BU Research Blog

September 27, 2024

Pregnancy & COVID-19 in UK: New study published

BU research, COVID-19, Featured academics, NHS, Research news, Women's Academic Network, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

This morning the editor of the Frontiers in Psychiatry emailed us that the paper reporting the findings of the baseline data of a large-scale epidemiological study into pregnancy during COVID-19 in the UK has been published [1]. The interdisciplinary research team includes researchers from University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust (Dr. Latha Vinayakarao & Prof. Minesh Khashu) and Bournemouth University (Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen).

This longitudinal study explores how the SARS-CoV-2 [COVID-19] pandemic affected the mental health of pregnant people in the UK. In mid-to-late 2020, we recruited 3666 individuals in the UK for the EPPOCH pregnancy cohort (Maternal mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic: Effect of the Pandemic on Pregnancy Outcomes and Childhood Health). Participants were assessed for depression, anxiety, anger and pregnancy-related anxiety using validated scales. Additionally, physical activity, social support, individualized support and personal coping ability of the respondents were assessed as potential resilience factors.

Participants reported high levels of depression (57.05%), anxiety (58.04%) and anger (58.05%). Higher levels of social and individualized support and personal coping ability were associated with lower mental health challenges. Additionally, pregnant individuals in the UK experienced higher depression during the pandemic than that reported in Canada. Finally, qualitative analysis revealed that restrictions for partners and support persons during medical appointments as well as poor public health communication led to increased mental health adversities and hindered ability to make medical decisions.

The study highlights the increased mental health challenges among pregnant individuals in the UK during pandemic. These results highlight the need for reassessing the mental health support measures available to pregnant people in the UK, both during times of crisis and in general.

Reference:

Datye, S., Smiljanic, M., Shetti, R.H., MacRae-Miller, A., van Teijlingen, E., Vinayakarao, L., Peters, E.M.J., Lebel, C.A., Tomfohr-Madsen, L., Giesbrecht, G., Khashu, M., Conrad, M.L. (2024) Prenatal maternal mental health and resilience in the United Kingdom during the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic: A cross-national comparison, Frontiers in Psychiatry, 15 https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1411761

September 24, 2024

Reaching 10,000 reads!

COVID-19, Featured academics, Global engagement, international, open access, PG research, Publishing, Research communication, Research news, Uncategorized, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

Last Sunday ResearchGate informed us that the paper ‘Health facility preparedness of maternal and neonatal health services: a survey in Jumla, Nepal‘ [1] published in the international journal BMC Health Services Research had been read 10,000 times. In this paper, which is in an Open Access journal, Pasang reports on a cross-sectional study conducted in 2019 covering all 31 state health facilities in a district of Nepal to assess the availability of maternal and neonatal health services including appropriate workforce and access to essential medicines. Tests of association between demographic factors and the probability of a facility experiencing a shortage of essential medicine within the last 3 months were also conducted as exploratory procedures. Overall health facilities reported better availability of staff than of drugs. The authors concluded that health facilities in Nepals should be supported to meet required minimal standards such as availability of essential medicines and the provision of emergency ambulance transport for women and newborns. This paper was part of Dr. Pasang Tamang’s Ph.D. project at the University of Huddersfield, which resulted in four other related publications [2-5]. Pasang is currently working as a Lecturer in Public Health in the School of Human Sciences at the University of Greenwich.

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

References:

Tamang, P., Simkhada, P., Bissell, P., van Teijlingen, E., Khatri, R., Stephenson, J. (2021) Health facility preparedness of maternal and neonatal health services: A survey in Jumla, Nepal, BMC Health Service Research, 21:1023. https://rdcu.be/cyD01
Tamang, P., Mahato, P., Simkhada P., Bissell, P., van Teijlingen, E. (2021) Pregnancy, Childbirth, Breastfeeding and Coronavirus Disease: What is known so far? Journal of Midwifery Association of Nepal (JMAN) 2(1): 96-101.
Tamang, P., Simkhada, B, Simkhada, P., van Teijlingen, E. (2023) Quality of care in maternal and neonatal health in Jumla, rural Nepal: Women’s perspective. Fields: Journal of Huddersfield student research, 1(1). https://doi.org/10.5920/fields.1271
Mahato, P., Tamang, P., Simkhada, B., Wasti, S. P., Devkota, B., Simkhada, P., van Teijlingen, E.R. (2022) Reflections on health promotion fieldwork in Nepal: Trials and tribulations. Journal of Health Promotion 10(1): 5–12. https://doi.org/10.3126/jhp.v10i1.50978
Tamang, P., Mahato, P., Shahi, P., Simkhada, P., van Teijlingen, E., Amgain, K. (2020) COVID-19 Quarantine: A Key Part of Prevention in Nepal. Journal of Karnali Academy of Health Sciences 3(1):1-14.

September 2, 2024

First EPPOCH study paper accepted for publication

BU research, COVID-19, Featured academics, open access, Publishing, Research news, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

This afternoon the editorial office of Frontiers in Psychiatry informed us that our manuscript “Prenatal maternal mental health and resilience in the United Kingdom during the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic: A cross-national comparison” [1] has been accepted for publication in Frontiers in Psychiatry, section Perinatal Psychiatry. An interdisciplinary team from Germany, Canada and the UK designed and initiated a longitudinal pregnancy cohort in the United Kingdom titled Maternal mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic: Effect of the Pandemic on Pregnancy Outcomes & Childhood Health (EPPOCH). In the second half of 2020, we recruited 3,600 pregnant individuals via self-enrollment through our website ‘www.eppoch-uk.org’. Our EPPOCH study has since collected a wealth of validated questionnaire data at multiple time points, from mothers (during pregnancy and postpartum) and their children (from birth to age 3), and we are currently distributing our 4-year childhood follow-up questionnaire. This is the first paper from the EPPOCH study.

