BU Research Blog

September 6, 2024

Paper with a difference

BU research, Featured academics, international, open access, Publishing, Uncategorized, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

Last night ResearchGate informed us that our paper ‘Understanding health education, health promotion and public health‘ had reached 6,000 reads [1]. This reflective paper in an Open Access journal tries to bring a little more clarity in the confusion around the difference between the concepts of health education, health promotion and public health. We argue that such confusion does not limit itself to the individual terms but also to how these terms relate to each other. Some authors and public health practitioners use terms such as health education and health promotion interchangeably; others see them clearly as different concepts.

In this theoretical overview paper, we have first of all outlined our understanding of these individual terms. We suggest how the five principles of health promotion as outlined by the World Health Organization (WHO) fit into Andrew Tannahill’s model from 2009 [2] of three overlapping areas: (a) health education; (b) prevention of ill health; and (c) health protection. Our schematic overview places health education within health promotion and health promotion itself in the center of the overarching disciplines of education and public health. We hope our representation helps reduce confusion among all those interested in our discipline, including students, educators, journalists, practitioners, policymakers, politicians, and researchers.

The paper is co-authored by a primary school teacher based in Dorset, and four professors who have a combined experience in the wider public health field of over a century.

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health

References:

van Teijlingen, K., Devkota, B., Douglas, F., Simkhada, P., van Teijlingen, E. (2021) Understanding health education, health promotion and public health, Journal of Health Promotion 9(1):1-7.
Tannahill, A. (2009). Health promotion: The Tannahill model revisited. Public Health, 123(5),396-399. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.puhe.2008.05.021

September 6, 2024

Presenting Studies on LLMs Reasoning Capabilities in Sentiment Analysis of Mass-Media texts at NLPSummit-2024

BU research, conferences, Events, Knowledge Exchange, research methods, Uncategorized nrusnachenko

As a part of reseach studies in Natural Langauge Processing (NLP) field, this year I am delighted to present the most recent advances of Generative AI in it at NLPSummit-2024. The 5’th summit represents a free online conference September 24-26, hosted by JohnSnowLabs. The conference is dedicated to showcase the best practices, real-world case studies and challanges in Generative AI for Natural Language Processing.

By joining to my talk you become aware of how Large Language Models (LLMs) could be applied for retrieving implicit information from non-structured texts. Sentiment Analysis represent one of such problems, and as a task aimed at extraction of the hidden opinion of the author towards objects mentioned in text. We start by discovering reasoning capabilities of the most popular Large Language Models (ChatGPT, Mistral, Gemma, Microsoft-Phi, and more) out-of-the-box to show their limitations in retrieving authors opinion from Mass-media texts. To address the existed limitations in models reasoning capabilities 🧠 , we cover Chain-of-Thought technique and explore the way of its proper adaptiation in Sentiment Analysis. It is worth to note that the techniques, to be covered, could be distributed and adapted in the other domains that go beyond Mass-media. Such domains include but are not limited to: medical (adverse drug reaction), literature (fictional chatbot development), conversational (emotion extaction / empathy mapping).

These advances were achieved while at Centre for Applied Creative Technologies CfACTs+ by working on “Marking Medical Image Reports Automatically with Natural Language Processing (NLP-MMI)” project.

The keylinks realted to the event and presentation in particular, are as follows:

📍 Event page: https://www.nlpsummit.org/nlp-summit-2024/
⏰ When: 24-26 September 2024 (Online)
⭐ Project: https://github.com/nicolay-r/Reasoning-for-Sentiment-Analysis-Framework

Dr. Nicolay Rusnachenko
Research Fellow at Centre For Applied Creative Technologies PLUS (CFACT+)
Bournemouth University

September 5, 2024

Women and Leadership in the Creative Industries: An Inter-disciplinary Symposium

Uncategorized cvanraalte

Bournemouth University will host Women and Leadership in the Creative Industries: An Inter-disciplinary Symposium next week at the Executive Business Centre on the Lansdowne Campus (12-13 September) with an online pre-symposium on 10th.

This symposium will address women’s leadership in the creative industries, taking into account the very broad definition of the term in an industrial ecosystem characterised by its dependence on freelance workers and micro-businesses alongside more traditional institutions. Its scope will encompass routes into leadership and associated barriers as well as concepts of creative entrepreneurial, as well as institutional leadership.

It brings together contributions from a range of disciplines including music, theatre, dance, media industries, gender studies and business and management studies. It is our hope that by sharing diverse perspectives on women and leadership in the creative industries, participants will make new discoveries, form new, inter-disciplinary alliances and open up this under-explored topic to a wider audience – including stakeholders in the industries themselves.

BU students and staff are welcome to drop in on the keynotes and panels – no need to register, but please participate on a self-catering basis. You can find the programme, together with abstracts, biographies and the log in details for the online component, on our website.

September 5, 2024

UKRI cross research council responsive mode pilot scheme- EOI

Uncategorized kpercival

UKRI have announced round 2 of the cross research council responsive mode pilot scheme, deadline for applications is 19th November. Due to the high demand from round 1, institutional caps have been introduced. BU can submit a maximum of 5 applications so we will be running an internal selection process. The expression of interest form should be submitted by Friday 27th September.

