Category / Research themes

More about academic writing

Publishing

Earlier this year (13th Jan. 2014) we wrote a BU Research Blog under the title ‘Writing about academic publishing’.  We can now add two further contributions this body of work.  The first article in Nepal Journal of Epidemiology offers some advice on how to construct a title for an academic article.  The authors (BU Professors Edwin van Teijlingen and Vanora Hundley; BU Visiting Faculty Ms. Jillian Ireland and Dr. Padam Simkhada and international collaborator Dr. Brijesh Sathian) have a wealth of experience reviewing papers and all have experience as editor board members and/or editors.  The authors are associated the editorial boards of the many journals, including: Birth, BMC Pregnancy & Childbirth, Medical Science, Nepal Journal of Epidemiology, Essentially MIDIRS, Sociological Research Online, Hellenic Journal of Nursing Science, Midwifery and Asian Journal of Health Sciences.  In our joint capacity as reviewers and editors we have seen some great and some awful titles.  The paper in Nepal Journal of Epidemiology is an attempt to improve the appropriateness and usefulness of titles chosen by budding authors.

Editorial Midwifery 2014

Editorial Midwifery 2014

The second addition is an editorial in the international journal Midwifery published by Elsevier.  Together with HSC Visiting Faculty Prof. Debra Bick we address the question: ‘Who should be an author on your academic paper?’   Still too often we hear about worrying stories from fellow academic s and postgraduate students about inappropriate behaviour related to authorship of academic journal papers.  The Midwifery Editorial advises academics to discuss authorship and authorship order early on in the writing process.  At the same time, it highlights that authorship ‘rules’ or ‘traditions’ can vary between different academic disciplines.  Thus when working in a multidisciplinary team, issues of authorship of any papers which arise out of the study should be discussed before problems or concerns arise.

 

We would like to take this opportunity point our readers to another interesting and useful BU Research Blog written by Shelly Maskell under the title: ‘How to design a completely uninformative title’ (7th Feb. 2014).

 

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen & Prof. Vanora Hundley

Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health, Bournemouth University

 

References:

  1. van Teijlingen, E., Ireland, J., Hundley, V., Simkhada, P., Sathian, B. (2014) Finding the right title for your article: Advice for academic authors, Nepal Journal of Epidemiology 4(1): 344-347.
  2. van Teijlingen, E., Hundley, V., Bick, D. (2014) Who should be an author on your academic paper? Midwifery 30: 385-386.

 

Highest marks for International Fellowship for Midwives research in Nepal

 

In 2013 Wellbeing of Women joined the Royal College of Midwives (RCM) to offer the International Fellowship for Midwives (worth £20,000).  Their first ever recipient was BU Lesley Milne with her supporting team.  Lesley is a Senior Lecturer in Midwifery based at BU’s Portsmouth Branch Campus and her proposal set out to undertake a research project to explore barriers to facility birth in Nepal.

 

Delivery bed small hospital Nepal

Apart from Lesley herself the BU team comprises Vanora Hundley, Professor in Midwifery, Edwin van Teijlingen, Professor of Reproductive Health Research, and two HSC Visiting Faculty members, namely Dr. Padam Simkhada, Senior Lecturer at the University of Sheffield, and Ms. Jillian Ireland, Community Midwife NHS Poole Hospitals.

 

Small commercial pharmacy outside local hospital (Nepal)

Small commercial pharmacy outside local hospital (Nepal)

At the end of March 2014 we submitted the final report on the research to Well-Being of Women and the RCM and this report gained an ‘A’ in their scoring system.  Last week at the feedback meeting in Well-Being of Women’s office in London Lesley presented some of her key findings which she illustrated with some of her photographs.  The comments from those round the table were that the topic was well researched and that the qualitative research findings could help focus the funders in their future work.

 

Having reached the dissemination stage, we are planning scientific papers as well as a feedback session in Kathmandu (in September this year). Currently we are working on two academic papers, one is in an advanced stage approaching submission and the other is just passed its draft stage.

