BU Research Blog

July 25, 2023

UK Research Integrity Office (UKRIO) – Free Webinar

UKRIO Logo Join UKRIO for their latest free webinar “Correcting the scholarly record, and dispelling myths around corrections” on Wednesday 20th September from 10:00 – 11:00 BST.

A core part of publication ethics is the correction of published research affected by errors or misconduct.

This webinar aims to explain both the process of fixing errors and misconceptions about corrections, focusing on journal articles, and to answer the questions:

Who decides what needs to be corrected?
What are the responsibilities of editors, journals, research institutions, and authors?
How are corrections done and what form do they take?
How do readers know when work has been corrected?
What are the barriers to correcting the scholarly literature – and, hopefully, the solutions to these problems?

Lead by expert speakers, this session will draw on their experience in handling corrections and developing editorial policies.

SPEAKERS

Lauren Flintoft, Research Integrity Officer, IOP Publishing
Gráinne McNamara, Research Integrity/Publication Ethics Manager, Karger Publishers

As BU subscribes to UKRIO services, UKRIO webinars are free and open to anyone who may be interested in research integrity and ethics, good research practice and improving research culture and misconduct.

To register – please click here (takes you to external website).

July 23, 2023

Sociology journal seeks second book review editor

open access, Publishing, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

The British Sociological Society’s (BSA) journal Sociological Research Online is seeking a new second book review editor. All Editors, including the book review editor, have to be BSA members throughout their term of office and previous engagement with the BSA is desirable. The term of office is three years with the possibility of an extension, starting mid-November 2023. The deadline for applications is 11th October 2013.

Sociological Research Online is published by the international social science publishing house SAGE. The editorial team has just been informed this week that the Impact Factor of the journal has increased to 1.6.

Interested candidates should submit a pro forma application of no more than 2 pages and a short CV. To receive a pro forma application, please contact Selina Hisir, BSA
Publications Coordinator, at email: sro.journal@britsoc.org.uk

As current book review editor I am very happy to talk to interested sociologists informally.

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health

Email: evteijlingen@bournemouth.ac.uk

July 16, 2023

New ways of publishing: Qeios one more time!

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

In May I wrote a BU Research Blog under the title ‘New ways of publishing?’ on the first time we published an academic paper in the post-review journal Qeios. The paper in question ‘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. Shraddha is supervised by the University of Huddersfield’s Prof. Philip Brown and Prof. Padam Simkhada and Bournemouth University’ Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen. Today’s blog is an update on that novel publishing journey.

The first point to make is that our paper received twenty-two reviews, not two or three, but 22 different people read and commented on this paper. Sure, some reviews were better than others, some were more insightful, others were more generic, some seem to miss out points, or perhaps skimming the surface a little, but still twenty-two reviews! Secondly, by the nature of post-publication review we have taken the reviews to heart and submitted the second improved version of the paper [2]. The new reference for the paper is very similar to the first one, apart from the new submission data and the indication in the https that we are now on the second version [2]. Thirdly, each of the 22 reviews has its own DOI, and hence can easily be quoted. In the second version of the paper we have cited several of the online reviews [e.g. 3-6]. Last, but not least, Qeois offers Open Access and publishing is free of charge.

The great unknown for us how the academic world is going to view post-publication way of peer-reviewing. We realize that we have been lucky in getting 22 reviews for this paper. As part of learning about Qeios I read a 2022 paper in one of my areas of interest and submitted my own review [7]; this review was only the fifth for the paper.

