nepal Academic Council) Nepal Study Days on 12-13 April 2017. All presentations will focus on Nepal, its diaspora and/or the Nepali cultural world. This year’s programme includes a range of issues and studies from across different disciplines. In the past decade these study days have been at universities across the UK, including Liverpool John Moores University, the University of Oxford and the University of Edinburgh.

This year several presenters of oral presentations or posters are affiliated with BU (staff, PhD students and FHSS Visiting Faculty). These include the following presentations:

Identifying the gaps in Nepalese migrant workers’ health and well-being: A review of the literature, by Padam Simkhada, Pramod Regmi, Edwin van Teijlingen & Nirmal Aryal
Assessing the need and type of continuing professional development (CPD) for nurses trained and working in Nepal, by Bibha Simkhada, Edwin van Teijlingen, Padam Simkhada, Sean Mackey, Rose Khatri, Chandra Kala Sharma & Sujan Marahatta

As well as the following posters

Reflections on THET-funded maternal mental health training in Nawalparasi, by Jillian Ireland, Andrea Lawrie, David Havelock, Padam Simkhada, Edwin van Teijlingen, Bibha Simkhada, Bhimsen Devkota, Lokendra Sherchan, Ram Chandra Silwal & Shyam K. Maharjan.
Factors affecting health facility delivery in rural Nawalparasi district of Nepal, by Preeti K Mahato, Edwin van Teijlingen, Padam Simkhada, Zoe Sheppard & Ram Chandra Silwal
Food belief practices amongst rural and urban mothers in Nepal: A qualitative overview, by Jib Acharya, Edwin van Teijlingen, Jane Murphy & Martin Hind

10 March 2017

Dr. Masi Fathi appointed to the board of Sociological Research Online

open access, Publishing, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

Congratulations to Dr. Mastoureh (Masi) Fathi, FHSS Lecturer in Sociology, who has been appointed to the editorial board of Sociological Research Online. Sociological Research Online is a peer-reviewed online sociology journal looking at current social issues, and it is in its twenty-second year.

Well done!

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

5 March 2017

One week: five FHSS publications

international, Knowledge Exchange, Knowledge Transfer, PG research, Publishing, Research Ethics, Research Integritiy, Research themes, student research, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

Last week was a good week for FHSS from a publishing perspective. On the last day of February Sociological Research Online published a book review with Dr. Pramod Regmi as first author, which we highlighted in an earlier BU Research Blog (see more here!) [1]. On the same the same day we received news from the Journal of Travel Medicine (published by Oxford University press) that our latest article on research in Nepal was accepted for publication. Our paper ‘Identifying the gaps in Nepalese migrant workers’ health and well-being: A review of the literature’ addresses the health and well-being of migrant health workers and ‘brings’ this to travel medicine specialists [2].

On Thursday our article ‘Vital signs and other observations used to detect deterioration in pregnant women: an analysis of vital sign charts in consultant-led maternity units’ was accepted by the International Journal of Obstetric Anesthesia published by Elsevier [3]. On Friday The Lancet published correspondence from FHSS Post-Doc. Researcher Dr. Pramod Regmi and FHSS Ph.D. student Folashade Alloh, and BU Visiting Faculty Prof. Padam Simkhada under the title: ‘Mental health in BME groups with diabetes: an overlooked issue?’ [4]. To round off the week on Friday afternoon the editorial office of Kontakt (published by Elsevier) emailed that the editorial ‘The medical and social model of childbirth’ had been accepted for publication [5].

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH

References:

Regmi, P., van Teijlingen, E. ‘Balanced Ethics Review: A Guide for Institutional Review Board Members’ by Whitney, Simon N., Springer, (2015) ISBN: 9783319207056 (pb) (book review), Sociological Research Online 2017; 22(1) http://www.socresonline.org.uk/22/1/reviews/3.html
Simkhada, P.P., Regmi, P.R., van Teijlingen, E., Aryal, N. Identifying the gaps in Nepalese migrant workers’ health and well-being: A review of the literature, Journal of Travel Medicine (Accepted).
Smith, G.B., Isaacs, R., Andrews, L., Wee, M.Y.K., van Teijlingen, E., Bick, D.E., Hundley, V. Vital signs and other observations used to detect deterioration in pregnant women: an analysis of vital sign charts in consultant-led maternity units, International Journal of Obstetric Anesthesia (Accepted).
Regmi, P., Alloh, F., Pant, P.R., Simkhada, P., van Teijlingen, E. (2017) Mental health in BME groups with diabetes: an overlooked issue? The Lancet, 389: 904-905.
van Teijlingen, E. The medical and social model of childbirth, Kontakt (Accepted.