The UK team is a collaboration between Bournemouth University and University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust, the latter through Professor Minesh Khashu and Dr. Latha Vinayakarao based in Poole Maternity Hospital. The German team is led by Dr. Melanie Conrad, previously at Charité University Medicine Berlin, and now associated with the University of Augsburg, and includes Swarali Datye, PhD student at Charité University Medicine Berlin, whilst our Canadian collaborator, Alison MacRae-Miller, is based at the University of British Columbia, Victoria. This EPPOCH cohort is closely linked with a sister cohort in Canada called the Pregnancy During the Pandemic (PDP) study.

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health

Reference:

Datye, S., Smiljanic, M., Shetti, R.H., MacRae-Miller, A., van Teijlingen, E., Vinayakarao, L., Peters, E.M.J., Lebel, C.A., Tomfohr-Madsen, L., Giesbrecht, G., Khashu, M., Conrad, M.L. (2024) Prenatal maternal mental health and resilience in the United Kingdom during the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic: A cross-national comparison, Frontiers in Psychiatry, (accepted).

August 2, 2024

Drowning prevention meeting for NIHR-funded study

BU research, COVID-19, Featured, international, PG research, Research news, Uncategorized Edwin van Teijlingen

This week our collaborators on the Sonamoni project traveled from Bangladesh and Uganda to Dorset for a set of research planning meetings. The visitors represented CIPRB (The Centre for Injury Prevention and Research, Bangladesh) and DWB (Design without Borders). They were hosted by colleagues from Bournemouth University, the RNLI (Royal National Lifeboat Institute) and from the University of Southampton. Since Monday we managed to have an intensive week of design workshops, reviewing and incorporating local-community prioritised interventions for child drowning prevention (aged <2years) in Bangladesh. I say ‘we managed’, but I have been at home all week with COVID-19. The past few days I was beginning to feel quite well again, so I was unpleasantly surprised that I was still positive when I tested yesterday, and even more so this morning. Consequently, missing the whole week working with our visiting collaborators.

The Sonamoni project recently presented its own video recording on YouTube,which you can watch here!

Sonamoni is a public health project is funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) through its Research and Innovation for Global Health Transformation programme. For more information, visit the NIHR website.

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health (CMWH)

April 21, 2024

New COVID-19 publication

BU research, COVID-19, Global engagement, international, mrc, Publishing, Research communication, Research news, Uncategorized, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

This week the Asia Pacific Journal of Public Health (APJPH) accepted our latest paper from our research on the impact of the federalisation of the health care system in Nepal. This paper ‘COVID-19 as a challenge to Nepal’s newly federalised health system: capacities, responsibilities, and mindsets’ has Bikesh Koirala as first author [1].

This recently completed study was funded by the UK Health Systems Research Initiative [Grant ref. MR/T023554/1]. In this larger Nepal Federal Health System Project we studied the effects on the health system of Nepal’s move from a centralised political system to a more federal government structure in 2015. This joint project was led by the University of Sheffield in collaboration with Bournemouth University, the University of Huddersfield, Canterbury Christ Church University and two higher education institutions in Nepal: MMIHS (Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences) and PHASE Nepal.

This is the seventh paper from our collaboration. Previous papers focused on a wide range of aspects of this interdisciplinary study, including on its methods, participatory policy analysis, the WHO (World Health Organization) health systems building blocks, and public health [2-7].

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMWH (Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health)

References:

Koirala, B., Rushton, S., Adhikary, P., Balen, J., Basnet, S., Joshi, S., Karki, A., Lee, A., Rijal, B., Simkhada, P., Subedi, M., van Teijlingen, E., Karki, J. (2024) COVID-19 as a challenge to Nepal’s newly federalised health system: capacities, responsibilities, and mindsets, Asia Pacific Journal of Public Health (accepted).
Sapkota, S., Rushton, S., et al. (2024) Participatory policy analysis in health policy and systems research: reflections from a study in Nepal. Health Research & Policy Systems, 22 (No.7) https://doi.org/10.1186/s12961-023-01092-5 .
Wasti, S.P., van Teijlingen, E., et al. (2023) Overcoming the Challenges Facing Nepal’s Health System During Federalisation: An Analysis of Health System Building Blocks, Health Research Policy & Systems 21(117) https://doi.org/10.1186/s12961-023-01033-2
Sapkota, S., Dhakal, A., et al. (2023) The impact of decentralisation on health systems: a systematic review of reviews. BMJ Global Health 8:e013317. doi:10.1136/bmjgh-2023-013317.
Sapkota, S., Panday, S., et al. (2022) Health System Strengthening: The Role of Public Health in Federal Nepal, Journal of the Nepal Public Health Association 7(1):36-42.
Adhikary, P., Balen, J., et al. (2020) The COVID-19 pandemic in Nepal: Emerging evidence on the effectiveness of action by, and cooperation between, different levels of government in a federal system, Journal of Karnali Academy of Health Sciences 3 (3): 1-11.
Rushton, S., Pandey, S., van Teijlingen, E., et al. (2021) An Investigation into the Impact of Decentralization on the Health System of Nepal. Journal of Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences, 7(1): 3–14. https://doi.org/10.3126/jmmihs.v7i1.43146