The award is between £200,000 and £1.2 million for 2 years. The scheme aims to fund projects that “support interdisciplinary ideas emerging from the research community outside current disciplinary boundaries” and it will not fund projects where there is a clear research council responsive mode scheme.

Please email kpercival@bournemouth.ac.uk if you wish to submit an EOI.

September 2, 2024

BU PhD graduate paper cited 40 times

BU research, Featured academics, Global engagement, international, PG research, Publishing, Research news, student research, Uncategorized, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

The paper ‘Health and well-being of Nepalese migrant workers abroad’ [1], which was part of the PhD work of Dr. Pratik Adhikary has been cited forty times. This is one of the many recent Bournemouth University papers focusing on the health and well-being of migrant workers from Nepal. The purpose of this paper was to assess the health and mental well-being of Nepalese construction and factory workers employed in Malaysia, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. We used a structured questionnaire administered, in and around Nepal’s international airport. In total 403 migrants who had worked for over six months in their host countries. Logistic regression was used to investigate factors associated with self-reported health status and mental health symptoms.

Pratik’s PhD was supervised by Dr. Zoe Sheppard, Dr. Steve Keen and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen. This research has been financially supported by a PhD studentship at Bournemouth University and funding from the Open Society Foundation (OSF). BU supported Pratik to travel to Nepal, and the OSF provided subsistence funds. Pratik has written several further papers based on his PhD study [2-5].

References:

Adhikary P, Sheppard, Z., Keen S., van Teijlingen E. (2018) Health and well-being of Nepalese migrant workers abroad, International Journal of Migration, Health and Social Care 14(1): 96-105. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJMHSC-12-2015-0052
Adhikary, P., Sheppard, Z., Keen, S., van Teijlingen, E. (2017) Risky work: Accidents among Nepalese migrant workers in Malaysia, Qatar and Saudi, Health Prospect 16(2): 3-10.
Adhikary P, van Teijlingen E., Keen S. (2019) Workplace accidents among Nepali male workers in the Middle East and Malaysia: A qualitative study, Journal of Immigrant & Minority Health 21(5): 1115–1122. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10903-018-0801-y
Adhikary P, van Teijlingen E. (2019) Support networks in the Middle East & Malaysia: A qualitative study of Nepali returnee migrants’ experiences’ – International Journal of Occupational Safety and Health 9(2): 31-35.
Adhikary P, Keen S and van Teijlingen E (2011). Health Issues among Nepalese migrant workers in the Middle East. Health Science Journal.5(3):169-i75 DOI: 2-s2.0-79960420128.

September 1, 2024

New publication Dr. Pramod Regmi

BU research, Featured academics, international, open access, Research communication, Research news, Uncategorized, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

Congratulations to Dr. Pramod Regmi on the publication of his latest Open Access paper ‘Assessment of Health-Related Quality of Life of Stroke Survivors in Southeast Communities in Nigeria’ [1]. Dr. Regmi is based in the Centre for for Wellbeing & Long-Term Health. The paper’s co-authors include Dr. Folashade Alloh, who completed her PhD studies at Bournemouth University a few years ago.

Well done!

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

Reference:

Adigwe GA, Alloh F, Smith P, Tribe R, Regmi P. Assessment of Health-Related Quality of Life of Stroke Survivors in Southeast Communities in Nigeria. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2024; 21(9):1116. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph21091116

August 28, 2024

Early Career Researcher networking funding outcomes: A Tabletop Discussion on Cyber Signatures in Human Trafficking

BU research, ECR Network, Events, Featured, Public engagement, Research communication, Uncategorized ematthews

The BU Early Career Researcher Network (ECRN) offered funding of up to £500 to support members to organise an event to facilitate collaboration, community engagement, networking or knowledge exchange.

In this blog post, Lecturer in Psychology Dr Sarah Hambidge shares how the funding supported an event with crime agencies and police forces to discuss cyber signatures in human trafficking.

“BU ECRN Research Network Funding was awarded to Sarah Hambidge to organise and host the event “Unveiling the Digital Trail: A Tabletop Discussion on Cyber Signatures in Human Trafficking.” In partnership with Paul Wells (National Police Chiefs’ Council), Kari Davies (BU) and Terri Cole (BU), the event featured participation from The Home Office, The National Crime Agency, The College of Policing, Chief of Staff to the Anti-Slavery Commissioner, NGOs, a number of UK police forces and academics.

The event hosted two pivotal tabletop discussions. The first discussion delved into the current landscape of cyber signatures in human trafficking, highlighting the need for enhanced collaboration and data sharing. The second session focused on setting a research agenda, with each organisation committing to support ongoing and future initiatives.

Following the discussions, Sarah, Kari, and Terri announced the formation of a new Human Trafficking Research Group with Bournemouth University as the gatekeeper to create a cross-functional network that leverages each member’s expertise and resources.

In the longer term, the group will develop a comprehensive research agenda, create a resource repository, and advocate for public awareness and policy changes. Several additional organisations and police forces have requested to join the research group since the event.

