Category / Research news

Student Research Opportunity

BU research, Fusion, humanities, Impact, international, Knowledge Exchange, Research Integritiy, research methods, Research news, research opportunities, Student Engagement, student research

As the new academic year begins, so does the recruitment process for a new cohort of Missing Persons Indicator Project researchers. This year, as well as recruiting law students to the project, we are presenting this opportunity to budding researchers across the university. Notably, a new collaboration between the FMC and BUBS has emerged, enhancing the interdisciplinary approach of the project.

 

In collaboration with the International Commission on Missing Persons, students have begun the process of collating indicators to capture the way States engage with, and seek to solve, missing persons cases. These indicators range from understanding contextual factors that could have contributed to a surge of missing persons cases, such as conflict or natural disasters, to international treaty ratification, to domestic legislation.

 

In light of recent headlines concerning conflicts across the globe, students have likely been exposed to stories that highlight the pressing issues of our time, such as missing persons. This voluntary research project offers them a unique opportunity to engage with work that has real-world significance, showing how research can extend beyond the university to make a meaningful impact.

 

Our expectations:

  • Dedicate approximately 8 hours a month to the project (flexible around university commitments).
  • Attend in-person meetings, skills workshops and data collating sessions.
  • Be keen to develop research skills.
  • Work respectfully within a diverse team.

 

 

Student experience:

  • Support into real-world research with lasting impact.
  • Assist in articulating the project into written form to enhance employability.
  • Optional research skills workshops.
  • Inter-disciplinary learning.
  • Feedback opportunities.
  • A well-stocked snack cupboard.

 

If you feel this opportunity would benefit students in your faculty, discipline, or program, please email indicators@bournemouth.ac.uk to request the necessary recruitment paperwork or to arrange a drop-in talk for your students.

 

Congratulations to Dr. Karim Khaled and colleagues

BU research, international, PG research, Research communication, Research news, Uncategorized

Congratulations to Dr Karim Khaled on the recent publication of the article ‘The Association between Psychological Stress and Dietary Quality and Patterns among Women of Childbearing Age in Lebanon‘.
The paper focuses on psychological stress linked to poorer dietary quality can lead to serious diseases. The objective of this study was to examine the association between psychological stress and dietary quality/patterns among childbearing-aged women in Lebanon. Female participants (n = 249) participated in an online survey-questionnaire which included the previously adapted European Prospective into Cancer and Nutrition food frequency questionnaire and stress, depression, anxiety, physical activity, adiposity, and socio-demographic questions.
The a-priori dietary quality was assessed through the Mediterranean Diet (MD) index. The a-posteriori latent dietary-patterns (DPs) were derived through factor analysis. Regression analysis was performed to investigate the predictors of the DPs. Participants mainly had a medium MD adherence (61%). No association was found between stress and MD adherence. Factor analysis revealed four DPs: “potatoes, vegetables, legumes, soups and sauces, and non-alcoholic beverages” (DP1), “cereals, fats and oils, milk and dairy products, and sugars and snacks” (DP2), “alcoholic beverages, fish and seafood, eggs, and meats and meat products” (DP3), and “fruits and nuts and seeds” (DP4). Regression analysis indicated that DP1 was positively associated with monthly income (p = 0.02) and negatively with mother’s educational level (p = 0.03). DP2 was negatively associated with father’s employment status (p = 0.01) and marital status (p = 0.008). DP3 was negatively associated with higher father’s educational level (p = 0.018), but positively with BMI (p < 0.001). DP4 was positively linked with BMI (p = 0.01).
Further studies are needed to investigate the association between psychological stress and dietary quality/patterns among Lebanese childbearing aged women.
Congratulations!
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
Reference:
  1. Khaled, K., Hundley, V., Bassil, M., Bazzi, M., Tsofliou, F. (2024) The Association between Psychological Stress and Dietary Quality and Patterns among Women of Childbearing Age in Lebanon. Acta Scientific Nutritional Health 8(9): 8-20.

 

 

Impact of virtual reality on the well-being and travel experiences of people affected by dementia

BU Challenges, BU research, BU2025, Fusion, Fusion themes, Knowledge Exchange, PG research, REF Subjects, Research communication, Research news, Student Engagement

I am undertaking a research placement as part of my studies on the MSc Foundations of Clinical Psychology. In my role as a research assistant, I have been working on a project that aimed to introduce the idea of travelling using Virtual Reality headsets for people with dementia and their caregivers/ family members. Virtual reality (VR) technology presents a promising means of bridging geographical divides and empowering individuals with dementia to participate in their communities in ways that were not possible prior to diagnosis. Additionally, research has demonstrated the value of virtual reality in helping people with dementia remember their past, revisit their hometown, or most treasured vacation spots. The purpose of this project is to evaluate how virtual reality can support people with dementia with travel and explore the impact on their wellbeing.