 

 

Lesley Milne, Vanora Hundley, Jillian Ireland (Visiting Faculty),Edwin van Teijlingen & Padam Simkhada (Visiting Faculty)

 

Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health

School of Health & Social Care

 


HSC Writing Retreat: Freedom to write

Publishing

Today saw the first of two Writing Retreat workshops organised by HSC.  The intensive writing day was led by Ms. Caroline Brimblecombe.  Caroline is a Norwich-based training consultant and project manager, who leads workshops in the technique of freewriting, as well as on academic writing.  She holds an MA in Public Policy from the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota, and spent many years as a public sector manager and policy analyst.  She used a combination of exercises based on notions of creative writing and free writing.  The Writing Retreat offered advice and a dedicated space and time to practice academic writing.  Today’s intensive session was attended by the first cohort of HSC academics, who considered some of their challenges to writing and some of the rewards.  Not surprisingly there were more challenges than rewards, and the former included lack of time, high workload and interruptions.   Personal satisfaction and a sense of achievement scored high on the list of rewards.

Caroline suggested the participants considered ‘Serial Writing’.  This is the notion that you write regularly, hence the ‘serial’.  The idea is to create a flow of writing to help you generate content as well as a habit of writing. This will be a valuable tool for workshop participants who have committed to working with a mentor to produce a manuscript for submission by the end of July.

For those motivated staff members who would like to have a go at this.  The next session is planned for the 28th of May and there are still a few free places available.  Please contact Jo Temple if you would like to sign up.

We both participated ourselves and we would highly recommend this Writing Retreat!

 

Edwin van Teijlingen & Vanora Hundley

CMMPH

Compassion in Action with Professor Belinda Dewar

Wednesday 21st May 2014 between 1 – 1.50pm at the Executive Business Centre (EB203)

Professor Belinda Dewar is the Professor of Practice Improvement at the University of the West of Scotland. She has been working with nurses, allied health care professionals, patients, residents and families in a range of care settings over the last 25 years to support improving the experience of giving and receiving care. She is recognised nationally and internationally for her work on caring and methodologies for improvement which include Action Research and Appreciative Inquiry, as well as designing and delivering innovative transformational leadership programmes. 

In this presentation Professor Belinda Dewar will discuss the evidence base and policy imperatives for compassion and debate myths and misconceptions of compassion and what we are up against to move forward in this area. She will highlight important work that has already gone on in this area and debate how we can build on this. She will also share with you the development of a model for compassionate relationship centred care and discuss the key domains of this model that support practitioners, in education, practice and research to develop skills in compassionate caring. She will look at specific strategies that bring the model to life including emotional touch points, development of positive caring practices and focusing on compassionate proofing of language.

The masterclass is suitable for postgraduate students, academics and professionals who are looking for an introduction to Appreciative Inquiry.

For more information, please contact 01202 962184 or email wellbeing@bournemouth.ac.uk

 We look forward to seeing you there.

 

Appreciative Inquiry Masterclass – Thursday 22nd May

The Centre of Qualitative Research at Bournemouth University is pleased to announce its next Masterclass in Appreciative Inquiry: 22nd May 2014

Venue: Bournemouth University, Executive Business Centre, 3rd Floor. Book your place now. This masterclass will focus on the use of Appreciative Action Research as an approach to research and development.

Who should attend: The masterclass is suitable for postgraduate students, academics and professionals who are looking for an introduction to Appreciative Inquiry.

Masterclass facilitated by: Professor Belinda Dewar is the Professor of Practice Improvement at the University of the West of Scotland. She has been working with nurses, allied health care professionals, patients, residents and families in a range of care settings over the last 25 years to support improving the experience of giving and receiving care. She is recognised nationally and internationally for her work on caring and methodologies for improvement which include Action Research and Appreciative Inquiry, as well as designing and delivering innovative transformational leadership programmes.

Schedule: The day will start at 9.30am and finish around 4.15pm. There will be a mixture of seminars with discussions, Q&A sessions and group activities.

Cost: The fees are as follows: External delegates £95, BU staff £80, BU students £50 and Non BU students £75. The price includes lunch and refreshments and all class materials. Accommodation and travel costs are not included.

To book your place, please use our online booking form. Book your place by Monday 19th May 2014.