Paul Wells expressed his optimism, stating: “I am excited about the potential difference that this diverse group can make, with a shared goal to reduce harm, prevent criminal exploitation, keep more victims safe, and bring offenders to justice.”

This event marked a significant step forward in developing impact against human trafficking, laying a strong foundation for future collaboration and research.”

August 28, 2024

BMJ Global Health Blog online

BU Challenges, BU research, Delicious links, Featured academics, Fusion themes, Global engagement, international, open access, Publishing, Research communication, Research news, Uncategorized, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

Today BMJ Global Health posted a blog (read it here!) about our recently publish paper ‘Socio-economic experiences of female community health volunteers matter: insights from Nepal’ which appeared last month in the Open Access journal PLOS Global Public Health [1]. In Nepal, about 50,000 Female Community Health Volunteers (FCHVs) are a vital human resource for both government and non-government agencies delivering primary healthcare at community level. Their contribution to maternal and child health is recognised globally. Being an active volunteer brought some interesting issues for the FCHCs. For example, the social experience of working in one’s own village was not the same for all. While community recognition of volunteers’ work was seen as a motivator, most volunteers thought they were not given due respect by fellow community members. Too often community members mistook volunteers as paid health workers often due to their involvement in medicine distribution, a rare bi-annual activity.

Our recent paper in BMJ Global Health was highlighted in an earlier BU Research Blog (to read this click here!). This latest paper is the third one based on Dr. Sarita Panday’s PhD research conducted at the University of Sheffield [2-3]. It is the fourth Bournemouth University paper on FCHVs with last weeks publication in the Journal of Manmohan memorial Institute of Health Sciences [4]

Professor Edwin van Teijlingen

References:

Panday, S., Barnes, A., van Teijlingen, E. (2024) Exploring the motivations of female community health volunteers in primary healthcare provision in rural Nepal: a qualitative study, PLOS Global Public Health 4(8): e0003428
Panday, S., Bissell, P., van Teijlingen, E., Simkhada, P. (2017) The contribution of female community health volunteers (FCHVs) to maternity care in Nepal: a qualitative study, BMC Health Services Research 17:623 be/vz9C
Panday, S., Bissell, P., van Teijlingen, E., Simkhada, P. (2019) Perceived barriers to accessing female community health volunteers’ services amongst ethnic minority women in Nepal: a qualitative study, PLoS ONE 14(6): e0217070 https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0217070
Bhattarai, S., van Teijlingen, E. (2024). Nepal Needs A Two-Pronged Approach to Secure Future of Its Female Community Health Volunteers (FCHVs). Journal of Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences, 9(1), 43–48. https://doi.org/10.3126/jmmihs.v9i1.68640

August 27, 2024

Early Career Researcher Network funding outcomes: Voluntary Carbon Market (VCM) workshop

BU research, ECR Network, Featured, Featured academics, Public engagement, Research communication, Uncategorized ematthews

The BU Early Career Researcher Network (ECRN) offered funding of up to £500 to support members to organise an event to facilitate collaboration, community engagement, networking or knowledge exchange.

In this blog post, Lecturer in Sustainability Fern Baker shares how the funding supported their event to investigate the farming community’s perceptions of voluntary carbon markets (VCMs).

“After conducting a PhD during the pandemic, which limited possible involvement with those with lived experience in my research area, namely farmers, I wanted to co-produce more research with farmers, to gain insight into the areas of importance in a real-life setting. Unfortunately, rural areas and farmers are often not included in the research development process and this workshop was an opportunity to bridge the gap and aid inclusivity. It is important to co-produce research to facilitate knowledge exchange from those at the forefront of the sector to ensure the output will have real-world impact to those involved.

Attendees at the workshop

The BU Early Career Researcher Network (ECRN) Research Networking Funding provided with the opportunity to organise, lead and facilitate my own workshop. The aim of the workshop was to investigate the farming community’s perceptions of voluntary carbon markets (VCMs). Currently, engagement with VCMs from the farming community is quite low. However, carbon offsetting is imperative for the agriculture industry to reach the National Farmers Union 2040 Net Zero objective. The aim of the workshop was to discuss and identify the main challenges, barriers and research priorities of VCMs to enhance accessibility and engagement.

Eleven farmers in Dorset attended the event and contributed their perception and experience of voluntary carbon markets. Most of the farmers had not entered the system but had negative perceptions and those with experience with VCMs felt discouraged. Huge trust issues were prevalent, as well as those involving land use conflicts and succession.

We aim to further our research into feasible VCMs for the farming community by applying for the “UKRI cross research council responsive mode pilot scheme: round 2” for up to £1.2 million in project funding to begin July 2025. Dr Rounaq Nayak and I will be working with Associate Professor Pippa Gillingham and Professor Rick Stafford on this project as biodiversity specialists, to also investigate biodiversity net gain and whether both carbon and biodiversity credits can be improved and supported for the farming community. We are also applying the information obtained from the discussions to inform a prospective PhD studentship funding application to the Perry Foundation to improve viable access to the voluntary carbon market system for the farming community. We will continue to work with farmers as a steering group during our application and research. If you would like to be involved, then please get in touch with Fern Baker at bakerf@bournemouth.ac.uk.