This is a collaborative pilot research study involving BU staff from the Ageing and Dementia Research Centre (ADRC) (Dr. Michelle Heward, Dr. Catherine Talbot, Dr. Michele Board, Dr Aisling Flynn, Lyndsey Bradley) and the International Centre for Tourism and Hospitality Research (ICTHR) (Dr. Daisy Fan, Prof. Dimitrios Buhalis) alongside colleagues from PramaLife (Sue Warr and Jo Keats) and is funded with QR funding from the Department of Psychology. We collected data on campus, and I was able to support this and had an opportunity to engage with the participants. The participants were asked to come to 2 sessions. The first session consisted of a session in the Blended Learning Interactive Simulation Suite, also known as the BLISS room. In this room, the participants and their caregivers were given the chance to play interactive VR games of their choice on the walls or visit different parts of the UK, such as London and Oxford. The second session consisted of using the VR headsets, where the participants were able to use the headsets themselves, which allows them to virtually experience other parts of the world, by looking around and having access to a 360 view, of a location of their choosing, whether that be somewhere they had never been to or reminisce about places they have been.

Given this immense opportunity to relive and reminisce about their previous experiences around the world, and their respective homes, the reception was overall a positive one. The participants left feeling positive about having virtually visited places from their past and having engaged with places they have never been to or would like to go to in the future. They provided some useful insights and feedback to inform future research in this area. We now move towards analysing and publishing the data.

Roshin Sibu

For more information about this project please email Michelle mheward@bournemouth.ac.uk

New BU women’s health publication

BU research, Featured academics, international, open access, Postgraduate Research, Publishing, Research news, student research, Women's Academic Network, writing

Congratulations to Karim Khaled on the publication in the international journal Nutrients of his latest women’s health paper  [1].  The paper ‘A Structural Equation Modelling Approach to Examine the Mediating Effect of Stress on Diet in Culturally Diverse Women of Childbearing Age’ is co-authored with his PhD supervisors Dr. Fotini Tsofliou and Prof. Vanora Hundley.

This paper in Nutrients  is Open Access, hence available to read to anybody across the globe with internet access.

 

Well done!

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health

 

Reference:

  1. Khaled, K., Tsofliou, F., Hundley, V.A. A Structural Equation Modelling Approach to Examine the Mediating Effect of Stress on Diet in Culturally Diverse Women of Childbearing Age. Nutrients. 2024; 16(19):3354. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu16193354

DNS staff share their virtual reality research at AHSN Wessex

BU research, innovation, Research Centres, Research news, research staff

on behalf of Professor Debbie Holley

I am delighted to report that Dr Michele Board, Dr Heidi Singleton and I were invited to share our virtual reality research as part of the Wessex Academic Health Science Network webinar on 16.03.2023. Dr Board presented her work on ‘walk through dementia’, which brings the reality of lived experiences places the viewer in the shoes of the person with dementia. More information about this projects and the collaboration with the Alzheimer’s Society are available from the ADRC website.

Dr Singleton and I presented on our work on the mental health 360 video scenarios we created for student nurse education which have been embedded within the curriculum.

Evaluated via Focus group discussions (n=6 students) and an online survey (n=33 thus far); with 94% of nursing students reporting that the videos were extremely or very useful for their learning.  

“It flags up potential extra considerations in practice that you wouldn’t anticipate with just the theoretical teaching. You can better visualise.” (Student Nurse 31) 

“It made me feel confident in how to interact with an individual who may be having a mental health breakdown.” (Student Nurse 15) 

“It showed me that you can take time and check the correct information and repeat steps when assessing and treating a patient.” (Student Nurse 8) 

The learning resources mean that students can link theory to practice and can repeat the activity at any point during their course and from any location.

Thanks to the wider team Ursula Rolfe, John Moran, Emma Collins and our former colleague Jasmine Snowden,

 

Success in HEIF funding: VR Igloo

BU research, Research Centres, Research news

VR Igloo: Developing and evaluating a novel interactive virtual reality intervention for children with eczema

Team: Dr Heidi Singleton, Yaqing Cui, Dr Xiaosong Yang, Dr Emily Arden-Close, Professor Steven Ersser, Professor Debbie Holley, Dr Sarah Thomas, Richard Glithro, John Moran, Dr Andy Hodder and Amanda Roberts (Nottingham Support Group for Carers (NSG) of Children with Eczema).

Aim: To co-create a complex VR health intervention based on the guided imagery approach to treating eczema (Ersser et al., 2014); targeted at children (aged between 7 and 11 years of age) (complex intervention development). This intervention is not a medical device but addresses a clinical issue and can be used at hospital or in the home. Our processes and outputs will be congruent with some of the staging of complex intervention development advised by the Medical Research Council (2021).