For more information, please contact 01202 962184 or email wellbeing@bournemouth.ac.uk

 

Best wishes Caroline Ellis-Hill

Masterclass Co-ordinator and Senior Lecturer at BU

Optimising Childbirth Across Europe (Optimise2014)

Publishing

Last week BU Professor Edwin van Teijlingen attended the international conference ’Optimising Childbirth Across Europe (Optimise2014)’ [http://optimisebirth.com/] in Brussels, Belgium.  This new conference  in the maternity care field was based on the work of the COST (Co-operation in Science and Technology) Action IS0907.  This Action, over the period 2010-2014, set out to advance scientific knowledge about ways of improving maternity care provision and outcomes for mothers, babies and families across Europe by understanding what works, for who, in what circumstances, and by identifying and learning from the best.

 

As part of this COST Action several academics have spent time over the past three years at Bournemouth University’s Centre for Midwifery, Maternal and Perinatal Health.  Susanne Grylka-Bäschlin a Swiss midwife studying at Hannover Medical School, Germany, studied cultural differences in postnatal quality of life among German-speaking women in Switzerland and Germany.  See gave an excellent oral presentation of this first ever study to translate and apply the Mother-Generated Index in German. Mother-Generated Index was originally developed by Dr. Andrew Symon who is based at the University of Dundee [http://dundee.academia.edu/AndrewSymon ].

A further BU contribution to the conference involved the work of another European visitor to the Centre for Midwifery, Maternal and Perinatal Health.  Dr. Ans Luyben, a Dutch midwife working in Switzerland presented a poster based on work in Switzerland at the COST Action conference at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel.

 

Professor Edwin van Teijlingen

Centre for Midwifery, Maternal and Perinatal Health

BU research featured on BBC’s Monkey Planet

Research conducted by Bournemouth University’s Alison Hillyer has been featured on a BBC programme looking at primates.

Monkey Planet, currently showing on BBC1, featured research into the Red Colobus monkey and its interactions with another species, green monkeys, and how their relationship has developed through living in the same habitat.  Specifically, the programme showed how the red colobus monkeys form special multi-species associations that are most likely a way of improving predator detection.BU’s research at the site is mostly concerned with the conservation status of Temmincki’s red colobus in the region and is aimed at developing an integrated conservation strategy for the region that involves experts in tourism (Vijay Reddy and Feifei Xu) and primatology (Amanda Korstjens and Alison Hillyer) and is conducted in close collaboration with the local authorities.

The Temmincki’s red colobus monkeys(not to be confused with the Zanzibar Red Colobus) are in need of protection to avoid their extinction. BU students have been invited back to The Gambia in July 2014 for a new inter-disciplinary project that aims to develop a sustainable long-term strategy to support local development and conservation in The Gambia through eco-tourism business.
The programme can be viewed again on the BBC website until 9:59pm on Wednesday 23 Apr 2014.
 

Dr Fiona Kelly joins BUDI

I am delighted to have arrived at BUDI to start a new job with Anthea and her team of committed, enthusiastic colleagues. They have made me feel very welcome and I feel a part of the team already. My role in the team is to write funding applications, so I hope you will get in touch with me if you think you can contribute in any way.

I have been based for the past ten years at the University of Stirling; firstly as a student and then as a lecturer in dementia studies. At Stirling, I taught on the online programme in dementia studies and have met some fantastic students who I know will contribute to making things better for people living with and affected by dementia. I have worked with inspirational and committed researchers and academics, both nationally and internationally and have had the opportunity to travel widely to do research, teach and speak at conferences and, I hope, to inspire others to work to make a difference. Alongside my academic work, I am also a nurse and have worked, and will continue to work, in a little care home for people with dementia. I work one night shift a month partly because I love this work and am good at it and also because it stimulates new research ideas and enables me to teach with credibility. Probably the main reason I work in this little care home is that the people with dementia who live there have taught me about humanity, compassion, resilience, humour and dignity, and I am not sure I would have learned these anywhere else.

I look forward to working with the BUDI team and people beyond the team and hope to meet some of you in the future.