4 March 2017

New book review published by Dr. Pramod Regmi on research ethics

international, Publishing, Research Ethics, student research, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

This week saw the publication of the latest issue of the internet-based journal Sociological Research Online. In this issue Dr. Pramod Regmi and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen published a book review of Balanced Ethics Review: A Guide for Institutional Review Board Members written by the American academic Simon Whitney. [1] In doing so they continue the tradition of FHSS scholars contributing to the research ethics debate. For example, Regmi and colleagues recently had a paper accepted on their insights into research in low-income countries in the journal Developing World Bioethics.[2] Whilst a 2012 FHSS-led paper stressed that researchers conducting research in low-income countries need to apply for research ethics approval to the relevant local authority, if national legislation requires one to do so.[3]

Looking better a little further back, Professor Emerita Immy Holloway wrote about the researcher who may have (potentially) conflicting roles namely those of researcher and health care professional.[4] Whilst a combination of midwifery researchers in the Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health (CMMPH) highlighted the problems faced by practitioners doing research in their field of practice with perhaps the risk of blurring professional and research ethics, as balancing competing ethical concerns between protecting research participants and over-managing the ethical process can be problematic.[5-6] The latter issue of management and regulation of research ethics has recognised as getting more and more cumbersome and bureaucratic.[7-8]

Two further publications by Prof. Ashencaen Crabtree have added to the pool of FHSS publication on research ethics.[9-10] The first one, a book, addressed the problematic issue of gate-keepers in research together with the ethics of critical observation of abuse (potential or actual), as well as the ethics of advocating on behalf of research participants.[9] The second paper covered issues around working with research participants who are regarded as ‘vulnerable’ in a study into the context of care and patient/service user experiences.[10]

Whilst Prof. Parker has highlighted the benefits and dangers of using email and the Internet for social and health research.[11] An even newer research approach is the use of discussion boards as sources of data, which brings its own ethical dilemmas.[12]

In 2010-11 Prof. Parker and colleagues explored in two separate papers the contested meanings and difficulties associated with informed consent, highlighting challenges raised by an almost unquestioned acceptance of biomedical research ethics in social research and questioning whether potential ‘harm’ is different in this context.[13-14]

Prof. Hundley and colleagues discussed the ethical challenges involved in conducting a cluster randomised controlled trial, where getting informed consent can be complication.[15] Whilst it is worth reminding researchers that in issues of informed consent during pregnancy and childbirth one has to consider the potential for harm to two participants.[16]