March 12, 2024

Appreciative Inquiry Resource

BU research, COVID-19, Featured academics, humanities, innovation, NHS, Public engagement, Publishing, research methods, Training, Uncategorized, Women's Academic Network, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

Today we received a copy of the book Appreciating Health and Care in the post. This book has a sub-title ‘A practical appreciative inquiry resource for the health and social care sector’ and refers to the work led by Bournemouth University’s Dr. Rachel Arnold. Appreciative Inquiry values people’s expertise and vision and can motivate people to see the world differently and instigate positive change. Rachel been the lead author on several publications around Appreciative Inquiry [1-3].

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health (CMWH)

References:

Arnold, R. (2024) Learning to use Appreciative Inquiry, i2Insights, 16th January.
Arnold, R., Way, S., Mahato, P., van Teijlingen, E. (2024) “I might have cried in the changing room, but I still went to work”. Maternity staff managing roles, responsibilities, and emotions of work and home during COVID-19: an Appreciative Inquiry, Women & Birth 37: 128-136.
Arnold, R., Gordon, C., Way, S., Mahato, P., van Teijlingen, E. (2022) Why use Appreciative Inquiry? Lessons learned during COVID-19 in a UK maternity service, European Journal of Midwifery 6 (May): 1-7.

October 12, 2023

Dr Alina Dolea thanked by UK Modern Slavery and Organised Immigration Crime Unit

BU research, BU2025, COVID-19, Fusion, humanities, Impact, Knowledge Exchange, Knowledge Exchange and Impact Team, policy, Public engagement, Research Centres, Uncategorized edolea

Dr. Alina Dolea, Associate Professor in Strategic Communication and Public Diplomacy and Deputy Head of Department in Humanities and Law, received a letter of thanks from the UK Modern Slavery and Organised Immigration Crime Unit (MSOICU).

Dr. Dolea contributed with expertise and insights from her research on Romanian diaspora community in the UK to the Romanian and Roma Cultural Resource, a deliverable that MSOICU developed for the Home Office. In addition, on September 13, 2023 she delivered the webinar for the launch of the resource together with a Romanian NGO representative and a Romanian police officer in the UK, a format that was considered very successful.

There were over 80 police officers in the pilot webinar – the handout and the recording of the webinar have been since shared with all police force modern slavery leads and related stakeholders.

For the handout and the webinar, Dr. Dolea provided a historical background on the formation of the Romanian nation and the Romanian Roma community (including their discrimination and Holocaust during WW2), key aspects of Romanian and Roma cultures (language, religion, family life).

She explained the main reasons for emigration and the emotional costs of migration, the issue of lack of trust in authorities, but also trust in each other (fractured during Communism).

She also provided recommendations for communicating and engaging with Romanian and Roma victims or potential victims of modern slavery and organized immigration crime, as well as a list of further readings that were incorporated in the final documents.

May 19, 2023

BU Workshop on Health Systems in Nepal

BU research, COVID-19, Featured academics, open access, policy, Research news, Uncategorized, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

You are invited to a two-hour ‘Workshop on Health Systems in Nepal’ at Bournemouth University (BU) on Thursday 25^th May in the Bournemouth Gateway Building (BGB room 315) starting at 14.00, aiming to finish at 16.00. We have the pleasure of welcoming three academic visitors from Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences (MMIHS) in Kathmandu who are at BU on an Erasmus+ exchange.

‘Prof. Sujan Marahatta, Dr. Sujata Sapkota and Dr. Sujan Gautam from MMIHS are part of an international project examining the consequences for the health system of Nepal’s move to a federal government structure. This project, launched in 2020 at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, is led by the University of Sheffield, in collaboration with BU, the University of Huddersfield, PHASE Nepal and MMIHS. This nearly four-year project is UK-funded by the MRC (Medical Research Council), the Wellcome Trust and DFID (now called Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office [FCDO]) under the Health Systems Research Initiative.

The project has resulted in several publications, all in Open Access journals. The first of three papers introduced the research project ‘The impact of federalisation on Nepal’s health system: a longitudinal analysis’ [1], the second focused on COVID-19 when examining the effects of changing Nepal’s constitution towards a federal republic on its health system [2], and the third one highlighted Public Health approaches around the ongoing federalisation of the state of Nepal and the associated decentralisation processes in its health system [3].