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health

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
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, July 16, https://www.qeios.com/read/BX9WFC.2
Wu, H. (2023). Review of: “Impact of Men’s Labour Migration on Non-migrating Spouses’ Health: A Systematic Review”, Qeios. https://doi:10.32388/NVW8C3
Ghosh, A. (2023). Review of: “Impact of Men’s Labour Migration on Non-migrating Spouses’ Health: A Systematic Review”, Qeios. https://doi:10.32388/O1JP7C
Dong, W. (2023). Review of: “Impact of Men’s Labour Migration on Non-migrating Spouses’ Health: A Systematic Review”, Qeios. https://doi:10.32388/V05O6G
Bhattacharya, L. (2023). Review of: “Impact of Men’s Labour Migration on Non-migrating Spouses’ Health: A Systematic Review”, Qeios. https://doi:10.32388/SPFPQH
van Teijlingen, E. (2023). Review of: “Research & Evaluation Framework 2022/23”, Qeios. https://doi.org/10.32388/N8TI2P

June 28, 2023

Fitness to Practise paper published

NHS, Publishing, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

Congratulations to Megan Jadzinski, Sara White, Sue Way and Dominique Mylod on the acceptance of their paper ‘How are Fitness to Practise processes applied in UK Higher Education Institutions? – A systematic review’ by the international journal Nurse Education in Practice. All authors are based in the Faculty of Health and Social Science, or were as Prof. Sue Way retired recently.

Well done,

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health

June 14, 2023

Bournemouth University mentioned in Pakistan

international, open access, Publishing, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

Last week The Aga Khan University (AKU) in Pakistan put a news story on its website highlighting a first for Pakistan. The reason for celebrating was that the Journal of Asian Midwives, one of the only two research journals hosted by The Aga Khan University, has been accepted for inclusion in Scopus. Scopus, which is part of the publishing house Elsevier, is the world’s largest electronic database of peer-reviewed literature: scientific journals, books and conference proceedings. The Journal of Asian Midwives is an Open Access journal and publishing is free. One of its three co-editors is based at Bournemouth University.

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

June 3, 2023

Using participatory asset mapping and PhotoVoice in Nepalese alcohol study

international, open access, Publishing, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

This week we received an email from the editorial office of Perspectives in Public Health with congratulations on the acceptance of your paper ‘Participatory asset mapping and photovoice interviews to scope cultural and community resources to reduce alcohol harm in Chitwan, Nepal’ [1]. The lead researcher on this public health alcohol research project in Nepal is Dr. Ranjita Dhital, Lecturer in Interdisciplinary Health Studies in the Arts and Sciences Department at UCL (University College London).

The World Health Organization (WHO) suggests that in low and middle-income countries (LMICs) like Nepal, morbidity and mortality risks are greater per litre of pure alcohol consumed than in higher-income countries. This is largely due to poverty, poor nutrition, adverse living conditions, and poor access to care. These inequities are made worse by the dearth of understanding of the most appropriate and cost-effective approaches to reduce alcohol-related harm in LMICs. Our study aims to stimulate new thinking on how cultural and community assets could be integrated to co-designed alcohol interventions for future evaluation in LMICs, through scoping the breadth of cultural and community assets in relation to alcohol use and to exploring attitudes towards alcohol and people experiences with it.

The journal Perspectives in Public Health is published by SAGE and the paper will be Open Access when it appears online. My previous alcohol studies have focused on students [2], Nepalese migrants living in the UK [3], and Public Health measures to reduced alcohol misuse in Scotland [4].

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health

Reference:

Dhital, R., Yoeli, H., Adhikari, A., Luitel, N.P., Nadkarni, A., van Teijlingen, E., Sin, J. (2023) Participatory asset mapping and photovoice interviews to scope cultural and community resources to reduce alcohol harm in Chitwan, Nepal, Perspectives in Public Health (accepted). DOI: 10.1177/17579139231180744).
Engs, R.C, van Teijlingen E (1997) Correlates of alcohol, tobacco & marijuana use among Scottish post-secondary helping profession students, Journal of Alcohol Studies, 58:435-44.
van Teijlingen E, Simkhada, P., Adhikary, P. (2009) Alcohol use among the Nepalese in the UK BMJ Rapid Response: bmj.com/cgi/eletters/339/oct20_1/b4028#223451
Ludbrook A, Godfrey C, Wyness L, Parrott S, Haw S, Napper M, van Teijlingen E. (2002) Effective & Cost-Effective Measures to Reduce Alcohol Misuse in Scotland: Lit Review, ISBN: 0755932803 www.alcoholinformation.isdscotland.org/alcohol_misuse/files/MeasureReduce_Full.pdf

May 25, 2023

Erasmus+ visitors from Nepal teaching at BU

international, Knowledge Exchange, Publishing, Research Integritiy, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

This week we had the luxury of four exchange visitors from Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences (MMIHS) in Nepal who are here on the Erasmus+ scheme. Erasmus+ funds are a great way to build academic networks and gain experience of teaching and learning elsewhere. Global staff mobility, including training and teaching, leads to professional development and networking and brings great value to BU and our students, whilst also offering invaluable international experience for BU staff and postgraduate students in Nepal.