References

Regmi, P., van Teijlingen, E. (2017) ‘Balanced Ethics Review: A Guide for Institutional Review Board Members’ by Whitney, Simon N., Springer, (2015) ISBN: 9783319207056 (pb) (book review), Sociological Research Online 22(1) http://www.socresonline.org.uk/22/1/reviews/3.html
Regmi, PR., Aryal, N., Kurmi, O., Pant, PR., van Teijlingen, E., Wasti, P.P. (forthcoming Informed consent in health research: challenges and barriers in low-and middle-income countries with specific reference to Nepal, Developing World Bioethics.
van Teijlingen E.R., Simkhada, P.P. (2012) Ethical approval in developing countries is not optional, Journal of Medical Ethics 38:428-430.
Holloway, I., Wheeler, S. (1995) Ethical Issues in Qualitative Nursing Research, Nursing Ethics 2: 223-232. http://nej.sagepub.com/content/2/3/223.full.pdf+html
Ryan, K., Brown, B., Wilkins, C., Taylor, A., Arnold, R., Angell, C., van Teijlingen, E. (2011) Which hat am I wearing today? Practicing midwives doing research, Evidence-Based Midwifery 9(1): 4-8.
van Teijlingen, E.R., Cheyne, H.L. (2004) Ethics in midwifery research, RCM Midwives Journal 7 (5): 208-10.
van Teijlingen, E. (2006) Reply to Robert Dingwall’s Plenary ‘Confronting the Anti-Democrats: The unethical Nature of Ethical Regulation in Social Science, MSo (Medical Sociology online) 1: 59-60 www.medicalsociologyonline.org/archives/issue1/pdf/reply_rob.pdf
van Teijlingen, E., Douglas, F., Torrance, N. (2008) Clinical governance and research ethics as barriers to UK low-risk population-based health research? BMC Public Health 8(396) www.biomedcentral.com/content/pdf/1471-2458-8-396.pdf
Ashencaen Crabtree, S. (2012) Rainforest Asylum: The enduring legacy of colonial psychiatric care in Malaysia, London: Whiting & Birch.
Ashencaen Crabtree, S. (2013) Research ethics approval processes and the moral enterprise of ethnography. Ethics & Social Welfare. Advance Access: DOI:10.1080/17496535.2012.703683
Bond, C.S, Ahmed, O.H., Hind, M., Thomas, B., Hewitt-Taylor, J. (2013) The Conceptual and Practical Ethical Dilemmas of Using Health Discussion Board Posts as Research Data, Journal of Medical Internet Research 15(6):e112) Web address: http://www.jmir.org/2013/6/e112/
Parker, J. (2008) Email, ethics and data collection in social work research: some reflections from a research project, Evidence & Policy: A Journal of Research, Debate & Practice, 4(1): 75-83.
Hundley, V., Cheyne, H.C., Bland, J.M., Styles, M., Barnett, C.A. (2010) So you want to conduct a cluster randomised controlled trial? Lessons from a national cluster trial of early labour, Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice 16: 632-638
Helmreich, R.J., Hundley, V., Norman, A., Ighedosa, J., Chow, E. (2007) Research in pregnant women: the challenges of informed consent, Nursing for Women’s Health 11(6): 576-585.
Parker, J., Penhale, B., Stanley, D., (2010). Problem or safeguard? Research ethics review in social care research and the Mental Capacity Act 2005. Social Care & Neurodisability, 1(2): 22-32.
Parker, J., Penhale, B., Stanley, D. (2011) Research ethics review: social care and social science research and the Mental Capacity Act 2005, Ethics & Social Welfare, 5(4): 380-400.

28 January 2017

New paper CMMPH PhD student Sheetal Sharma

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

Focus groups in open air in rural Nepal, (c) Sheetal Sharma

Congratulations to Sheetal Sharma, postgraduate student in the Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health (CMMPH) whose latest paper on the process of the research in her PhD fieldwork was accepted today by the Journal of Asian Midwives [1]. Sheetal used an innovative mixed-methods evaluation which was applied to a long-running maternity intervention in rural Nepal. The intervention has been supported for nearly seven years by Green Tara Trust, a Buddhist charity based in London. Sheetal’s supervisors are supervisors are Prof. Vanora Hundley, Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen, Dr. Catherine Angell (all in CMMPH) and Prof. Padam Simkhada, who is Visiting Faculty in the Faculty of Health & Social Sciences and based at Liverpool John Moores University.

This paper is part of a larger body of health research work conducted by CMMPH in Nepal.

Reference:

Sharma, S., Simkhada, P., van Teijlingen, E., Stephens J, Hundley, V., Angell, C. (2017) Evaluation of Maternity Care Intervention in Rural Nepal: Lessons learnt, Journal of Asian Midwives (accepted Jan. 2017).

17 January 2017

It’s a girl, and then there is silence…..

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

The second day of THET training showed again that gender is a critical issue in Nawalparasi, southern Nepal. We asked the ANMs about things they had changed in their own practice. Several ANMs said that they had changed the way they worked. Now they see that having a baby girl can be a significant mental health issue as it causes the women a lot of stress. Interestingly, it also caused them as health workers considerable stress The ANMs said that they had started to counsel families of girl children. They say they emphasise that it is okay to have girls.

This ties in with feedback comments from yesterday in a different group of trainees. In Sunday’s training, one ANM answered when asked about stress at work, that she finds it stressful that a room falls silent when a baby girl is born. She commented that this happens when the family is obviously hoping for a boy. She added that at the very moment a baby girl is born, the family immediately falls silent. She said that this is a great source of stress to her as a health worker.

