Category / writing

Methods or Methodology paper: 300+ reads

BRIAN, international, Publishing, writing

Last month ResearchGate informed us that our paper ‘Methods or Methodology: Terms That Are Too Often Confused’ has been read 300 times [1].  This paper started as a discussion among the authors about how many students, researchers, and authors of academic papers do not seem to know the difference between methodology and methods. This is true in many academic disciplines.

In simple terms, the term methods refers to the research tools and techniques; for example, in the qualitative field, interviews are a tool to collect data, and in the quantitative field, a questionnaire-based survey is an example of a data collection tool. Methodology is a broader concept as it refers to the overall approach to the research, includes a justification for this approach, and links to research philosophy, i.e., how we produce knowledge. This methodological note aims to explain the confusion, drawing on examples from the published literature in education research and beyond. It also considers the complexities and crossovers. The final section ends with key advice to researchers and authors on key mistakes to avoid regarding the difference between methods and methodology, including covering this in early supervision discussions.

 

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

Reference:

  1. 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

Creative Health Nepal

international, writing

Wednesday saw the opening of the exhibition ‘Creative Health Nepal’ in Kathmandu.  Creative Health Nepal reflects our interdisciplinary public health work, for the website click here!  Our work on alcohol in Nepal’s society, which resulted in the paper ‘Participatory asset mapping and photovoice interviews to scope cultural and community resources to reduce alcohol harm in Chitwan, Nepal’ was represented in the exhibition.

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

Reference:

Dhital R, Yoeli H, Adhikari A, et al. Participatory asset mapping and photovoice interviews to scope cultural and community resources to reduce alcohol harm in Chitwan, Nepal. Perspectives in Public Health. 2024;144(5):312-323. doi:10.1177/17579139231180744

FHSS academics teaching in Nepal

international, writing

As part of our long-standing Memorandum of Agreement between Bournemouth University and Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences (MMIHS) in Nepal, Dr. Pramod Regmi taught a postgraduate class in Kathmandu last week.  Pramod, who is Principal Academic in International Health in the Centre for Wellbeing and Long-term Health (CWLTH) in the Faculty of Health & Social Sciences, addressed M.Sc. students about the finer aspects of research methods.  Tomorrow (Sunday 24th November) I have been invited to speak to the same MMIHS postgraduate students about research theories and paradigms.

The process of internationalising higher education institutions through collaborative partnerships like this one between BU and MMIHS, brings benefits to both institutions’ staff and students.  This collaboration has led to many BU staff and students visiting Nepal, and many MMIHS staff and student visiting Bournemouth.  The collaboration has also led to several successful grant applications and nearly twenty academic publications [1-17].

 

 

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

 

 

References (BU + MMIHS authors in bold):