Evidence from our small-scale PPI project (Singleton et al. 2022), points to the need for an interactive VR innovation that provides an immersive experience to distract from itchy eczema with minimal requirements for contact with the child’s face or hands. To tackle this problem, we will design and develop a prototype system of an interactive “mini-VR igloo headset”. We will work with the Department of Design and Engineering to design and develop the prototype.

In keeping with a person-based approach these ideas will be discussed with our PIER group and will form part of the developmental work with our Nottingham based charity stakeholder partner.

This Open Call HEIF funding will enable this cross faculty team to work together, with some additional paid staff, to accelerate and maximise the development of a complex intervention to enhance its potential for impact of this well-established VR Eczema project. It will also provide us with several prototypes to test at BU events.

Heidi, Steve and Debbie research as part of the Centre for Wellbeing & Long-Term Health, follow us at Twitter CWLTH_BU

Build your research capacity with an EquaDem research internship

Research news, research staff

Are you a Health and Social Care Professional, or work with a Third Sector or Local Authority organization? If you’re looking to enhance your research skills while making a meaningful impact on health and social care, the EquaDem Research Internship might be the perfect opportunity for you. These internships allow release from usual workplace duties—up to one day a week for a maximum of 12 months—to carry our a supervised research project.

Internships must adhere to the following key principles:
1. involve co-production with people with lived experience/ service users.
2. focus on providing solutions to inequalities
3. Applicants should refer to the Focus On Research and Equity (FOR EQUITY) web-based platform when considering the health inequality aspects of their applications.
Throughout the internship, you’ll be supervised by two core members of the EquaDem network. You’ll also gain access to online training modules and other resources to support your research journey. In addition, you’ll be expected to:
  • Attend EquaDem workshops and events.
  • Contribute to the dissemination of your research (e.g., through blogs or web pages).
  • Present your findings at the annual EquaDem Conference.
For all types of internships, salary back-fill will be provided to the intern’s employing organisation to assist with time release. This will involve up to £5000 salary backfill (of which 80% is covered by this fund and 20% to be contributed by the intern host organisation) and up to £500 for research-related costs (such as public involvement, transcription, co-production) (of which 80% is covered by this fund and 20% to be contributed by the intern host organisation).
Calls for the EquaDem Research Internship are annual, and the next application deadline is 18th November 2024, 5pm. If you’re interested, here’s how to apply:
Request an application form by emailing the team at Equademnetworkplus@liverpool.ac.uk. You can also use this email if you’d like to discuss the internships or other potential opportunities.
Submit your application in PDF format by the deadline.
https://www.dementiaresearcher.nihr.ac.uk/job/equadem-research-internship/

Pregnancy & COVID-19 in UK: New study published

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

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:

  1. 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

BU Emeritus Professor contributes to Transforming Society

Featured academics, Publishing, Research news, Uncategorized

Congratulations to Prof. Jonathan Parker, Professor Emeritus in the Faculty of Health & Social Sciences, who was invited to contribute a post to the influential social science blog Transforming Society. See details here: Transforming Society ~ Now is the winter fuel payment of our discontent. The blog concerns the highly topical winter fuel payments and Jonathan’s policy analysis and its impact.
Congratulations
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

The King’s Fund roundtable blog

Research news, research staff

Pooja Shah, a postdoctoral researcher working on the Tangerine project (aiming to develop a novel intervention to improve nutrition and promote healthy ageing among older people from South Asian and Afro Caribbean communities in the UK) attended a roundtable discussion at the King’s Fund to explore what a greater focus on nutrition could mean for the health care system and those at risk of malnutrition. Discussion focused on the causes, prevalence, diagnosis and response to malnutrition. This included how we can engage those working across the health and care system at a national and local level – including primary care, social care, and those with clinical expertise – with improving the early diagnosis of malnutrition through patient screening, greater awareness, and the use of tools for better population health management. In the context of an ageing population, the roundtable also provided an opportunity to discuss the role of improved nutrition and targeted interventions in enabling people to remain independent for as long as possible.

The Kings Fund are delighted to share their recent blog, based on the roundtable discussion.