Today Prof. Sujan Marahatta, Dr. Sujata Sapkota and Dr. Sujan Gautam offered a workshop under the title ‘Introducing federalization in Nepal: What are the effects on its health system?’ All three academics are part of the Nepal Federal Health System Project, our major collaborative project examining the consequences for the health system of Nepal’s move to a federal government structure in 2015. This is a joint project (2020-2024) led by the University of Sheffield and it is an collaboration with Bournemouth University, the University of Huddersfield, MMIHS and PHASE Nepal. This longitudinal interdisciplinary study is funded by the UK Health Systems Research Initiative [Grant ref. MR/T023554/1]. After highlighting the difference between ‘federalisation’ and ‘decentralisation’, the Nepalese academics briefly explained the political changes in the Nepal over the past decade or so. Followed by an outline of the project’s research methods and the key preliminary findings. The presenters focused on the data generated through a participatory method called River of Life, and from the policy analysis based on the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) Health System Building blocks. This project has resulted in three publications to date [1-3].

Our visitors got involved in a range of teaching activities, for example, Prof. Beenu Bista, Professor of Nursing at MMIHS, taught various groups of BU nursing students earlier this week, whilst Dr. Sujata Sapkota helped supervise and advise one of BU’s M.Sc. Public Health students for her dissertation project.

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health (CMWH)

References:

Sapkota, S., Panday, S., Wasti, S.P., Lee, A., Balen, J., et al. (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., 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
Adhikary, P., Balen, J., Gautam, S., Ghimire S., Karki J.K., 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)

May 21, 2023

Disability in Nepal

international, Publishing, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

Today there was an interesting article in The Himalayan Times about Hari Budha Magar who became the world’s first double above-the-knee amputee to climb Mount Everest. He lost both his legs as a British Gurkha soldier, in the words of the newspaper put it “while fighting for the UK alongside Prince Harry in April 2010.” Budha Magar wants to inspire people with disabilities, and he highlights that disabilities are not sins of a previous life that people with disabilities are a burden.”

A decade ago we conducted research into attitudes towards disability in rural Nepal and found very similar notions [1]. At the time we wrote most participants only considered physical conditions that limit function of an individual and are visible to naked eyes, such as missing a leg or arm, to be disability. Attitudes towards people with disability were generally positive, for example most women believed that disabled people should have equal rights and should be allowed to sit on committees or get married. Most respondents thought that disability could result from: (i) accidents; (ii) medical conditions; or (iii) genetic inheritance. Fewer women thought that disability was caused by fate or bad spirits.

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health (CMWH)

References:

Simkhada, P. P., Shyangdan, D., Van Teijlingen, E. R., Kadel, S., Stephen, J., & Gurung, T. (2013). Women’s knowledge of and attitude towards disability in rural Nepal. Disability and Rehabilitation, 35(7), 606-613. https://doi.org/10.3109/09638288.2012.702847

May 17, 2023

Neural Networks 2022 Best Paper Award

Publishing hpandey

2022 Best Paper Award

Dr Hari Mohan Pandey is a recipient of the 2022 Best Paper Award (visit: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/neural-networks/awards/announcement-of-the-neural-networks-2022-best-paper-award):

“Cross-modality paired-images generation and augmentation for RGB-infrared person re-identification”

This paper is published in Neural Networks, volume 128, pp. 294-304, August 2020. The paper can be accessed at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neunet.2020.05.008

The Neural Networks Best Paper Award recognizes a single outstanding paper published in Neural Networks annually.