Dr Fiona Kelly
Associate Director (Research)
BUDI
fkelly@bournemouth.ac.uk

Making music

Today was the first session for our rehearsal for the BUDI orchestra. We (BUDI team and the BSO players) had no idea how this would pan out as this is the first time that we are aware of where people with dementia have been given the opportunity to work alongside orchestra musicians and to gain confidence/ relearn or to learn for the first time instruments. It was something of a leap of faith to try to do this based on a hunch I had that if people can come together as a choir could we not also do this as an orchestra? Anyway, I was completely humbled by the successful use of the creative skills of the BSO musicians and BUMusic scholars as they led an initiative for those living with dementia and their family members and support workers today. As a result I have decided to do a regularish piece on my observations of the process (not the actual research which we are doing as part of FIF grant) as the sessions progress that will then culminate in a BU FOL performance on the 14 June at the Winton Life Centre. The photo gives you an idea of what happened, and when our video clips become available I will post these, but it was amazing to experience people with dementia who had lost their musical skills or perhaps more accurately their confidence bringing their instruments – a double bass and mouthorgan and regaining their musical confidence to play alongside the professional musicians. And perhaps more amazing that some of our participants who had never touched a string instrument learn some notes and then play a piece, Bolero, together –  and some other classical piece that I had never heard of before (I am not a musician). I too managed to play a few notes on a violin, or maybe it was a viola, anyway the community musician knows his stuff and directed us all to enable the musicians to get us all to play something – and in relative harmony! Two of our BUMusic scholars, while a little hesitant initially, then took the initiative to lead some of the singing that was part of this initial rehearsal and again their skill in using their talents to engage and encourage the group was amazing to watch. I had the pleasure of being taught how to play a few notes (badly) on the double bass by one of our participants with dementia which was probably the best part of the morning for me. I have a soap box position that many will have heard before about how when someone has dementia it is possible to continue to learn new things and also for people with dementia to help us learn new things. Today was just another inspiring example of that.

Does spinal manipulation change cervical inter-vertebral motion? – BritSpine 2014 conference presentation by Jonathan Branney

Awarded & submitted bids, PG research

Jonny, an HSC PhD student based at AECC has recently returned from the University of Warwick where he gave an oral presentation of his PhD findings, at the BritSpine conference. This was an opportunity to present his research on spinal manipulation and neck pain to eminent clinicians and researchers, and field questions from none less than the President of the British Association of Spinal Surgeons and the Chair of the United Kingdom Spine Societies Board – sigh of relief when they appeared to be happy with his answers!

This is the first time Jonny has presented his findings to a spine-research expert audience and this resulted in invaluable feedback that will inform not only future presentations, but his thesis too. It was only through the award of a Santander Mobility Award that Jonny was able to attend this prestigious conference – many thanks to the Graduate School and Santander Universities for making this attendance possible.

Jonny’s thesis is entitled, “An observational study of changes in cervical inter-vertebral motion and the relationship with patient-reported outcomes in patients undergoing spinal manipulative therapy for neck pain”. He is supervised by Professors Alan Breen and Jenni Bolton, (AECC) and Dr Sarah Hean at BU, and the thesis is due for completion in the summer.

In the meantime, if you’re interested in whether spinal manipulation changes inter-vertebral motion, you might like to check out the conference abstract which was published in the European Spine Journal 23(Suppl 1): S128.

 

EXON by the sea!

Training

 

After many months of negotiation I packed my weekend bag and set off to Eastbourne to provide the first of a six day programme spread over three months on newborn examination, to a select cohort of nine midwives who work for the East Sussex NHS Healthcare Trust. The nearest university (Brighton) does not provide the module and I regularly have midwives travelling up from Brighton to attend the two courses provided annually at the Lansdowne Campus.