  1. Simkhada, P., van Teijlingen E., Winter, RC., Fanning, C., Dhungel, A., Marahatta SB. (2015) Why are so many Nepali women killing themselves? Review of key issues Journal of Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences 1(4): 43-49. nepjol.info/index.php/JMMIHS/article/view/12001
  2. Simkhada, P.P., van Teijlingen, E., Marahatta, S.B. (2015) Mental health services in Nepal: Is it too late? Journal of Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences 1(4): 1-2.
  3. Simkhada, B, Mackay, S, Khatri, R., Sharma, C.K., Pokhrel, T, Marahatta, S, Angell, C, van Teijlingen, E., Simkhada, P (2016) Continual Professional Development (CPD): Improving Quality of Nursing Care in Nepal, Health Prospect 15 (3):1-3 nepjol.info/index.php/HPROSPECT/article/view/16326/13255
  4. van Teijlingen, E., Marahatta, S.B., Simkhada, P., McIver, M., Sharma, J.P. (2017) Developing an international higher education partnerships between high & low-income countries: two case studies, Journal of Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences, 3(1): 94-100.
  5. Simkhada, P., van Teijlingen, E., Simkhada, B., Regmi, P., Aryal, N., Marahatta, S.B. (2018) Experts warn Nepal Government not to reduce local Public Health spending, Journal of Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences, 4(1): 1-3.
  6. Regmi, P., van Teijlingen, E., Neupane, S., Marahatta, S. (2019) Hormone use among Nepali transgender women: a qualitative study, BMJ Open 9: e030464. doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2019-030464.
  7. Sathian, B., Asim, M., Mekkodathil, A., van Teijlingen, E., Subramanya, S.H., Simkhada, P., Marahatta, S.B., Shrestha, U.M. (2020) Impact of COVID-19 on community health: A systematic review of a population of 82 million, Journal of Advanced Internal Medicine 9(1): 4-11. https://www.nepjol.info/index.php/JAIM/article/view/29159
  8. 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.
  9. Khatri, R., van Teijlingen, E., Marahatta, S., Simkhada, P., Mackay, S., Simkhada, B. (2021) Exploring the Challenges and Opportunities for Continuing Professional Development of Nurses: A Qualitative Study with Senior Nurse Leaders in Nepal. Journal of Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences, 7(1); 15–29. https://doi.org/10.3126/jmmihs.v7i1.43147
  10. Sapkota, S., Panday, S., Wasti, S.P., Lee, A., Balen, J., van Teijlingen, E., Rushton, S., Subedi, M., Gautam, S., Karki., J., Adhikary, P., Marahatta, S., Simkhada, P., for the Nepal Federal Health System Team (2022) Health System Strengthening: The Role of Public Health in Federal Nepal, Journal of the Nepal Public Health Association 7(1):36-42. https://nepha.org.np/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/5.-Manuscript_Health-System-Strengthening.pdf
  11. van Teijlingen, E., Thapa, D., Marahatta, S.B., Sapkota, J.L., Regmi, P. Sathian, B. (2022) Editors and Reviewers: Roles and Responsibilities, In: Wasti, S.P., et al. (Eds.) Academic Writing and Publishing in Health & Social Sciences, Kathmandu, Nepal: Himal Books: 32-37.
  12. Mahato P., Adhikari B., Marahatta S.B., Bhusal S., Kunwar K., Yadav R.K., Baral, S., Adhikari, A., van Teijlingen, E. (2023) Perceptions around COVID-19 and vaccine hesitancy: A qualitative study in Kaski district, Western Nepal. PLOS Global Public Health 3(2): e0000564. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgph.0000564
  13. 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 (accepted).
  14. Sapkota, S., Dhakal, A., Rushton, S., van Teijlingen, E., Marahatta, S.B., Balen, J., Lee, A. for the Nepal Federal Health System Team (2023) The impacts of decentralisation on health systems: a systematic review of reviews, BMJ Global Health 8(12) https://gh.bmj.com/content/8/12/e013317
  15. Marahatta, S., Regmi, P., Knight, A., Kuncova, J., Asbridge, E., Khanal, D., van Teijlingen, E. (2023). Staff-Student Exchange between MMIHS and Bournemouth University (UK). Journal of Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences, 8(1): 1–5. https://doi.org/10.3126/jmmihs.v8i1.57265
  16. 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 .
  17. Clark CJ, Marahatta SB, Hundley VA (2024) The prevalence of pain catastrophising in nulliparous women in Nepal; the importance for childbirth. PLoS ONE 19(8): e0308129. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0308129

 

New weight change BU paper

PG research, Publishing, Women's Academic Network, writing

Congratulations to Faculty of Health & Social Sciences (FHSS) PhD student Eirini-Iro Arvanitidou and two FHSS colleagues Dr. Fotini Tsofliou, and Dr. Juliet Wood who published together with Ioulia Tsatsani (Stanley Centre for Psychiatric Research, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, USA) the paper ‘The effectiveness of couples’ lifestyle interventions on weight change: A systematic review and meta-analysis of Randomised Controlled Trials‘.

Iro is a PhD student and this systematic review and meta-analysis is the first to investigate the effectiveness of lifestyle interventions targeting couples on weight loss, compared to interventions focused on individuals or standard care. The findings suggest that interventions aimed at couples lead to greater weight loss, though the results should be interpreted with caution due to the wide heterogeneity among the studies. The authors conclude that further research is needed with evidence-based study designs, targeting younger participants, and incorporating intervention of longer duration, and longer follow-up periods.