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health (formerly CMMPH)

References:

Sapkota, S., Panday, S., Wasti, S.P., Lee, A., Balen, J., van Teijlingen, E., Rushton, S., Subedi, M., Gautam, S., Karki, J., Adhikary, P., Marahatta, S., Simkhada, P. for the Nepal Federal Health System Team (2022) Health System Strengthening: The Role of Public Health in Federal Nepal, Journal of Nepal Public Health Association 7 (1): 36-42.
Rushton, S., Pandey, S., van Teijlingen, E., Subedi, M., Balen, J., Karki, J., Simkhada, P. on behalf of the Nepal Federal Health System Team (2021) An Investigation into the Impact of Decentralization on the Health System of Nepal. Journal of Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences, 7(1): 3–14. https://doi.org/10.3126/jmmihs.v7i1.43146
Adhikary, P., Balen, J., Gautam, S., Ghimire S., Karki J.K., Lee A.C., Marahatta S.B., Pandey S., Pohl G., Ruston S., Sapkota S., Simkhada P.P., Subedi M., van Teijlingen E.R., on behalf of the NFHS Team (2020) The COVID-19 pandemic in Nepal: Emerging evidence on the effectiveness of action by, and cooperation between, different levels of government in a federal system. Journal of Karnali Academy of Health Sciences 3(3)

May 17, 2023

Drumming for health: ADRC research collaboration with Nature Therapy CIC

BU research, Coffee Morning, COVID-19, Fusion, Knowledge Exchange, Public engagement mheward

On 10^th May 2023 we welcomed our regular group of local older people and practitioners to the ADRC coffee morning. In this session, we heard about collaborative work on the impact of drumming on health and wellbeing. Firstly, Dr Kim Brown from Nature Therapy Community Interest Company (CIC) introduced her work aimed at building sensory resilience with unique arts-based projects involving horses, wolves, forests, the sea, medicine wheel, labyrinths, and art and music including drumming. The research team (Dr Michelle Heward, Dr Caroline Ellis-Hill, and Lyndsey Bradley) then shared findings from a research project focused on drumming with people with dementia (for more detail see paragraph below). The group then had a go at drumming – it was very lively, and everyone enjoyed taking part!

Drumming for dementia research

Nature Therapy have developed a level one Drumming for Dementia online course, to support family carers and care staff in health and social care settings to use drumming with people with dementia. The research project involved evaluating the impact of the course in care and home environments and was funded by the Burdett Trust for Nursing ‘Small Grants 2020 programme’. The findings demonstrate that it is possible to gain confidence to practice drumming with people with dementia through the level one course provided by Nature Therapy CIC. And that these have led to positive impacts in terms of reduced agitation and greater engagement for those living with dementia.

To access the course visit https://www.naturetherapyonline.com/ click on ‘more’ and then ‘drumming for dementia course’.

For more information about the study please email adrc@bournemouth.ac.uk

Future ADRC coffee mornings

ADRC coffee mornings are a forum for local people, practitioners, and researchers to meet to discuss ideas for research and share research findings. They take place on the second Wednesday of the month and are mostly virtual with an occasional face to face session. If you would like to present your research to the group at a future coffee morning, please contact adrc@bournemouth.ac.uk

May 14, 2023

New ways of publishing?

COVID-19, Featured academics, Global engagement, international, open access, PG research, Publishing, Research news, Research Training, student research, Uncategorized, Women's Academic Network, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

Last we took a new step into the academic publishing by submitting a paper to Qeios. This Open Access journal publishes papers for free, more or less immediately and after the paper has appeared online peer-reviewers are being invited. The paper ‘Impact of Men’s Labour Migration on Non-migrating Spouses’ Health: A Systematic Review‘ [1] is part of Shraddha Manandhar’s Ph.D. study at the University of Huddersfield. Her supervisors are Huddersfield’s Prof. Philip Brown and Prof. Padam Simkhada and Bournemouth University’ Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen. This journal uses AI to find and invite reviewers, and these reviews will the be are published alongside our article. Should we advised by reviewers to make changes, edits or improvements the next version of the paper will be published online alongside the original submission and the reviews.

We have had some previous experience with the process of post-publication review, in 2017 BU’s Dr. Sarah Collard and Prof. van Teijlingen wrote a referee report for F1000Research after it published a methods paper on online focus groups [2]. More recently we published a COVID-19 paper in a so-called pre-print journal SSRN [3], but this was later in published in a traditional peer-reviewed journal called Scientific Reports [4], part of the Nature publishing family.

References

Manandhar, S., Simkhada, P., Brown, P., van Teijlingen, E. (2023) Impact of Men’s Labour Migration on Non-migrating Spouses’ Health: A Systematic Review, Qeios,
May 13, https://doi.org/10.32388/BX9WFC
Collard, S., van Teijlingen, E. (2017) Referee Report For: Insights for conducting real-time focus groups online using a web conferencing service [version 2; referees: 2 approved]. F1000Research 6:122 (doi: 10.5256/f1000research.11236.r21467) https://f1000research.com/articles/6-122/v1#referee-response-21467
Parajuli, R.R., Mishra, B., Banstola, A., Ghimire, B.R., Poudel, S., Sharma, K., Dixit, S.M., Shah, S., Simkhada, P., van Teijlingen, E., (2020) Multidisciplinary Approach to COVID-19 Risk Communication: A Framework and Tool for Individual and Regional Risk Assessment. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3634190 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3634190
Parajuli, R.R., Mishra, B., Banstola, A. et al. Multidisciplinary approach to COVID-19 risk communication: a framework and tool for individual and regional risk assessment. Sci Rep 10, 21650 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-78779-0

May 6, 2023

New COVID-19 paper on Nepal

BRIAN, BU research, COVID-19, Featured academics, Global engagement, international, open access, Publishing, Research Centres, Research news, Uncategorized, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

Yesterday Plos ONE published our latest study on the health system in Nepal under the title ‘Barriers in accessing family planning services in Nepal during the COVID-19 pandemic: A qualitative study‘ [1]. This qualitative study, in an Open Access journal, explores what sorts of barriers are faced by women needing family planning services in Nepal during the pandemic. It was conducted in five districts of Nepal. Telephonic in-depth interviews were conducted with 18 women of reproductive age (18–49 years) who were the regular clients of family planning services. Data were coded deductively using the preexisting themes based on a socio-ecological model (e.g., individual, family, community, and health-facility levels).

