

Reference:
- Regmi, P., Poobalan, A., Simkhada, P., van Teijlingen, E. (2021) PhD supervision in Public Health, Health Prospect: Journal of Public Health 20(1):1-4. https://www.nepjol.info/index.php/HPROSPECT/article/view/32735/28111
Latest research and knowledge exchange news at Bournemouth University
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We have planned three stages: 1) virtual mini workshops, guided discussion/input on academic writing, publishing, journal submission, and review processes ; 2) online workshops where participants present their draft papers/work and receive feedback from peers, mentors, invited speakers/editors and opportunities networking/collaborations (for co-authorship, peer review and peer support); and 3) monthly tutorials (webinars) later in 2021 to provide mentorship and peer support to participants.
This application is third time lucky as two previous applications to The British Academic for Writing Work had not been successful. Over the years the team has build up capacity in academic writing and publishing in Nepal ad hoc. This grant will allow us to offer a more systematic approach to academic writing capacity building in Nepal. It is building on a growing number of paper published by FHSS staff on various aspects of academic writing and publishing. [1-14]
References:
Congratulations to Dr. Pramod Regmi (Lecturer in International Health) in the Department of Nursing Sciences on today’s publication of ‘The unmet needs for modern family planning methods among postpartum women in Sub-Saharan Africa: a systematic review of the literature’ [1]. The paper in the international peer-reviewed journal Reproductive Health is co-produced with BU MSc Public Health graduate Jumaine Gahungu and Dr. Mariam Vahdaninia who left the Faculty of Health & Social Sciences in mid-2020.
Well done.
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
CMMPH
Reference:
Today we added to our growing pool of publications on aspects of labour migration in Nepal. The Open Access journal BMC Health Services Research published our paper ‘Accessing health services in India: experiences of seasonal migrants returning to Nepal’ [1]. The paper explores the experiences of returnee Nepali migrants with regard to accessing healthcare and the perspectives of stakeholders in the government, support organizations, and health providers working with migrant workers in India. The paper concludes that Nepali migrants experience difficulties in accessing healthcare in India. Hence the authors recommend partnerships between the Nepali and Indian governments, migrant support organizations and relevant stakeholders such as healthcare providers, government agencies and employers should be strengthened so that this vulnerable population can access the healthcare to which they are entitled.
Three of the authors are based at BU (Dr. Nirmal Aryal, Dr. Pramod Regmi & Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen), whilst Dr. Pratik Adhikary is a BU PhD graduate and Prof. Padam Simkhada, from the University of Huddersfield, is BU Visiting Faculty.This qualitative paper is part of a larger International Organization for Migration research project on ‘Health vulnerabilities of the cross-border migrants from Nepal’ [2].
The authors to acknowledge the continuous support from Green Tara Nepal (GTN) during the field work. This Open Access paper from this FHSS team of researchers on migration and health research related to Nepal is the 19th paper in total on the topic [3-19].
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Today and tomorrow Sulochana Dhakal-Rai will have her poster ‘Factors contributing to rising Caesarean Section rates in South Asia: a systematic review’ online at this year’s GLOW Conference [Global Women’s Research Society Conference]. This year for the first time, this international conference is held completely online. Sulochana’s PhD project is supervised by Dr. Pramod Regmi, P., Dr. Juliet Wood and Prof Edwin van Teijlingen at BU with Prof. Ganesh Dangal [Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Kathmandu Model Hospital] who acts as local supervisor in Nepal. Sulochana has already published two papers from her on-going thesis research [1-2].
References
Over the past half year or so BU academics have produced a healthy crop of publications on COVID-19/ corona virus. Searching the word ‘COVID’ today Saturday 5th September, on the university’s repository BURO (Bournemouth University Research Online), resulted in 59 records of publications whilst searching for ‘corona’ gave 48 publications. Removing duplicates, obviously irrelevant papers (e.g. one paper had a co-author called ‘Corona’) and papers published prior to 2020 resulted in a combined total of 66 BU publications. Some papers are obviously focused on COVID-19/corona virus, as the title suggests. Others may merely mention corona virus or COVID-19 in the body of the text, perhaps as a reason for delay in the research, as a new opportunity or barrier and so on. A search on Scopus and BRIAN added nine more Bournemouth co-authored papers to the reference list below.
References from BURO & Scopus:
Whilst searching BU Research Blog added a further eight references:
And last, but not least, BU’s PATH project team has produced a comic book to point pregnant women and their families to a collection of trusted online resources The interactive version of the book is here.
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health (CMMPH)
Congratulations to Dr. Preeti Mahato, Dr. Nirmal Aryal and Dr. Pramod Regmi in the Faculty of Health & Social Sciences on their latest COVID-19 publication. Yesterday the Europasian Journal of Medical Sciences informed us of its acceptance of the article ‘Effects of COVID-19 during lockdown in Nepal’ [1]. The Europasian Journal of Medical Sciences is a peer-reviewed Open-Accessed journal which is published biannually online as well as in print version. It is an official publication of the Nirvana Psychosocial Care Center & Research Institute.