Coincidently next door to the training venue in Nawalparasi a Hindu wedding has been taking place today. This colourful spectacle represents different roles and expectations of men and women, the bride and the groom, but also the other guests here in Nepal. Weddings everywhere are ceremonies that reflect society. Seeing the wedding from close by and listening to the ANMs over these last two days, we reflected at the end of today that these ANMs are acting bravely in raising such a culturally sensitive issue in their practice, in this largely patriarchal rural society.

Flora Douglas & Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH

15 January 2017

BU Visiting Fellow Dr. Flora Douglas speaking as THET volunteer in Nepal

international, Knowledge Exchange, Training Edwin van Teijlingen

Today we had our first training session of the final THET mental health in maternity care project. UK volunteer Dr. Flora Douglas spoke about key aspects of health promotion and focused particularly on notions of community-based approaches. Flora is based at the University of Aberdeen and she is also a Visiting Fellow in the Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health (CMMPH). This was her first visit to Nepal. She was inspired to volunteer as she had been a MSc supervisor some years ago on a project that related to the Green Tara Nepal health promotion intervention. Bournemouth University has been working with Green Tara Trust, a Buddhist charity based in London for many years.

Yesterday Flora had visited one of the 20 birthing centres in Nawalparasi, the district where the THET training takes place. Flora was very humbled by the experiences of the community-based maternity care workers in the light of many constrains. She said: “I have seen pictures of such birthing centres and read about them in the literature, but it is not until you see them first hand that you realise how staff have to work with such limited resources.

The attendees, who are nearly ANMs (auxiliary nurse midwives) were highly enthusiastic and very keen to discuss and learn. They shared some very personal and touching stories about their practice. Flora added: “I am very struck by their understanding of the importance of the social and cultural determinants of both psychical and mental health.” Many found they had learnt something in previous THET sessions in 2016 about communication with women and counselling family members about mental health, and perhaps most importantly, listening more to women. Last, but not least, Flora commented on the dedication of the participants: “At least two of the participants told me they travelled ten hours to get here for our one-day workshop. This really shocked me, particularly having seen the quality of the roads and public transport!”

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH

15 January 2017

Training preparation in rural Nepal

international Edwin van Teijlingen

Yesterday we come down from Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal, to our THET training area in Nawalparasi. Today we are starting our sixth and last training session on the Mental health training for community-based maternity care providers. Interesting we are starting training on a Sunday as Nepal is largely a Hindu country and most workers have only a one-day weekend (which is the Saturday). This BU-led project 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.

The landscape in the photo gives an idea of how rural this part of Nepal is. Nawalparasi is situated in the south of Nepal the India border. It is also largely very flat, not like the Nepal most people envisage namely that of the Himalayans and of Mount Everest. The flatness makes a Dutchman feel at home though.

The project depends on volunteers who work in the health sector in the UK to come out and spend their time and energy preparing and delivering the training. Our project also could not work without the logistical support from Green Tara Nepal and our academic colleagues at Tribhuvan University. The last photo shows one of the UK volunteers Dr. Flora Douglas with the translator Shiwani Manandhar on the way to the training venue.

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen (from Nepal)

CMMPH

12 January 2017

Wanted! External Bid Writers

Funding opportunities, Grants Academy, international, Knowledge Exchange, REF Subjects, Training Emily Cieciura

As part of the Research and Knowledge Exchange Development Framework, Bournemouth University is expanding its pool of external bid writing expertise, through a tendering process.

If you have worked with a good bid writer or, as an external subscriber to this blog, you have written successful research funding applications, please contactus in the Research & Knowledge Exchange Office

We are particularly interested in those who can provide short courses, one-to-one support, bid writing retreats, application review or a range of these and related activities.

Examples of key funders include:

British Academy
European Commission funds including Horizon 2020
Innovate UK
Leverhulme Trust
National Institutes of Health and other US Federal funders
Research Councils
Royal Society
Wellcome Trust
etc.

We look forward to hearing from you.