Midwives from the midwife led unit (EMU as it is fondly referred to) at Eastbourne Hospital, the acute trust at Hastings and Crowbridge Birthing Unit all joined the module at the beginning of January 2014. Some of the midwives were undertaking the unit in work time and some during their annual leave, but all were enthusiastic and very excited to be finally learning the skills and competencies necessary to become newborn examiners. Currently no midwives in the combined trusts undertake newborn examination and all babies are either examined by junior doctors in training or general practitioners (GPs) in the community setting. For a number of years there have been concerns expressed in the literature around the quality of the newborn examination when undertaken by junior doctors and GPs mainly around training and on-going education. Traditionally doctors in NHS hospitals were taught newborn examination under the mantra ‘see one – do one – teach one’, midwives on the other hand, have had to undergo many months of extra training and are required to undertake between 40 & 60 newborn examinations before being deemed competent. These conditions became onerous for midwives as it became difficult for them to find mentors and assessors to support them in practice. Many requested extensions and in some cases took almost two years to complete. This model of learning was not sustainable in the long run for both the clinical workplace and for university processes. Therefore an opportunity arose to change how BU provided examination of the newborn (EXON) when the post registration framework was re-validated in 2012, with the main difference being in relation to the examinations.

Midwifery is a self-regulating profession; therefore it is up to individual practitioners to judge whether they are component when providing midwifery care. The philosophy of self-regulation underpinning competency guided the provision of the new EXON course in relation to the number of examinations required. Midwives have to carry out a minimum of 10 mentored newborn checks, with five examinations being directly supervised. Once 10 examinations have been carried out midwives can undertake as many self-assessed newborn checks until they feel competent. Once they have reached this point they put themselves forward for one summative assessment which is a newborn examination evaluated in practice.  Midwives have nine months to complete the module. In addition, to further support midwives in training for this role, experienced midwives around the BU patch and as far as West Wiltshire have been provided with a half day update focusing on mentoring/assessing and understanding the EXON paperwork. These midwives have now taken on the role of mentoring and assessing midwives through EXON.

Now having delivered the six day programme the midwives in Eastbourne have successfully completed the academic requirement,s with all passing their ‘enquiry-based learning’ presentations which focused on an aspect of newborn physiology/pathology. The presentations were of an extremely high standard and feedback from the unit leader recommended writing up their work for publication in the British Journal of Midwifery. Their unit evaluations were 100% positive. One of the main benefits centered on the midwives forming a cohesive group and getting to know each other better.  These midwives are leading the way at East Sussex Healthcare. Once they qualify, they in turn, can become mentors and assessors for the next cohort. Perhaps even more importantly, evidence demonstrates that when midwives undertake this expanded role, women’s satisfaction and midwifery autonomy is increased and crucially, there is continuity of care for the woman and her baby and for the midwife herself.

 

For further information on the EXON module please contact Luisa Cescutti-Butler, Senior Lecturer, Lansdowne Campus: lcbutler@bournemouth.ac.uk

 

NIHR Research Design Service Grant Applications Workshop

The Research Design Service South West (RDS SW) is running a free one-day grant applications workshop on Thursday 10 July 2014 at Taunton Racecourse, Somerset.

The grant applications workshop is directed at researchers who are considering applying to peer-reviewed funding competitions for applied health or social care research, and is intended to allow them to turn good applications into excellent ones.

If you are interested in attending the workshop you will need to submit an application form and the latest draft of your research proposal by 1pm Monday 9 June 2014.

For more information and to download an application form please go to http://www.rds-sw.nihr.ac.uk/gaw.htm.

Don’t forget, your local branch of the Research Design Service is based within the BU Clinical Research Unit (BUCRU) on the 5th floor of Royal London House. Feel free to pop in and see us or send us an email.

CoPMRE celebrates joint PhDs

 

Thirty-five clinicians and academics crammed into the Centre of Postgraduate Medical Research and Education’s (CoPMRE) meeting room on the 5th Floor of Royal London House for this Spring’s Visiting Faculty workshop brilliantly organised by Audrey Dixon.  Five excellent presentations from PhD students, with supervisors from BU and local NHS clinicians, showcased the breadth and depth of research from risk stratification for early detection of heart attacks in ED to using the Nintendo Wii to increase activity levels and quality of life in people with multiple sclerosis. Fiona Knight from the Graduate School explained process and policy, Alan Breen from the Anglo European Chiropractic College mused on the benefits of being a PhD supervisor, Zoe Sheppard briefed on HSC’s plan to enhance research impact and Tony Markus called for a special interest group to explore human factors in patient safety. All washed down by plenty of fresh coffee and a buffet lunch. Thanks to all who took part.

Paul Thompson MD FRCP

Director CoPMRE