This is the fifth COVID-19 publication by our team since lock down began (in both the UK and Nepal). Previous publications with colleagues based in the UK and elsewhere across the globe focused on maternity care, public health, Nepal and the apparent effect of COVID-19 on people from ethnic minorities int he UK [2-5].
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
CMMPH (Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health)
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Last week migration researchers in the Faculty of Health & Social Sciences were awarded two competitive grants through GCRF funding to Bournemouth University. The first project Nepal-Malaysia-UK partnership on Nepali migrants’ health research is led by Dr. Pramod Regmi (lecturer in International Health) and Dr. Nirmal Aryal (Post Doctoral Researcher) and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen. The second GCRF-funded project focuses on Investigating sudden cardiac death of Nepali labour migrants in Malaysia. The project is the brain child of Dr. Nirmal Aryal who is supported by Dr. Pramod Regmi and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen.
In the same week the International Journal of Environmental Research & Public Health (IJERPH) accepted our latest migration and health paper: ‘The Impact of Spousal Migration on the Mental Health of Nepali Women: A Cross-Sectional Study‘. [1] This paper was part of the journal’s Special Issue ‘The Health & Wellbeing of Migrant Populations’ and it is Open Access and hence freely available online. The international authors are all related to Bournemouth University, Dr. Nirnal Aryal and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen are both in the Centre of Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health (CMMPH) and Dr. Pramod Regmi and Dr. Steve Trenoweth are based in the Department of Nursing Sciences, whilst Dr. Pratik Adhikary was awarded his PhD from Bournemouth University and Prof. Padam Simkhada based at the University of Huddersfield is Visiting Professor at in the Faculty of Health & Social Sciences. The editor emailed us today to say “Thank you very much for your nice paper …. We are pleased to see it has raised a lot of interest since its publication in IJERPH. The article metrics show: in the first week alone we had 474 views and 133 downloads.”
Last, but not least, today we were informed by the review committee that our submission, ‘Workplace Harassment Faced by Female Nepali Migrants Working in Abroad’ has been accepted by the CESLAM (Centre for the Study of Labour and Mobility) Kathmandu Migration Conference 2020.
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
CMMPH
Reference:
In the last month we had several FHSS-Psychology success stories. The first one was a recently accepted joint publication between Mr. Paul Fairbairn and Dr. Fotini Tsofliou in the Department of Rehabilitation and Sport Sciences, Dr. Andrew Johnson in BU’s Department of Psychology. The joint paper is called ‘Effects of a high DHA multi-nutrient supplement and exercise on mobility and cognition in older women (MOBILE): A randomised semi-blinded placebo controlled study” in the British Journal of Nutrition [1].
Secondly, Dr. Sarah Collard in the Department of Psychology, Dr. Pramod Regmi in the Department of Nursing Science and FHSS Visiting Professor Katherine Barnard-Kelly are to be congratulated on their publication: ‘Exercising with an automated insulin delivery system: qualitative insight into the hopes and expectations of people with type 1 diabetes’ [2].
And last, but not least, Dr. Bibha Simkhada in the Department of Nursing Science together with FHSS colleagues Dr. Michele Board and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen and Dr. Shanti Shanker in the Department of Psychology were awarded £17,180 in the most recent internal GCRF call. Their proposed project ‘The key issues in Dementia in South Asia’ will run from 2020-2021. Both Dr. Simkhada and Dr. Shanker are Global Engagement Lead (GEL) in their respective departments.
Good to see so many great cross-BU collaborations!
Professor Edwin van Teijlingen
CMMPH
References:
Fairbairn, P., Tsofliou, F., Johnson, A., Dyall, S.C. (2010) Effects of a high DHA multi-nutrient supplement and exercise on mobility and cognition in older women (MOBILE): A randomised semi-blinded placebo controlled study, British Journal of Nutrition (accepted).
Collard, S.S., Regmi, P.R., Hood, K.K., Laffel, L., Weissberg-Benchell, J., Naranjo, D., Barnard-Kelly, K. (2020) Exercising with an automated insulin delivery system: qualitative insight into the hopes and expectations of people with type 1 diabetes, Practical Diabetes 2020; 37(1): 19–23.
Congratulations to Dr. Sarah Collard in the Department of Psychology, Dr. Pramod Regmi in the Department of Nursing Science and FHSS Visiting Professor Katherine Barnard-Kelly on their publication: ‘Exercising with an automated insulin delivery system: qualitative insight into the hopes and expectations of people with type 1 diabetes’ [1]. This paper in Practical Diabetes is a joint publication with several North American scholars.
The authors of this qualitative paper distilled three themes related to the benefits of automated insulin delivery systems: (a) more freedom and spontaneity in the individual’s ability to exercise; (b) relief
from worry of hypoglycaemia as a result of exercise; (c) removing the ‘guesswork’ of adjusting insulin for exercise, as well as two further themes relating to potential concerns with regard to safely exercising while wearing an automated insulin delivery system.