11 January 2017

FHSS Dr. Pramod Regmi speaking in India

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

Two BU papers and a poster at the International Conference on Transforming Lives & Healthcare through Technology

On 9^th January 2017, I presented a paper entitled ‘Qualitative research in health technology assessment’ in a scientific session at the International Conference on Transforming Lives and Health Care through Technology (TLHTicon 2017), Wardha, India. This paper was prepared jointly with by Prof Edwin van Teijlingen and BU’s Visiting Prof Padam Simkhada (Liverpool John Moores University). At the same conference Mrs. Preeti Mahato’s poster on ‘Factors affecting health facility delivery in rural Nawalparasi, Nepal’ was also displayed. Preeti is a PhD student in FHSS. In another scientific session, BU visiting faculty Prof Padam Simkhada presented a paper around global public health and health technology assessment. Prof Edwin van Teijlingen and Dr Pramod Regmi co-authored this presentation.

The conference, which attracted more than 180 oral scientific papers and 97 posters, was organized jointly by Datta Meghe Institute of Medical Sciences, DU, Datta Meghe Institute of Engineering, Technology & Research and Yeshwantrao Chavan College of Engineering in association with the Global Consortium for Public Health Research. The Global Consortium for Public Health Research was recently formed [1]. Prof Edwin van Teijlingen, Dr Pramod Regmi, both from HSS, BU are part of it among the 14 academics/researchers from UK, India, Bangladesh, Nepal and few other Low and Middle-Income Countries. Some of them are BU visiting faculty too. Unfortunately, Prof Edwin van Teijlingen could not get a visa in time for India, so he recorded a good-luck message. This pre-recorded message was played to the conference goers.

I found the scientific sessions were a nice blend of scientific talks, plenary sessions, symposia and scientific track sessions. Overall, this conference provided a much-needed platform for academicians, researchers, practitioners and professionals from medical, engineering and industry to disseminate their innovations in interdisciplinary field of health sciences through technology. The conference show-cased innovations in health-care through technology, which shall be useful in transforming lives of people in Low and Middle Income Countries. In these two days; I have been able to all refreshed with thought-provoking & informative talks rendered by experienced researchers around technology in health care.

Dr Pramod Regmi, Post Doc Research Fellow, HSS

Reference:

Simkhada, P., van Teijlingen, E., Regmi, P.R. et al., 2016. Need and scope of global partnership on public health research. Journal of Datta Meghe Institute of Medical Sciences University, 11 (2), 202-204.

10 January 2017

Writing academic papers: Workshop in Nepal

international, Knowledge Exchange, open access, Public engagement, Publishing, Training, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

Bournemouth University has been working on a small research project with Pourakhi, a voluntary organisation which helps female migrant workers returning to Nepal, for over a year. Pourakhi advocates for the rights of women migrant workers. Last week they invited me to present a workshop session on Academic Writing & Publishing, this morning I run such workshop. The content of the workshop is based on years of experience of running similar workshops at Bournemouth University, many Higher Education colleges across Nepal and a COST-funded workshop in Malta a few years ago. The eight people (staff and volunteers) who attended the workshop were generally inquisitive and keen to get their work into print. Most of the paper we have written about aspects of academic writing and the publishing process have been published in Open Access journals. [1-8] Therefore, we can easily give workshop attendees copies and/or give them the links to the online version on the web.

Prof Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH

References:

Hundley V, van Teijlingen E, Simkhada P (2013) Academic authorship: who, why and in what order? Health Renaissance 11 (2):98-101 www.healthrenaissance.org.np/uploads/Download/vol-11-2/Page_99_101_Editorial.pdf
Pitchforth E, Porter M, Teijlingen van E, et al. (2005) Writing up & presenting qualitative research in family planning & reproductive health care, J Fam Plann Reprod Health Care 31(2): 132-135.
Simkhada P, van Teijlingen E, Hundley V. (2013) Writing an academic paper for publication, Health Renaissance 11 (1):1-5. www.healthrenaissance.org.np/uploads/Pp_1_5_Guest_Editorial.pdf
van Teijlingen, E., Ireland, J., Hundley, V., Simkhada, P., Sathian, B. (2014) Finding the right title for your article: Advice for academic authors, Nepal J Epidemiol 4(1): 344-347.
van Teijlingen, E., Hundley, V., Bick, D. (2014) Who should be an author on your academic paper? Midwifery 30: 385-386.
van Teijlingen, E, Simkhada PP, Rizyal A (2012) Submitting a paper to an academic peer-reviewed journal, where to start? (Guest Editorial) Health Renaissance 10 (1): 1-4.
van Teijlingen, E, Simkhada. PP, Simkhada, B, Ireland J. (2012) The long & winding road to publication, Nepal J Epidemiol 2(4): 213-215 http://nepjol.info/index.php/NJE/article/view/7093/6388
Hall, J., Hundley, V., van Teijlingen, E. (2015) The journal editor: friend or foe? Women & Birth 28(2): e26-e29.