Congratulations!
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
Reference:
  1. Arvanitidou, E. I., Tsofliou, F., Wood, J., & Tsatsani, I. (2024). The effectiveness of couples’ lifestyle interventions on weight change: A systematic review and meta-analysis of Randomised Controlled Trials. Nutrition and health, 2601060241291123. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/02601060241291123

Congratulations to three former BU staff

Publishing, writing

Bournemouth University Emeritus Professor, Jonathan Parker, now Health Services University, UK, former BU academic Professor Vanessa Heaslip, now Salford University and Professor Sarah Hean and Pravin Tembjerg from the University of Stavanger, Norway, are pleased to announce the publication of their edited international research collection Rebuilding Family Relations for Children and Youth Separated from Family.  This edited volume is published by Palgrave Macmillan.

This edited volume explores a range of causes for separation of children and young people from family, the impact of these causes, and methods that both professionals and families may employ to build or rebuild these relations. In particular, contributions focus on six high priority crises through which children and young people become either permanently or temporarily separated from their families: removal by child welfare services, migration, family breakdown, placement into institutional care, incarceration and/or the death of a parent. Contributors include scholars in social work, psychology, health, sociology, social policy, and political science and the work develops co-production participatory research methods and tools in addition to empirical research to enhance professional practice.

 

Congratulations!

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMWH

Seventh edition of Social Work textbook

Publishing, writing

Congratulations to Bournemouth University’s  Emeritus Professor Jonathan Parker who has just published the 7th edition of his best-selling Social Work Practice. This latest edition of Social Work Practice comes with updated content and case studies.  First published in 2004, this textbook has guided social work students through the processes of working with people, groups and communities looking at the politics of assessment, planning, intervention and review and negotiating a value-based approach to practice that acknowledged the centrality of relationships and respect for the people with whom social workers practice.
Well done!
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

BU does well in offering Open Access publications

BRIAN, Fusion themes, international, open access, Publishing, writing

The latest online CWTS Leiden Ranking Open Edition lists Bournemouth University (BU) high among European universities when it comes to making academic papers easily available through Open Access.  For all sciences combined BU ranks 15th out of 491 European universities when it comes to hybrid Open Access publications.  BU ranks 12th out of 487 universities for the category ‘Biomedical & Health Sciences’ and 14th out of 475 universities in Europe for ‘Social Sciences & Humanities’.

The University of Leiden in the Netherlands compiles the CWTS Leiden Ranking Open Edition, and  offers fully transparent information about the scientific performance of over 1500 major universities worldwide.

 

 

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

Research Culture Champion in the Faculty of Health & Social Sciences

 

New BU women’s health publication

international, open access, Publishing, 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

New BU Social Work publication

international, writing

Growing international interest in approaches to social work focussing on human growth and development and including each social actor’s real freedoms to act, such as the capabilities approach, has fascinated BU Professor Emeritus, Jonathan Parker. In this new paper Parker and his German colleagues introduce a related, but internationally less well-known concept from German-language philosophy of education discourses, Bildung, arguing that Bildung represents a valuable additional framework that emphasises human growth and human flourishing.
The concept of Bildung has changed over time, with this paper charting development from its late enlightenment-period origins. Two particular variants are highlighted: the original 18th-century Bildung, which focussed on helping the individual reach a state of agency, and Mündigkeit (maturity), a late 20th-century critical theory-influenced Bildung, which focussed on the relationship between the growth of the individual and the society of which they are part. It is suggested that due to their shared tenets, both variants of Bildung can be seen a single concept, one with a strong conceptual closeness to the capabilities approach.
When applied to social work, Bildung suggests a shift away from thinking about the person in terms of utilities and outcomes, towards instead an understanding of a person’s humanness in their freedom to choose their own path and become the author of their own life. Parker and colleagues highlight four key elements of Bildung-informed social work: (1) the role of the social worker stimulating the service user’s dispositions in the context of their social environment; (2) shifting to a relationship-oriented practice, centring on direct work; (3) utilizing community settings in practice, and (4) the importance of refraining from using guidance, persuasion and coercion.
Congratulations!
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
Reference:
  1. Frampton, M., Friesenhahn, G. J., & Parker, J. (2024). Bildung, capabilities, human freedom and human flourishing: impulses for social work. Journal of Comparative Social Work, 19(1), 129–156. https://doi.org/10.31265/jcsw.v19i1.727

Pregnancy & COVID-19 in UK: New study published

NHS, 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