The paper reports that individual level barriers included low self-confidence, inadequate knowledge on COVID-19, myths and misconception related to COVID-19, limited access to family planning services, low priority to sexual and reproductive health services, low autonomy in family and limited financial ability. Family level barriers comprised partner’s support, social stigma, increased time at home with husbands or parents, not accepting family planning services as essential health services, financial hardship due to loss of jobs, and communication with in-laws. Movement restrictions and transportation hindering access, unsecured feeling, violation of privacy, and obstacles from security personnel were the community level barriers and unavailability of preferred choice of contraception, increased waiting time, limited outreach services by community health workers, limited physical infrastructures, the behavior of health workers, stock out of commodities, and absence of health workers were health facility level barriers.

The authors conclude that policymakers and programme managers should consider strategies to ensure continued availability of the full method mix during emergency, particularly since disruptions may go unnoticed and strengthen the provision of services through alternative service delivery channels to ensure sustained uptake of such services in this sort of pandemic.

This is the latest addition to the pool of academic papers published by Bournemouth University academics on the effects of COVID-19 on health care in Nepal or issues related to Nepal [2-11].

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH (Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health)

References:

Sigdel A, Bista A, Sapkota H, van Teijlingen E (2023) Barriers in accessing family planning services in Nepal during the COVID-19 pandemic: A qualitative study. PLoS ONE 18(5): e0285248. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0285248
Mahato P., Adhikari B., Marahatta S.B., Bhusal S., Kunwar K., Yadav R.K., Baral, S., Adhikari, A., van Teijlingen, E. (2023) Perceptions around COVID-19 and vaccine hesitancy: A qualitative study in Kaski district, Western Nepal. PLOS Global Public Health 3(2): e0000564.
Regmi, P., Dhakal Adhikari, S., Aryal, N., Wasti, S.P., van Teijlingen, E. (2022) Fear, Stigma and Othering: The Impact of COVID-19 Rumours on Returnee Migrants and Muslim Populations of Nepal, International Journal of Environmental Research & Public Health 19(15), 8986.
Simkhada, P., Tamang, P., Timilsina, L., Simkhada, B., Bissell, P., van Teijlingen, E., Sah, S.K., Wasti, S.P. (2022) Factors Influencing COVID-19 Vaccine Uptake among Nepali in the UK: A Qualitative Study, Vaccine 10(5): 780. https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines10050780
Khanal, S.P., van Teijlingen, E., Sharma, M.K., Acharya, J., Sharma, C. (2021) Perceived threats towards COVID-19 pandemic among Nepali migrant workers returned from India, Journal of Health Promotion 9(1):87-99.
Wasti, SP., Simkhada, P., Magar, S.A., van Teijlingen, E. (2021) Nepalese Health System Response to Fight Against COVID-19 Pandemic, Europasian Journal of Medical Sciences 3(1): 98-104.
Simkhada, P., Mahato, P., Tamang, P., van Teijlingen, E., Shahi, P. (2020) The Role of Health Promotion during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Journal of Health Promotion, 8:1-4. https://doi.org/10.3126/jhp.v8i0.32964
Parajuli, R.R., Mishra, B., Banstola, A., Ghimire, B.R., Poudel, S., Sharma, K., Dixit, S.M., Shah, S., Simkhada, P., van Teijlingen, E. (2020) Multidisciplinary Approach to COVID-19 Risk Communication: A Framework and Tool for Individual and Regional Risk Assessment. Scientific Reports 10: 21650
Adhikary, P., Balen, J., Gautam, S., Ghimire, S., Karki, J., Lee, A.C.K., Marahatta, S.B., Panday, S., Pohl, G., Rushton, S., Sapkota, S., Simkhada, P.P., Subedi, M., van Teijlingen, E. for the Nepal Federal Health System team (2020) The COVID-19 pandemic in Nepal: Emerging evidence on the effectiveness of action by, and cooperation between, different levels of government in a federal system, Journal of Karnali Academy of Health Sciences 3 (3): 1-11.
Mahato, P., Tamang, P., Shahi, P., Aryal, N., Regmi, P., van Teijlingen, E., Simkhada, P. (2020) Effects of COVID-19 during lockdown in Nepal, Europasian Journal of Medical Sciences 2(2):1-5.
Tamang, P., Mahato, P., Shahi, P., Simkhada, P., van Teijlingen, E., Amgain, K. (2020) COVID-19 Quarantine: A Key Part of Prevention in Nepal. Journal of Karnali Academy of Health Sciences 3(1):1-14.

April 24, 2023

Several BU papers at this week’s BNAC Nepal Study Days

conferences, COVID-19, Events, Featured academics, Global engagement, international, policy, Publishing, research methods, Uncategorized, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

The BNAC (Britain-Nepal Academic Council) twentieth Nepal Study Days (24-25 April) start today in Huddersfield. BU is directly represented through Dr. Pramod Regmi who will be presenting ‘Health Research Priorities and Needs in Migrant Health: A Review of Reviews’ today. Dr. Regmi based in the Department of Nursing Sciences and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen in the Department of Midwifery & Health Sciences are also part of the paper ‘Nepal Family Cohort Study: Starting a Longitudinal Population Health Study’ which will be presented by our colleague Dr. Om P. Kurmi from Coventry University.