9 January 2017

More media coverage in Nepal

conferences, international, Public engagement Edwin van Teijlingen

Following our health promotion dissemination meeting in Kathmandu last week, we had considerable national media coverage in Nepal. Since I wrote about of this media coverage on the BU Research Blog we have been informed about some further press coverage.

Apparently we appeared on Mountain Television, but I haven’t see the programme myself yet. On January 4th we had a very short piece in The Himalayan Times , a piece which incidentally also failed to mentioned Bournemouth University. Over the weekend we had a little write up in a magazine called New Spotlight (see photo).I have also included the original colour photo as the magazine’s copy looks unclear.

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH

7 January 2017

Research collaboration meeting with Pourakhi in Kathmandu

international, Publishing Edwin van Teijlingen

Yesterday we meet in Kathmandu with colleagues working for Pourakhi. Pourakhi is a charity, a non-governmental organisation (NGO), that helps to advocate for the rights of women who returned to Nepal after migrating for employment. The name Pourakhi, which means self-reliant in Nepali, represents the idea that the organisation is largely run and supported by Nepali women who had migrated abroad for employment.

Globalization and trade liberation have opened up opportunities in the international labour market for women in Nepal. Lack of job opportunity in Nepal and poverty have put a growing demand on women to economically support their family. This means many Nepali women are leaving the country to work abroad. In doing so they contribute to the economic prosperity of their families and also in the poverty alleviation of their country through remittances. However, working abroad comes at a cost, as it is not always easy, especially for women.

The Faculty of Health & Social Sciences at Bournemouth University (Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen) and Liverpool John Moores University (Prof. Padam Simkhada, who is also Visiting Faculty at FHSS) have been working with Pourakhi over the past years and half. The main aim of this collaboration is to set up a proper database of women who return to Nepal, based on paper records collected by Pourakhi and use this data to publish academic papers and reports on the issue. The first academic paper based on data collected up to 2014 has already been submitted.

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH

4 January 2017

Media coverage in Nepal

international, Knowledge Transfer, PG research, Public engagement, student research Edwin van Teijlingen

Yesterday’s health promotion dissemination meeting in Kathmandu has been widely reported in the national media in Nepal. Some of the national media focused largely (but not solely) on the words of the Minister of Health Mr Thapa, whilst the television news reports included the organisers and presenters at the event. The Green Tara Nepal Health Promotion Dissemination conference in Kathmandu was supported by the Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health at BU and Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU) and Green Tara Trust UK (a Buddhist charity based in London). BU has been working with Green Tara Nepal for the past eight years on a number of maternal health promotion projects in rural Nepal. Overall the media in Nepal had difficulty understanding the notion of ‘health promotion’, therefore many journalists focused on health services as this was mentioned by the Minister of Health.

The event was also attended by BU Visiting Faculty Prof. Padam Simkhada (based at LJMU), CMMPH PhD student Preeti Mahato and FHSS Post-Doc. Dr. Pramod Regmi.

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH

3 January 2017

Health Promotion feedback meeting in Kathmandu

conferences, international, Public engagement Edwin van Teijlingen

Today the charity Green Tara Nepal (GTN) in collaboration with two UK universities, BU and Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU) presented the findings of its long-term maternal project plus a review of health promotion in (a) government policies and strategies and (b) the curricula of university-based health courses in Nepal. The event in Hotel Yellow Pagoda was attended by the Nepal’s Minister of Health Mr. Gagan Kumar Thapa. We presented some of the key research findings of the GTN maternity project which have shown that interventions based on health promotion principles using women’s groups can be effective in the community.