I would like to thank all attendees for attending and contributing to the workshop and pivotal research area. Dr Rounaq Nayak (Senior Lecturer, LES) for helping to plan and run the workshop and the activities, as well as Dr Kate Jupp as part of the BU Public Involvement in Education and Research (PIER) partnership for offering guidance on how to design and host an effective workshop. Additionally, Ellie Jones for their assistance with advertising and running of the workshop and the BU ECRN fund for making the workshop possible.”

August 19, 2024

New qualitative research methods paper now online

BU research, Featured academics, Fusion themes, international, open access, Publishing, Research communication, research integrity, research methods, Research Training, Training, Uncategorized, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

I am delighted to share that our most recent methods paper in the International Journal of Qualitative Methods entitled “Most Significant Change Approach: A Guide to Assess the Programmatic Effects” [1] is now published and is available online (click here!). This paper is co-authored by Mohan K. Sharma, Shanti P. Khanal and Edwin R.van Teijlingen.

The paper outlines the so-called ‘Most Significant Change’ (MSC) participatory technique to monitor and evaluate programmatic effects. MSC is a form of monitoring that can be applied throughout the programme cycle and it provides information to help manage the programme. Furthermore, MSC as an evaluation method, provides stories from which programmes’ overall impact can be assessed. However, MSC, as a participatory evaluation technique using qualitative approaches, is often neglected by many evaluators.

This is the latest in a series of papers describing the strengths and weaknesses of applying specific research approaches. Other recent methods papers included two on positionality [2-3], a paper on interview methods [4], reflections on conducting participatory policy analysis in Nepal [5], some considerations about the selection of study localities in health research [6], distinguishing between methods and methodology [7], the use of the appreciative inquiry methods [8], reflections on interdisciplinary research [9], and patient and public involvement in research in Bangladesh and Nepal [10].

Whilst older methods papers published Faculty of Health & Social Sciences academics include topics such as focus group discussions, working with translators, conducting pilot studies, the Delphi Method, comparative studies, and qualitative interviews [11-22].

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMWH

References:

Sharma, M.K., Khanal, S.P., van Teijlingen E. (2024) Most Significant Change Approach: A Guide to Assess the Programmatic Effects, International Journal of Qualitative Methods, https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/16094069241272143
Gurr, H., Oliver, L., Harvey, O., Subedi, M., van Teijlingen, E. (2024) Positionality in Qualitative Research, Dhaulagiri Journal of Sociology & Anthropology 18(1): 48-54. https://doi.org/10.3126/dsaj.v18i01.67553
Thapa, R., Regmi, P., van Teijlingen, E., Heaslip, V. (2023) Researching Dalits and health care: Considering positionality, Health Prospect 21(1): 6-8.
Harvey, O., van Teijlingen, E., Parrish, M. (2024) Using a range of communication tools to interview a hard-to-reach population, Sociological Research Online 29(1): 221–232 https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/13607804221142212
Sapkota, S., Rushton, S., van Teijlingen, E., Subedi, M., Balen, J., Gautam, S., Adhikary, P., Simkhada, P., Wasti,SP., Karki, JK., Panday, S., Karki, A., Rijal, B., Joshi, S., Basnet, S., Marahatta, SB. (2024) Participatory policy analysis in health policy and systems research: reflections from a study in Nepal. Health Research & Policy Systems, 22(7) https://doi.org/10.1186/s12961-023-01092-5 .
Wasti, S.P., van Teijlingen, E., Simkhada, P., Rushton, S., Balen, J., Subedi, M., Karki, J., Adhikary, P., Sapkota, S., Gautam, S., Marahatta, S., Panday, S., Bajracharya, B., Vaidya, A. for the Nepal Federal Health System Team (2023) Selection of Study Sites and Participants for Research into Nepal’s Federal Health System, WHO South-East Asia Journal of Public Health
Harvey, O., Regmi, P.R., Mahato, P., Dhakal Adhikari, S., Dhital, R., van Teijlingen E. (2023) Methods or Methodology: Terms That Are Too Often Confused. Journal of Education & Research, 13(2): 94-105. https://doi.org/10.51474/jer.v13i2.716
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. https://doi.org/10.18332/ejm/147444
Shanker, S., Wasti, S.P., Ireland, J., Regmi, P., Simkhada, P., van Teijlingen, E. (2021) The Interdisciplinary Team Not the Interdisciplinarist: Reflections on Interdisciplinary Research, Europasian Journal of Medical Sciences 3(2): 1-5. https://doi.org/10.46405/ejms.v3i2.317
Simkhada, B., van Teijlingen, E., Nadeem, A., Green, S., Warren A. (2021) Importance of involving patients and public in health research in Bangladesh and Nepal. International Journal of Technology Assessment in Health Care 37: e10. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0266462320000811
Kirkpatrick, P., van Teijlingen E. (2009) Lost in Translation: Reflecting on a Model to Reduce Translation and Interpretation Bias, The Open Nursing Journal, 3(8): 25-32 web address: bentham.org/open/tonursj/openaccess2.htm
van Teijlingen E, Hundley, V. (2005) Pilot studies in family planning & reproductive health care, Journal of Family Planning & Reproductive Health Care 31(3): 219-21.
van Teijlingen E, Pitchforth E. (2006) Focus Group Research Family Planning & Reproductive Health Care, Journal of Family Planning & Reproductive Health Care 32(1): 30-2
van Teijlingen E, Pitchforth, E., Bishop, C., Russell, E.M. (2006) Delphi method and nominal group techniques in family planning and reproductive health research, Journal of Family Planning & Reproductive Health Care 32(4): 249-252.
Pitchforth, E, van Teijlingen E, Ireland, J. (2007) Focusing the group, RCM Midwives Journal 10(2): 78-80.
Pitchforth, E., van Teijlingen E. (2005) International Public Health Research involving interpreters: a case study approach from Bangladesh, BMC Public Health, 5: 71 Web address: http://www.biomedcentral.com/content/pdf/1471-2458-5-71.pdf
Forrest Keenan, K., Teijlingen van, E., Pitchforth, E. (2005) Analysis of qualitative research data in family planning & reproductive health care, Journal of Family Planning & Reproductive Health Care 31(1): 40-43.
Brindle S, Douglas, F, van Teijlingen E., Hundley V. (2005) Midwifery Research: Questionnaire surveys, RCM Midwives Journal 8 (4): 156-158.
Douglas, F, van Teijlingen E, Brindle S, Hundley, V, Bruce, J., Torrance, N. (2005) Designing Questionnaires for Midwifery Research, RCM Midwives Journal 8: 212-215.
van Teijlingen E Ireland, J. (2003) Research interviews in midwifery RCM Midwives Journal 6: 260-63. http://www.midwives.co.uk/default.asp?chid=439&editorial_id=13768
van Teijlingen E, Sandall, J., Wrede, S., Benoit, C., DeVries, R., Bourgeault, I. (2003) Comparative studies in maternity care RCM Midwives Journal 6: 338-40.
van Teijlingen E, Hundley, V. (2002) ‘The importance of pilot studies’ Nursing Standard 16(40): 33-36. Web: nursing-standard.co.uk/archives/vol16-40/pdfs/vol16w40p3336.pdf