Wednesday 2 October – Have your say at the LGBTQ+ Digital Lives workshop

BU research, ESRC, Events, Research Centres, Research news, research staff

This year the national ESRC Festival of Social Sciences theme is ‘Our Digital Lives’. For the festival, BU is supporting events that will run between Saturday October 19th and Saturday November 9th. Jayne Caudwell and Frankie Gaunt in the Department of Social Sciences and Social Work were awarded up to £1,000 to hold an event in the festival.  Their event is an art exhibition focused on “Communities of Positive Well-Being: The Digital Lives of LGBTQ+ Young People”. 
The aim of the event is to showcase on-line spaces that help LGBTQ+ young people feel safe, happy and that they belong. This is important because existing research shows that physical space can be a hostile public place for LGBTQ+ people. This hostility can lead to feelings of marginalisation, exclusion and isolation.
Before the art exhibition, a series of workshops will take place with local LGBTQ+ young people to explore how social media and the internet provide opportunity for positive stories at a time when mainstream media can be negative in its coverage of LGBTQ+ issues. The workshops are funded by the Centre for Seldom Heard Voices, the next workshop is Wednesday 2 October 4-6pm in BG 601, Bournemouth Gateway Building. During the workshop participants will decide the artwork that will be used for the art exhibition. The art exhibition will be displayed in and around Bournemouth and Dorset.
Check out the CSHV twitter @BU_SeldomHeard to share information about the upcoming workshops or visit http://www.bournemouth.ac.uk/lgbtq-digital-lives

Research Seminar: Exploring the theory practice gap surrounding young people who self-harm

BU research, Research Centres, Research news

The first in a series of interdisciplinary research seminars run by the Centre for Wellbeing and Long Term Health (@CWLTH) and the Centre for Science, Health,  Data Communication Research (@SHDCResearch) was framed around the partnership formed through a match-funded doctoral studentship between DHC and BU. Andy Sweetmore is researching early-interventions for children and young people who self-harm; he works 15 hours a week clinically as a specialist nurse practitioner within the Closer2Home CAMHS community intensive treatment team.  

L-R Dr Claire Young, Consultant Clinical Psychologist and Clinical Service Lead; Dr Phil Morgan, Head of Nursing, Therapies and Quality; Morad Margoum (Interim Service Director DHC) Andy Sweetmore (CAMHS and BU) Professor Ann Luce (BU)

The aims of the symposium were to: 

  • To explore what the clinical evidence means in the context of working with young people who self-harm, for our local healthcare services 
  • To discuss the assumptions about self-harm and what actions can be taken 
  • To gain insights into joint research working between DHC and BU 

 Morad Margoum, Intermin Service Director (DHC) and on the supervision team, welcomed the symposium delegates, comprising mental health experts and practitioners from across Dorset, school nurses, academics from the Bournemouth University mental health team.  

Andy then reported on his systematic literature review, conducted covering publications from January 2004 to March 2024. The inclusion criteria encompassed children and young people aged 4 to 25 years, in educational or primary care settings, and studies reporting self harm outcomes. Definitions of self-harm underpinned the work: 

  • Self-harm, defined as self-poisoning or self-injury regardless of intent, is associated with an elevated risk of mental health conditions and is a strong predictor of suicide (Iyengar et al. 2018; Mughal et al. 2019).  
  • Self-harm was previously associated with depression and pervasive emotional dysregulation, however, occurs in almost every mental health condition, including anxiety, anorexia nervosa and schizophrenia (Harris et al. 2022). 
  • Suicide is the predominant cause of mortality among females aged 15 to 19 globally and is a pressing public health concern (Liu et al. 2022). 

 The review highlighted a significant gap in robust, high-quality studies on self-harm interventions within educational and primary settings. The limited evidence base suggests potential benefits of school based interventions, but further research with rigorous methodologies is required. It was noted that Iatrogenic harm was not discussed.   Interventions to support mental health conditions in any environment carries inherent risks, with Foulkes & Andrews (2023) finding that mental health support within schools may not be as effective or safe as initially presumed. Recent literature (Andrews et al. 2022; Harvey et al. 2023; Montero-Marin et al. 2023), also indicate potential post-intervention deterioration in school-based interventions. Even if only a small fraction of adolescents are adversely affected within a school, the widespread application of these interventions could result in significant harm to thousands, underscoring the importance of assessing even minor adverse effects at scale. Despite the NHS strategy of moving mental health initiatives rapidly into school, these interventions may make some young people worse. There isn’t one therapy which an evidence base points to that  can reliably say will be effective, which offers limited treatment options for those who are trying to ensure a standardised provision. 

Expert speakers offered their insights, followed by a panel discussion to seek comment, clarification and a focus for the lively debate that followed. The next steps include disseminating the insights and findings from the symposium to inform the prospective CAMHS clinical transformation plan, which aims to develop innovative approaches to supporting children and their families, as well as the broader strategy to address self-harm within local mental health services.  

Andy Sweetmore is a match funded DHC/BU doctoral student, supervised by Dr Heidi Singleton (DNS) Professor Debbie Holley (DNS) and Professor Ann Luce (FMC)

Heidi and Debbie research as part of Centre for Wellbeing and Long Term Health (@CWLTH) and Ann the Centre for Science, Health, Data Communication Research (@SHDCResearch)