Bournemouth University was represented by Dr. Pramod Regmi (FHSS), Mrs. Preeti Mahato, PhD student in the Centre for Midwifery, Maternal and Perinatal Health (CMMPH) and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen. One of the strengths of Green Tara’s approach is its collaboration with UK universities for its research. Several excellent MSc and PhD students have been, and some, such as CMMPH’s PhD students Sheetal Sharma and Preeti Mataho, still are, contributing to the health promotion evidence base.

The workshop was attended by a range of directors of NGOs (Non-Governmental Organisations), INGOs (International Non-Governmental Organisations), academics, the Government of Nepal, and many other stakeholders including the media. The GTN Chair Krishna Lamsal commented: “This dissemination workshop follows on from the First National Health Promotion Conference in Nepal in which Bournemouth University was also a joint organiser. The 2003 conference brought together nearly 300 people for the first time to discuss key issues in health promotion.”

31 December 2016

Two FHSS conference presentations in Nepal

international, Public engagement, Publishing Edwin van Teijlingen

Yesterday Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen from BU’s Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health (CMMPH) spoke at the 9th Conference and Seminar on Adolescent’s Health Promotion in Kathmandu. This event was organised by the Health Education Association of Nepal (HEAN). The first keynote speech ‘Adolescent’s Health Promotion: Global Perspectives‘ was presented by BU Visiting Faculty Prof. Padam Simkhada (based at Liverpool John Moores University) on behalf of his BU co-authors Dr. Pramod Regmi and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen. The second keynote speech ‘Global Health Promotion Approach‘ was presented jointly by Prof. van Teijlingen and Green Tara Nepal country director Mr. Ram Chandra Silwal on behalf of their collaborators Prof. Simkhada and Green Tara Trust, UK (Dr. Jane Stephens and Ms. Colette Fanning).

Both presentations were well received and generated considerable discussion amongst an audience of health educationalists, public health teachers and health promotion experts. Several of the active members of HEAN and conference organisers are collaborators with BU on our THET project on training community-based maternity care providers in rural Nawalparasi, southern Nepal.

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH

30 December 2016

Congratulations to Dr. Sarah Collard on new publication

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

Today saw the publication of a new methods paper by Dr. Sarah Collard, post-doctoral researcher in the Faculty of Health & Social Sciences (FHSS) and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen in the academic journal Health Prospect. This new paper addressed some of the key methodological issues associated with Internet-based Focus Groups (FGs) or the so-called Online Focus Group Discussions [1]. Traditional face-to-face FG discussions are a popular qualitative research method used a wide-range of areas, such as political sciences, marketing, health service research and sociology to name but a few disciplines. More recently, internet-based FGs have grown in popularity due to the growth of: (a) the internet, both in terms of technical capacity and number of users; and (b) the improved quality of communication software (e.g. Skype). This paper highlights some of the strengths and weaknesses of conducting FGs online. Building on our experience of conducting traditional and internet-based FGs.

Dr. Sarah Collard is affiliated with BU’s Centre for Qualitative Research (CQR). Health Prospect is an Open Access journal therefore this article is freely available to any reader across the globe.

Reference:

Collard, S., van Teijlingen, E. (2016) Online focus group: New approaches to an ‘old’ research method, Health Prospect 15(3):4-7.

29 December 2016

Promoting evidence-based policy-making in Nepal

Knowledge Transfer, Public engagement, Publishing, Training Edwin van Teijlingen

We had the honour to speak to Parliamentarians (MPs) in Kathmandu today (December 29th) as part of workshop to promote evidence-based policy-making. The workshop was organised by a consortium of three UK universities: Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU), Bournemouth University and the University of Sheffield. Fund the Fund supported this Advocacy Workshop with Parliamentarians and Policy Experts on HV and AIDS (Discussion series IV) in the Himalayan Hotel in Lalitpur in Kathmandu Valley. The workshop was attended by some 30 MPs from all major parties and three or four former ministers. The drive to increase evidence-based policy-making in Nepal is led by Dr. Gangalal Tuladhar MP.

Prof. Padam Simkhada from LJMU and BU Visiting Professor addressed ‘key challenges on evidence-based health care delivery in Nepal’ and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen from the Faculty of Health & Social Sciences compared selected different health-care systems in high-income countries.

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