August 18, 2024

New paper on female migrant workers from Nepal

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

This week the Global Health Journal accepted the latest article on female migrant workers from Nepal [1]. The paper is co-authored by Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen in the Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health as well as by Faculty of Health & Social Sciences Visiting Faculty Prof. Padam, and other Nepalese co-authors are based in the UK and Nepal. Ms. Manju Gurung is co-founder & strategic advisor of POURAKHI Nepal, an Nepal-based organisation supporting ,migrant workers. Dr. Sharada P.Wasti, is based at the University of Greenwich, and he has collaborated with Bournemouth University academics on several previous academic papers on health, work-related migration and human trafficking [2-4].

The paper highlights the plight of women working abroad and the problems they encounter destination countries. This study reported in this paper was conducted among 1,889 women who were registered as migrant returnees at an organisation called POURAKHI Nepal. The study extracted and analysed data from this non-governmental organisation that
supports returning female migrant workers in Nepal.
Around half (43.1 %) of the women in the study were 35 or older, 30.9 % were illiterate, and 63.6 % were in their first overseas job. Over one-third (38.5 %) had experienced self-reported workplace harassment. Gender-based violence was a serious problem as physical violence was highly prevalent (68 %), followed by verbal abuse (37.5 %), mental stress (29.7 %), and sexual abuse (14.1 %).

Women who worked abroad with the following characteristics were at the greatest risk: those who were illiterate (adjusted odds ratio [AOR]1.25, 95 % confidence interval [CI]: 1.01 to 1.55), unmarried (AOR 1.27, 95 % CI: 1.05 to 1.56), worked abroad twice or more years (AOR 1.35, 95 % CI: 1.10 to 1.66), changed their place of work (AOR 2.38, 95 % CI: 1.42 to 4.01), lived without documents (AOR 1.24, 95 % CI: 1.03 to 1.50), worked as domestics (AOR 3.56, 95 % CI: 2.03 to 6.23), worked in other than Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries (AOR 1.45, 95 % CI: 1.06 to 1.99), women who did not have a fixed salary (AOR 1.64, 95 % CI: 1.28 to 2.10) and did not receive salary (AOR 3.71, 95 % CI: 2.88 to 4.77) were more likely to be harassed at work.
The authors recommend that the host governments should introduce and enforce policies protecting women in the workplace. Moreover, migrant women should be provided with better information about health risks and hazards as well as how to improve preventive measures in destination countries to reduce workplace harassment.