May 14, 2023

New ways of publishing?

international, open access, PG research, Publishing, student research, 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 9, 2023

The Journal of Asian Midwives accepted for inclusion by Scopus

international, Knowledge Exchange, open access, Publishing, Women's Academic Network, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

Today one of my co-editors of the Journal of Asian Midwives emailed me to announce that our journal has been accepted for inclusion by Scopus.

Scopus, which is owned by the publishing house Elsevier, is the world’s largest electronic database of peer-reviewed literature. The Scopus assessors of our application made some very nice comments about the Journal of Asian Midwives, for example that it:

“consistently includes articles that are academically sound and relevant to an international academic or professional audience in the field. The journal has scholarly relevance as evidenced by citations in other journals currently covered by Scopus… The journal has clear aims and scope/journal policies that are consistent with the journal’s content. Although the scope of this journal is narrow, it addresses the need of an important niche audience.”

We are very proud of this achievement and we, as editors (Prof. Rafat Jan, Ms. Kiran Mubeen, Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen, with editorial assistant Ms. Abeer Musaddique), thank all our supporters, especially the library staff at The Aga Khan University in Pakistan, our reviewers, our authors and of course, you, our readers! I personally like to thank our former CMMPH (Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health) PhD student Dr. Sheetal Sharma for suggesting many years ago that I might like to help this, at the time, new journal. It is a proper well-run peer-reviewed journal, and I know that from personal experience, as a few years ago one of the papers on which I am a co-author was rejected after peer review by ‘my’ journal!

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH (Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health)

Co-editor Journal of Asian Midwives

May 6, 2023

New COVID-19 paper on Nepal

BRIAN, international, open access, Publishing, 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.

May 5, 2023

Measuring Health Literacy & Health Promotion in Adolescents

international, Publishing, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

Our team published the article ‘Systematic Review of Health Literacy and Health Promotion in School-Aged Adolescents‘ in the Journal of Education and Community Health [1]. The authors include a Bournemouth University PhD graduate Dr. Jib Acharya and a former BU member of staff Dr. Cate Wood.

This paper identified gaps in adolescent health literacy (AHL) measurements, as well as how the health literacy (HL) level is related to health promotion (HP) aspects. This study aimed to examine the tools used to measure HL and determine its relation with HP among adolescents. In this review three databases were searched for papers published between January 2016, and January 2021. In this review, 373 articles were identified and after removing duplicates and screening titles and abstracts of articles, 49 full texts were selected for full-text reading. After appraisal 23 papers were included in the synthesis.

The paper reports that of these 23 papers, 21 focused on assessing AHL measures, and 15 addressed the association between AHL and HP. Seven studies used the HL School-Aged Children instrument. The findings suggested that the methodological and conceptual underpinnings of HL measures are insufficient. Furthermore, HL acts as an independent and positive mediator for many facets of HP. Overall, this review offers a warning to practitioners and educationists interested in measuring HL as the number of measurement tools is substantial with different tools applying different scales.

Congratulations to all.

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health

Reference:

Khanal SP, Budhathoki CB, Okan O, van Teijlingen E, Sharma MK, Acharya J, Wood C. Systematic review of health literacy and health promotion in school-aged adolescents. Journal of Education & Community Health. 2023; 10(1):49-57. doi:10.34172/jech.2023.1982

May 1, 2023

PhD paper on health management in pre-Taliban Afghanistan

BRIAN, international, open access, PG research, Publishing, student research, Women's Academic Network, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

Yesterday FHSS graduate Dr. Shaqaieq Ashrafi Dost heard from Razi International Medical Journal the the paper from her Ph.D. study had been accepted for publication. Her paper ‘Management capacity in the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) Afghanistan: Political and socio-cultural issues’ is based on a mixed-methods case-study was conducted with staff at the Afghan Ministry of Public Health. The Ph.D. study explores MoPH’s management capacity. Interviews were conducted with 12 senior staff and qualitative data were analysed thematically. A quantitative survey, covering directors of 30 departments, was analysed using descriptive statistics.