There will also be a BU paper on ‘Perceptions Around Covid-19 and Vaccine Hesitancy: A Qualitative Study Among People Living in Kaski, Western Nepal’ , presented by Dr. Preeti Mahato. Preeti is based at Royal Holloway (University of London) and she is also a Visiting Faculty member of FHSS. She’ll presenting a study recently published in PLOS Global Public Health.

These Nepal Studies Days pay serious attention to our ongoing interdisciplinary study ‘The impact of federalisation on Nepal’s health system: a longitudinal analysis’ which was reported in several national newspapers in Nepal last week. Tomorrow there will be a plenary session by Prof. Simon Rushton, the PI on this project in which BU collaborates. He will be talking about ‘Nepal’s Health System During Federalisation: Emerging Issues and the Co-production of Policy and Practice Recommendations’. Later that day there will be two further presentations based on this large-scale study, the first one by Dr. Sharada P. Wasti followed by one delivered by Dr. Sujata Sapkota.

March 19, 2023

A global health journal with a diverse editorial board

BU research, COVID-19, Global engagement, international, open access, Publishing, research integrity, Uncategorized, Women's Academic Network, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

A recent study of 43 journals in the global health field found that PLOS Global Public Health has the joint highest diversity index, whilst also recording the maximum geographic diversity score! [1] The paper by a team from Pakistan and Canada addressed the question: “What is the current state of ethics of diversity and representation in global health publications?” In order to be able to answer this question they developed their own Journal Diversity Index (JDI) to measure three parameters of diversity and representation, namely gender, geographic & socioeconomic status.

The fact that PLOS Global Public Health came out top is good news for the Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health (CMMPH) as we published a paper in this journal last month. [2] Our qualitative paper ‘Perceptions around COVID-19 and vaccine hesitancy: A qualitative study in Kaski district, Western Nepal’ comprises 19 interviews in the city of Pokhara and its surrounding rural areas.

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH

References:

Manan, M.R., Nawaz, I., Rahman, S. et al. (2023). Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion on Editorial Boards of Global Health Journals. Asian Bioethics Review. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41649-023-00243-8
Mahato P., Adhikari B., Marahatta S.B., Bhusal S., Kunwar K., Yadav R.K., Baral, S., Adhikari, A., van Teijlingen, E. (2023). Perceptions around COVID-19 and vaccine hesitancy: A qualitative study in Kaski district, Western Nepal. PLOS Global Public Health 3(2): e0000564. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgph.0000564

February 19, 2023

New paper on COVID-19 and vaccine hesitancy in Western Nepal

BU research, COVID-19, Featured academics, Global engagement, international, Publishing, Research news, research staff, Uncategorized, Women's Academic Network, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

This weekend saw the publication of our paper ‘ Perceptions around COVID-19 and vaccine hesitancy: A qualitative study in Kaski district, Western Nepal’ in the international journal PLOS Global Public Health. [1] This paper reports on a qualitative in-depth study comprising nineteen interviews in the city of Pokhara and its surrounding rural areas. In the interviews people expressed fears about COVID-19, and adherence to public health measures such as social distancing and warring masks. The interviewees generally saw the COVID-19 vaccine as solution but mentioned the vaccine’s potential lack of effectiveness, the uncertain duration of protection and its side-effects.

This paper adds to a growing volume of public health papers on COVID-19 in Nepal or Nepalese people living in the UK written by Bournemouth University academics. [2-11] These papers are co-authored with colleagues based in Nepal and in the UK. They include Nepalese academics based at the University of Sheffield, Royal Holloway, the University of Huddersfield, The University of Greenwich

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health

References:

Mahato P., Adhikari B., Marahatta S.B., Bhusal S., Kunwar K., Yadav R.K., Baral, S., Adhikari, A., van Teijlingen, E. (2023) Perceptions around COVID-19 and vaccine hesitancy: A qualitative study in Kaski district, Western Nepal. PLOS Global Public Health 3(2): e0000564. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgph.0000564
Sharma, M., Adhikari, R., van Teijlingen, E. (2022) Handwashing station in Nepal: Role of wealth status in establishing a handwashing station, World Medical & Health Policy Online first https://doi.org/10.1002/wmh3.523
Simkhada, P., Tamang, P., Timilsina, L., Simkhada, B., Bissell, P., van Teijlingen, E., Sah, S.K., Wasti, S.P. (2022) Factors Influencing COVID-19 Vaccine Uptake among Nepali in the UK: A Qualitative Study, Vaccine 10(5): 780. https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines10050780
Regmi, P., Dhakal Adhikari, S., Aryal, N., Wasti, S.P., van Teijlingen, E. (2022) Fear, Stigma and Othering: The Impact of COVID-19 Rumours on Returnee Migrants and Muslim Populations of Nepal, International Journal of Environmental Research & Public Health 19(15), 8986; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19158986
Khanal, S.P., van Teijlingen, E., Sharma, M.K., Acharya, J., Sharma, C. (2021) Perceived threats towards COVID-19 pandemic among Nepali migrant workers returned from India, Journal of Health Promotion 9(1):87-99.
Simkhada, P., Mahato, P., Tamang, P., van Teijlingen, E., Shahi, P. (2020) The Role of Health Promotion during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Journal of Health Promotion, 8:1-4. https://doi.org/10.3126/jhp.v8i0.32964
Parajuli, R.R., Mishra, B., Banstola, A., Ghimire, B.R., Poudel, S., Sharma, K., Dixit, S.M., Shah, S., Simkhada, P., van Teijlingen, E. (2020) Multidisciplinary Approach to COVID-19 Risk Communication: A Framework and Tool for Individual & Regional Risk Assessment. Scientific Reports 10: 21650 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-78779-0 .
Tamang, P., Mahato, P., Simkhada P., Bissell, P., van Teijlingen, E. (2021) Pregnancy, Childbirth, Breastfeeding and Coronavirus Disease: What is known so far? Journal of Midwifery Association of Nepal (JMAN) 2(1): 96-101.
Adhikary, P., Balen, J., Gautam, S., Ghimire, S., Karki, J., Lee, A.C.K., Marahatta, S.B., Panday, S., Pohl, G., Rushton, S., Sapkota, S., Simkhada, P.P., Subedi, M., van Teijlingen, E. for the Nepal Federal Health System team (2020) The COVID-19 pandemic in Nepal: Emerging evidence on the effectiveness of action by, and cooperation between, different levels of government in a federal system, Journal of Karnali Academy of Health Sciences 3 (3): 1-11.
Mahato, P., Tamang, P., Shahi, P., Aryal, N., Regmi, P., van Teijlingen, E., Simkhada, P. (2020) Effects of COVID-19 during lockdown in Nepal, Europasian Journal of Medical Sciences 2(2):1-5.
Tamang, P., Mahato, P., Shahi, P., Simkhada, P., van Teijlingen, E., Amgain, K. (2020) COVID-19 Quarantine: A Key Part of Prevention in Nepal. Journal of Karnali Academy of Health Sciences 3(1):1-14.

December 20, 2022

Journals, editors and censorship

BU Challenges, COVID-19, Featured academics, Global engagement, international, Publishing, research integrity, Uncategorized, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

On the day that The Sun took down an column in which Jeremy Clarkson spat vitriol at Meghan Markle, it seems odd to question what the role is of an editor in preventing material from being published. Especially since Ipso (the independent press standards organisation) received more complaints (17,500+) about the column published on Friday 16th December than the total it received in the whole of 2021. Not publishing an article is of course censorship. Many will be calling for the column to be withdrawn and questioning why the editor accepted it in the first place. Censorship is the suppression or prohibition of any parts of a book, article, film, blog, news, etc. that are considered obscene, politically unacceptable, or a threat to security.

But what if you are not a Mr. Clarkson, but you are a conscientious academic, doing proper research and drafting an evidence-based paper and the editor of an academic journal refuses to publish your article, not because of academic quality, but because the “…manuscript is likely to create disharmony in society”. With the additional detail, that according to the “National Ethical Guidelines for Health Research in Nepal, 2022, section 3, article 2.2 and section 3, article 3.1, this manuscript can’t be accepted for publication.” We (Nirmal Aryal, Pramod Regmi, Shovita Dhakal Adhikari, Shreeman Sharma & Edwin van Teijlingen) had submitted a paper with the title ‘Moral panic, fear, stigma, and discrimination against returnee migrants and Muslim populations in Nepal: analyses of COVID-19 media content’ to a health journal. We don’t think the title of the journal is relevant at this stage.

In the first round of reviewing one of the reviewers questioned our focus on the Muslim population. In our resubmission we stressed that we focused on two separate population groups because the media in Nepal did. In other words, we had noticed discriminatory media coverage towards returnee migrants (particularly those from India) and Muslim populations living in Nepal. These are key populations which experienced stigmatising and ostracising behaviour and media coverage further instigated moral panic and fear. We also conducted interviews with returnee migrants, Muslims in Nepal and key stakeholders, including agencies working with these sub-populations, and these findings have already been published. [1] Image how we felt being censored or in other words ‘cancelled’.

Our paper addressed issues, explanations and allegations related to COVID-19 as portrayed in the media in Nepal, indeed some discriminatory and many very unfair. However, as researchers we were merely the ‘messenger of bad news’. If Mr. Clarkson had not been headline news we would probably have called this blog ‘Don’t shoot the messenger!”.

References:

Regmi, P.R., Dhakal Adhikari, S., Aryal, N., Wasti, S.P. and van Teijlingen, E., 2022. Fear, Stigma and Othering: The Impact of COVID-19 Rumours on Returnee Migrants and Muslim Populations of Nepal. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19 (15). Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9331294/

November 3, 2022

Best paper award

BU research, COVID-19, Featured academics, open access, Research news, writing lrenshawvuillier

Lockdown and the COVID-19 pandemic has been difficult for many people, but particularly so for people with an eating disorder.

Dr Laura Renshaw-Vuillier and her team (Dr Rachel Moseley, Dr Maddy Greville-Harris, and Dr Liz May, with the help of Rhiannon Surman) conducted a study on the effect of the lockdown and the COVID-19 pandemic on over 200 people with a diagnosis of an eating disorder, during June-July 2020. Out of all the papers published in the journal of Eating Disorders in 2021, their paper has been selected for the Best COVID-19 2022 Research Paper award.