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health

References:

Simkhada, P.P., van Teijlingen, E., Gurung, M., Bhujel, S., Wasti, S.P. (2024) Workplace harassment faced by female Nepalese migrants working aboard, Global Health Journal (accepted)
Simkhada, P.P., van Teijlingen, E.R., Gurung, M., Wasti, S. (2018) A survey of health problems of Nepalese female migrants workers in the Middle-East & Malaysia, BMC International Health & Human Rights 18(4): 1-7. http://rdcu.be/E3Ro.
Simkhada, P., van Teijlingen, E., Sharma, A., Bissell, P., Poobalan, A., Wasti, S.P. (2018) Health consequences of sex trafficking: A systematic review, Journal of Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences, 4(1): 130-49.
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

August 14, 2024

PLoS ONE paper on kidney disease in Nepal’s migrant workers

BU research, Featured academics, Global engagement, international, open access, Publishing, Research communication, Research news, Uncategorized, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

Our research project on kidney disease in Nepalese migrant workers funded by the Colt Foundation has been published this week by PLoS ONE. The paper ‘Exploring lifestyles, work environment and health care experience of Nepalese returnee labour migrants diagnosed with kidney-related problems‘ [1] is led by Bournemouth University’s Drs. Pramod Regmi and Nirmal Aryal, both based in the Centre for Wellbeing and Long-Term Health. This is one of the first qualitative papers to focus on the rising kidney health-related risks among Nepalese labour migrants in the Middle East and Malaysia.

This qualitative study explored the lifestyles and work environment of returnee Nepalese migrants who were diagnosed with kidney health problems. In-depth interviews were carried out with twelve male returnee migrants, with half having worked abroad for at least a decade. Our analysis yielded seven themes: (a) living and lifestyles; (b) work environment; (c) exposure to pollutants; (d) Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) experience; (e) use of painkillers and healthcare; (f) medical expenses for CKD patients; and (g) pre-departure training. This study indicates that Nepalese migrants face numerous challenges, including limited access to clean water and sanitation facilities, poor diets, exposure to occupational hazards, and overuse of pain medication, all of which may contribute to an increased risk of kidney disease. An enhanced pre-departure and on-arrival orientation programme focusing on kidney health-related topics, including the necessary advocacy at the country of destination to provide access to basic services, may encourage migrants to adopt healthy lifestyles and safe working environments, as well as help educate migrants to their kidney health risks.

The is the latest in a series of academic papers related in one way of or another to kidney disease in migrant workers from Nepal [2-5].

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health (CMWH)

References:

Regmi, P., Aryal, N., Bhattarai, S., Sedhain, A., KC, R.K. and van Teijlingen, E. (2024) Exploring lifestyles, work environment and health care experience of Nepalese returnee labour migrants diagnosed with kidney-related problems, PLoS ONE 19(8): e0309203. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0309203
Aryal, N., Sedhain, A., Regmi, P.R., KC, R. K., van Teijlingen, E. (2021). Risk of kidney health among returnee Nepali migrant workers: A survey of nephrologists. Asian Journal of Medical Sciences, 12(12), 126–132. https://doi.org/10.3126/ajms.v12i12.39027
Aryal, N., Regmi, P.R., Faller, E.M,, van Teijlingen, E., Khoon, C.C., Pereira, A., Simkhada, P. (2019) Sudden cardiac death and kidney health related problems among Nepali migrant workers in Malaysia, Nepal Journal of Epidemiology 9(3): 755-758. https://www.nepjol.info/index.php/NJE/article/view/25805
Aryal, N., Regmi, P.R., Sedhain, A., KC, R.K., Martinez Faller, E., Rijal, A., van Teijlingen, E. (2021) Kidney health risk of migrant workers: An issue we can no longer overlook. Health Prospect 20(1):15-7
Regmi, P., Simkhada, P., Aryal, N., van Teijlingen, E. (2022) Excessive mortalities among migrant workers: the case of the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Europasian Journal of Medical Sciences, 4:31-32. https://doi.org/10.46405/ejms.v4i0.455

August 13, 2024

4th Int Conf on Medical & Health Sciences 2024

Uncategorized Edwin van Teijlingen

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen in the Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health (CMWH) has been invited to give a key note address at the 4th International Conference on Medical & Health Sciences 2024 in Mauritius next month. Edwin will be highlighting the difficulties of conducting interdisciplinary research, based on recent CMWH publications [1-2]. At the conference Edwin will also join two Bournemouth University Visiting Faculty members in running a workshop on academic publishing, his co-presenters are Ms. Jillian Ireland, Professional Midwifery Advocate at UHD (University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust), and Prof. Padam Simkhada (University of Huddersfield).

In addition, Edwin has also been invited at this upcoming conference be act as a panelist to analyse the current research strengths of SSR (Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam) Medical College, Mauritius. Interestingly, the panel activity will take place over two days: a 15-minute SWOT analysis on September 16, followed by a 45-minute panel discussion on September 17.

References:

Shanker, S., Wasti, S.P., Ireland, J., Regmi, P., Simkhada, P., van Teijlingen, E. (2021) The Interdisciplinary Team Not the Interdisciplinarist: Reflections on Interdisciplinary Research, Europasian Journal of Medical Sciences 3(2): 1-5. https://doi.org/10.46405/ejms.v3i2.317
van Teijlingen, E., Regmi, P., Adhikary, P., Aryal, N., Simkhada, P. (2019). Interdisciplinary Research in Public Health: Not quite straightforward. Health Prospect, 18(1), 4-7. https://doi.org/10.3126/hprospect.v18i1.19337
van Teijlingen E. (2008) RAE pulls academics away from applied multidisciplinary health promotion research International Journal of Health Promotion & Education 46: 116.