The paper reports that management capacity was generally weak. Key appointments including directors were subject to political interference and many directors appointed by politicians lacked the skills to manage well. Consequently, those directors were not able to support employees appropriately or to create a healthy work environment. The respondents reported that there were strong socio-cultural influences such as nepotism and favouritism. Often employees believed they were not treated consistently or fairly. This was compounded by overly complex administrative systems. The authors concluded that the Afghan government needs to appoint competent and committed staff who can recognize/address the gaps in the functioning of the Ministry, especially the negative political and socio-cultural practices that undermine effectiveness.The reader needs to bear in mind that this Ph.D. study was conducted prior to the 2021 takeover by the Taliban. Putting the paper’s conclusion in perspective.

Razi International Medical Journal founded in 2021 is a peer-reviewed scholarly journal from Afghanistan that aims to impact public health and global health and distributed internationally. The journal is Open Access and published in electronic and paper-based format twice a year, and there is no article publishing charge (APCs).

April 24, 2023

BU PhD student publishes in The Conversation

international, Publishing, Student Engagement, Women's Academic Network, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

Congratulations the Abier Hamidi, PhD student in the Faculty of Health & Social Sciences (FHSS) whose PhD work was published in The Conversation this week (24 April) under the title Social media now trumps traditional family networks in Libya – my Facebook survey reached 446,000 women. Her piece in The Conversation on the recruitment of female participants for a PhD study in a rather patriarchal society brings together issues of anonymity, gender, and wider social culture.

This is Abier’s PhD research is supervised by Dr. Pramod Regmi, Senior Lecturer in International Health and the Global Engagement Lead in the Department of Nursing Sciences, and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen in the Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health (CMMPH).

Congratulations!

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

April 24, 2023

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

conferences, international, Publishing, 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.

April 21, 2023

Double congratulations to Prof. Jonathan Parker

Publishing, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

Congratulations to Prof. Jonathan Parker, Professor of Society & Social Welfare in the Department of Social Sciences and Social Work, who just published his historical-sociological analysis of British Welfare under the title Analysing the History of British Social Welfare – Compassion, Coercion and Beyond. The book it is published by Policy Press and will be available next week. This book offers insights into the development of social welfare policies in Britain. By identifying continuities in welfare policy, practice and thought throughout history, it offers the potential for the development of new thinking, policy making and practice.

In addition Jonathan also published a new edition of his popular textbook Introducing Social Work SECOND EDITION. This edited volume included chapters by BU academics Dr. Orlanda Harvey (Chapter 26) and Dr. Sally Lee (Chapter 22) as well as an array of internationally renowned social work academics.

Congratulations!

Prof.Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH

April 20, 2023

New publication Abier Hamadi, PhD student in FHSS

international, open access, Publishing, Women's Academic Network, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

Congratulations to Abier Hamidi on the acceptance of her Ph.D. paper ‘Facilitators and barriers to condom use in Middle East and North Africa: a systematic review’. [1] This review has been registered on PROSPERO. [2] The Journal of Public Health is part of BU’s publishing deal with Springer, hence it will free open access when published.

Abier is supervised by Dr. Pramod Regmi, Senior Lecturer in International Health and the Global Engagement Lead in the Department of Nursing Sciences, and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen in the Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health (CMMPH). Earlier Abier published ‘HIV epidemic in Libya: Identifying gaps’ in 2021. [3]

References:

Hamidi, A., Regmi, P., van Teijlingen, E. (2023) Facilitators and barriers to condom use in Middle East and North Africa: a systematic review, Journal of Public Health, (accepted)
Hamidi, A., van Teijlingen, E., Regmi, P. (2021) Facilitators and barriers to condom use in Middle East and North Africa: a systematic review. PROSPERO CRD42021297160
Hamidi, A., Regmi, P., van Teijlingen, E. (2021) HIV epidemic in Libya: Identifying gaps, Journal of the International Association of Providers of AIDS Care, 20 :1-5 https://doi.org/10.1177/23259582211053964 .

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