Their study found that over 80% of the people surveyed reported worsening of their eating disordered symptoms during the pandemic. Particularly, they found that difficulties managing unpleasant emotions, changes to routine due to lockdown, and unhelpful social messages were key triggering factors, and many of their surveyed participants reported using eating disordered behaviours to cope with the pandemic.

Other papers have now also reported on the devastating impact the pandemic had, and how this currently creates unprecedented pressure on already stretched eating disorder services. As such, people have to wait years before being assessed or receiving treatment, for this condition that has among the highest mortality rates of all psychiatric illnesses, with suicide a major cause of death. This is a real crisis and Laura and her team are working hard trying to find workable solutions, such as developing an intervention to help people manage their emotions in a healthier way.

October 4, 2022

Excellence in paramedic science

Awarded & submitted bids, BU research, conferences, COVID-19, Knowledge Transfer, NHS, student research Edwin van Teijlingen

Cormac Sertutxa showcased his Paramedic Science research on the ‘Impact of COVID-19 Infection Prevention & Control (IPC) restrictions on Cardiac Arrest survival rates in pre-hospital practice: a scoping review’. Cormac presented at Infection 360 in Birmingham last week where he received a Clinical Poster Award for his poster.

Congratulations to Cormac and the lecturers in Paramedic Science who supported him.

Well done!

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

Department of Midwifery & Health Sciences

September 28, 2022

Two little mishaps in a row

BU research, COVID-19, Featured academics, Global engagement, international, PG research, Postgraduate Research, Research Integritiy, Research news, Uncategorized, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

All research has its costs, we spend a lot of time as academics planning for and budgeting our studies. This starts with considering how much time each academic spends on preparing the grant application and finished with cost of dissemination of findings after the data have been analysed. We do risk assessments the try to reduce risk and mitigate unforeseen circumstances. My last two trips to Nepal both suffered from such unexpected events.

In May I traveled to Nepal with Prof. Vanora Hundley from the Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health (CMMPH) as part of the ERASMUS+ exchange with Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences (MMIHS) where we joined by Bournemouth University (BU) PhD student Sulochana Dhakal-Rai. Sulochana was in Nepal on the Turing Scheme, the UK government’s programme to provide funding for international opportunities in education and training across the world.

As part of this trip we had organised a one-day Systematic Review on Dementia Research Workshop on Sunday 29th May in at MMIHS in Kathmandu. This Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) funded workshop was highly successful, it attracted 75% more participants than budgeted for, namely 53 instead of 30. However, the extra cost this incurred in terms of workshop resources, refreshments and lunches was not a great issue compared to the fact that I had contracted COVID-19 a few days before the workshop and had tested positive on a PCR test two days before. Thanks to the hard work of our colleagues at MMIHS, the non-governmental organisation (NGO) Green Tara Nepal, and especially, Prof. Vanora Hundley, the workshop run very well. I even managed to make a guest appearance online from my hotel room 200 meters away from the workshop venue, albeit on a poorer quality internet connection than I would have had half way across the globe (at BU or at home).

This positive COVID-19 test also meant I could not travel on the India in early June due to COVID-19 travel restriction for entering India. There I had planned to meet Dr. Shanti Shanker from BU’s Psychology Department as part of our GCRF-funded project ‘Promoting dementia research in Nepal and India’. Again due to the presence of well organised colleagues the India part of the trip ran smoothly. Dr. Gayatri Kotbagi, who has works for us through the charity Sheetale Astitva, and Dr. Shanti Shanker managed to run the internal trip very well without me.

In August I traveled to Nepal again with two BU academics: Dr. Shovita Dhakal Adhikari, Lecturer in Criminology, Department of Sociology & Social Work, Dr. Pramod Regmi, Senior Lecturer in International Health (Department of Nursing Sciences) and a colleague from the University of Exeter Dr. Emma Pitchforth. The main purpose of this visit was to run two sets of three-day Academic Writing Workshop in two cities in Nepal, namely Kathmandu and Pokhara. These workshops were funded by the British Academy and supported by Dr. Rashmee Rajkarnikar from the Central Department of Economics at Tribhuvan University, Nepal’s oldest and largest university, the charity Green Tara Nepal and Social Science Baha. This time the trip itself went very well, both workshop were very well attended, and even made it into a newspaper in Nepal: The Rising Nepal.

The trouble started after we had left Nepal. Dr. Pitchforth and I helped both fell ill some five to eight days after returning to the UK. We both had flu-type symptoms, including sore joints, night sweats, feeling tired, coughing, etc., although these were not exactly the same, my symptoms were perhaps a bit more like COVID-19. Which is why I did three COVID-19 tests in one week (all negative). It was not until the blood test came back from the NHS lab last week that my family doctor could tell me that I had dengue fever. Dengue fever is on the rise in Nepal. The national English-language paper The Himalayan Times reported yesterday (27th Sept. 2022) that dengue fever “has afflicted almost 26,000 people in Nepal” In July in the capital Kathmandu “…35 people had contracted the mosquito-borne disease. The number increased to 727 in August and 8,132 in September.”

I’m looking forward to my next trip to Nepal, as we have loads of on-going project. I have been going there for nearly twenty years, and having two incidents in two decades is not a lot, pity these came in the same year and on subsequent trips.

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH

Category / COVID-19

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