August 10, 2024

School WASH facilities and menstruation in Nepal

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

Access to safe and sufficient drinking Water, Sanitation, and good Hygiene (WASH) facilities in schools play a crucial role in preventing numerous diseases, improving the learning environment in schools, and creating resilient communities living in a healthy environment. This study in Nepal explored the impact of combining WASH facilities on students’ health status, school attendance, and educational achievements [1].
A total of 24 participants, 16 students, and eight teachers were interviewed; data were audio recorded and analyzed thematically. Some of the results suggest that school-WASH facilities have a significant impact on students’ health and well‐being. Poor school‐WASH facilities hindered students’ school attendance, particularly for menstruating girls. School without separate toilets for girls, including menstruation hygiene facilities, lack of water and soap, sanitary pad, and secure toilet’s door often have higher rates of absenteeism among girls. It is important to note that inadequate WASH facilities affect not only students, but also teachers in the same school. The latest paper conclude that a lack of safe and sufficient drinking water, unimproved sanitation, and poor hygiene facilities were seen by students and teachers as reducing their health and well‐being, school attendance, and academic performance. Schools needs to provide better WASH facilities for the benefit of students’ health, attendance, and educational proficiency.

This is a follow-up from an earlier paper on the effect on educational achievement in the same population [2].

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health

References:

Sharma MK, Adhikari R, Khanal SP, Acharya D, van Teijlingen E. (2024) Do school Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene facilities affect students’ health status, attendance,
and educational achievements? A qualitative study in Nepal. Health Science Reports; 7:e2293. https://doi.org/10.1002/hsr2.2293
Sharma, M., Adhikari, R., van Teijlingen, E., Devkota, B., Khanal, S. (2024) Improved Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Facilities at School and their Effect on Educational Achievement in Basic Level Students in Nepal, International Journal of Health Promotion & Education (accepted). https://doi.org/10.1080/14635240.2024.2314459.

August 9, 2024

New BU women’s health workers’ paper

BU research, Featured academics, Global engagement, international, open access, policy, Publishing, Research communication, Research news, Uncategorized, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

Today we saw the publication of our latest paper about FCHVs (Female Community Health Volunteers) in Nepal [1]. This paper is Open Access and hence freely available worldwide, to anyone with an internet access. The FCHV programme is one of the most successful parts of the health system of Nepal. This programme covers over fifty thousand FCHVs distributed across the country. These women provide unparalleled services to help across communities to improve outcomes in communicable and non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and aid health promotion and education.

Previous papers focusing on FCHVs included the recently accepted paper in PLOS Global Public Health [2], as well as two previous papers based on the Ph.D. study by Dr. Sarita Panday on FCHVs [3-4]. The latest paper is co-authored with Sankalpa Bhattarai is is working with our long-term collaborating agency Green Tara Nepal.

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health

References:

Bhattarai, S., & van Teijlingen, E. (2024). Nepal Needs A Two-Pronged Approach to Secure Future of Its Female Community Health Volunteers (FCHVs). Journal of Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences, 9(1), 43–48. https://doi.org/10.3126/jmmihs.v9i1.68640
Panday, S., Barnes, A., van Teijlingen, E. (2024) Exploring the motivations of female community health volunteers in primary healthcare provision in rural Nepal: a qualitative study, PLOS Global Public Health (forthcoming).
Panday, S., Bissell, P., van Teijlingen, E., Simkhada, P. (2017) The contribution of female community health volunteers (FCHVs) to maternity care in Nepal: a qualitative study, BMC Health Services Research 17:623 be/vz9C
Panday, S., Bissell, P., van Teijlingen, E., Simkhada, P. (2019) Perceived barriers to accessing female community health volunteers’ services amongst ethnic minority women in Nepal: a qualitative study, PLoS ONE 14(6): e0217070 https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0217070

August 9, 2024

NERC Pushing the Frontiers- January 2025

Uncategorized kpercival

NERC Pushing the Frontiers Call – internal competition

NERC introduced demand management measures in 2012. These were revised in 2015 to reduce the number and size of applications from research organisations for NERC’s discovery science standard grant scheme. As the standard grant scheme has been superseded, demand management measures will be applied to the Pushing the Frontiers scheme only. Full details can be found in the BU policy document for NERC demand management measures.

BU has been capped at one application per Pushing the Frontiers round. An application counts towards an organisation, where the organisation is applying as the grant holding organisation (of the lead or component grant). This will be the organisation of the Principal Investigator of the lead or component grant.

BU process

BU has a process for determining which application will be submitted to each NERC Pushing the Frontiers round. This takes the form of an internal competition, which will include peer review. The next available round is estimated to be in January 2025. The deadline for internal Expressions of Interest (EoI) which will be used to determine which application will be submitted is 27 September 2024. The EoI form, BU policy for NERC Demand Management Measures and process for selecting an application can be found here: I:\RDS\Public\NERC Demand Management.

Following the internal competition, the Principal Investigator will have access to support from RDS and will work closely with Research Facilitators and Funding Development Officers to develop the application. Applicants will be expected to make use of External Application Reviewers.

RDS Contacts

Please contact Kate Percival, RDS Research Facilitator – kpercival@bournemouth.ac.uk if you wish to submit an expression of interest.

August 6, 2024

one day a week research assistant post with Wessex Cancer Alliance

Postgraduate Research, Uncategorized mhughes

Colleagues from the Wessex Cancer Alliance are keen to appoint a research assistant (approx. one day a week for 6 months) to work with their Inequality and Involvement Strategic Lead to produce an information pack for their 20 Clinical Advisory Groups (CAGs), which sets out clear and referenced summaries of key insights and intelligence to support their work. This could be a great opportunity for a BU PGR, especially for anyone with an interest in Cancer research and care. The post holder will be hosted by Help and Care, a Wessex Cancer Alliance partner.

Further info:

Brief for research role – Wessex Cancer Alliance patient and public involvement, patient experience and inequalities

What do we need?

We are keen to build a repository of insight and intelligence to support our Clinical Advisory Groups (CAGs) with high impact summaries of patient and public experience and health inequalities. Briefing packs for CAGs could include:

Information from the National Cancer Patient Experience Survey relevant to that CAG’s activity
Other relevant patient and public involvement insight gathered from a wide range of sources, both specific to Wessex and from national and international sources
Information on inequalities in access, experience, and outcome relevant to that CAG
Relevant information would include that which is specific to that CAG’s activity but also other information that can support the activity of the Clinical Advisory Group (e.g. general insight from cancer patients about treatment and care).

Currently, we have 20 Clinical Advisory Groups. The cancer specific information for each group will vary, with more common cancers (e.g bowel, breast, lung, prostate) expected to have considerably more intelligence and insight available.

The Role

You will work with the Inequality and Involvement Strategic Lead to produce an information pack for each CAG, which sets out clear and referenced summaries of key insights and intelligence to support their work. The packs will include data from existing online and published literature and resources. Resources and reports will be stored in a searchable ‘database’ with key words enabling searching by cancer type, area/hospital Trust and where the information exists, protected characteristics.

Hours are flexible and by agreement, but we anticipate approximately 7 hours per week over a 6 month period from September 2024 with possible option to extend.

About you

We are looking for someone who can work pragmatically and at a good pace – with the ability to identify and clearly communicate key insights in a helpful, summarised format. You will need to have good attention to detail, an enquiring mind and an interest in health, cancer and inequalities. You will be a confident IT user with an excellent standard of written English.

For more information, please get in touch with Emma Leatherbarrow, Inequality and Involvement Strategic Lead, Wessex Cancer Alliance

Emma.leatherbarrow@wca.uhs.nhs.uk

August 6, 2024

BU Hosted the National KTP Practitioner Conference 2024! Matt Desmier

Business Engagement, conferences, Events, Impact, innovation, Knowledge Exchange, Knowledge Exchange and Impact Team, Knowledge Transfer, Knowledge Transfer Partnership, Uncategorized vroper

Knowledge Transfer Partnerships are an extremely useful tool for any forward-thinking institution or team of academics wanting to apply their research in real world settings.

The UK Government’s longest established business support and research funding allocation, they’re a tried and tested vehicle that consistently demonstrate how Universities can have a measurable impact on the world around them.

Earlier this summer, Bournemouth University was selected as the honourable host of the 2024 KTP Practitioners Conference, the annual gathering of knowledge exchange professionals from across the country. This was a coup for BU and an excellent opportunity to cement our place in the canon of proactive institutions embracing the potential of KTPs.

Over the course of one and a half days, Fusion Building welcomed 200 delegates, representing 79 universities alongside guests from Innovate UK Business Growth and Innovate UK Business Connect, some interested businesses and a smattering of academics too.

The convened audience enjoyed three high profile keynote talks, updates from both the KTP funders and the National Forum, as well as twelve workshops designed to equip those present with the skills they need to grow and manage their KTP portfolio.

Assisted by Bournemouth’s wonderful micro climate, the whole event was a resounding success. Much was learnt, many connections were made and the bar was set extremely high for Manchester Metropolitan University, who’re hosting the event next year.

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Presenting Studies on LLMs Reasoning Capabilities in Sentiment Analysis of Mass-Media texts at NLPSummit-2024

Women and Leadership in the Creative Industries: An Inter-disciplinary Symposium

UKRI cross research council responsive mode pilot scheme- EOI

New publication Dr. Pramod Regmi

Early Career Researcher networking funding outcomes: A Tabletop Discussion on Cyber Signatures in Human Trafficking

Early Career Researcher Network funding outcomes: Voluntary Carbon Market (VCM) workshop

New qualitative research methods paper now online

4th Int Conf on Medical & Health Sciences 2024

NERC Pushing the Frontiers- January 2025

one day a week research assistant post with Wessex Cancer Alliance

BU Hosted the National KTP Practitioner Conference 2024! Matt Desmier

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