Well done!
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
CMMPH
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Congratulation to FHSS PhD student Sulochana Dhakal Rai who just published her latest article in the Journal of Asian Midwives. The paper ‘Caesarean Section rates in South Asian cities: Can midwifery help stem the rise?‘ [1] is highly topical in this Year of the Nurse and Midwife (see Bournemouth University’s earlier event on YouTube).
This paper is co-authored by Dr. Juliet Wood and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen in the Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health (CMMPH), Dr. Pramod Regmi Lecturer in International Health in the Department of Nursing Science, Dr. Amudha Poobalan at the University of Aberdeen, Dr. Malin Bogren at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, Prof. Rafat Jan at the Aga Khan University in Pakistan and Dr. Ganesh Dangal at Kathmandu Model Hospital in Nepal and Dr.Keshar Bahadur Dhakal based at Karnali Academy of Health Science also in Nepal. This is Sulochana’s second PhD paper, her first paper was published last year [2].
References
Congratulations to Dr. Pramod Regmi, lecturer in International Health, whose article ‘Hazards of Beauty’ featured in Republica, a national daily newspaper published in English in Nepal. Many transgender people who are using hormones are mostly attracted by its short-term benefit of amplification in their feminine look and seem to be ignorant about its dark side. This newspaper article highlights the key issues of a recent paper in BMJ Open published by staff in the Faculty of Health & Social Sciences on transgender in Nepal [1].
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“On the twelfth day of Christmas ….” the editor of the Journal of Health Research Ms Sunanta Wongchalee informed us that our paper ‘Silicone use in Nepali transgender women: The hazards of beauty’ has been accepted for publication [1]. That is nice belated Christmas present to receive on January 6th and a good start of the New Year. The paper is written by FHSS’s Dr. Pramod Regmi and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen with Sanjeev Raj Neupane in Nepal. This is the second paper from this unique study on transgender women in Nepal, the first one was published last year in BMJ Open [2].
References:
Congratulations to Dr. Pramod Regmi and Dr. Nirmal Aryal, both in the Faculty of Health & Social Sciences (FHSS), who co-authored of our latest health and migration paper which was accepted this week. This paper called “Nepali migrant workers and the need for pre-departure training on mental health: a qualitative study” will appear in the Journal of Immigrant & Minority Health [1]. This is the sixth paper published this year by this FHSS team of researchers on migration and health research about Nepal and the twelfth paper in total on the topic [2-12].
This important health and migration research in Nepal and about Nepali migrant workers is also the foundation of a Bournemouth University REF 2021 Impact Case Study.
Reference:
Yesterday saw the latest publication based on Bournemouth University (BU) migration research. The international journal BMC Public Health published our quantitative paper ‘Psychological morbidity in Nepali cross-border migrants in India: a community based cross-sectional study’ [1]. This scientific article highlights that since Nepali migrants can freely cross the border with India and hence work and stay there, they are largely undocumented. The majority of these Nepali migrant workers is involved in semi-skilled or unskilled jobs with limited labour rights and social security, which predisposes them to psychological distress. The paper assessed the prevalence of and factors associated with psychological morbidity among Nepali migrants upon their return from India.
Just a few days ago the UN Migration Agency in Nepal IOM (International Organization for Migration) published ‘Research on the Health Vulnerabilities of the Cross-Border Migrants from Nepal‘, an online report to which BU academics (Aryal, Regmi & van Teijlingen) had contributed [2]. Just recently we had published the qualitative sister paper on Nepali migrants working and living in India. [3]. Whilst Dr. Nirmal Aryal was the lead author on a paper highlighting the need for more research specifically focusing on adolescents left behind by migrant workers [4]. Earlier this year BU PhD graduate Dr. Pratik Adhikary published his latest paper from his thesis, the paper is called ‘Workplace accidents among Nepali male workers in the Middle East and Malaysia: A qualitative study’ and was published in the Journal of Immigrant & Minority Health [5].
Last year was also a very good year for BU migration research, including a systematic review on sex trafficking (perhaps the worst kind of migrant workers) [6], an earlier research paper by Dr. Adhikary with his PhD supervisors [7], and one paper on Nepali female migrants workers in the Middle-East & Malaysia [8]. Earlier BU academics published on general health issues and accidents among Nepali migrant workers in Malaysia, Qatar & Saudi Arabia [9-10], Nepali migrants in the UK [11-12] , other papers included: a call for action on Public Health [13]; a systematic review [14]; a paper on migrant workers’ spouses [15]; migrant health workers in the UK [16-17]; migration and tourism industry [18-20]; migrants and space in Italy [21-22]; an anthropological perspective on migration [23]; a media studies’ perspective [24]; and archaeological perspective [25]; and a socio-economic perspective [26]. No doubt there are several other publications I have forgotten or I am simply unaware missed in this list.
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health
References:
Last week the IOM (International Organization for Migration) in Nepal, the UN Migration Agency published a new report online: Research on the Health Vulnerabilities of the Cross-Border Migrants from Nepal. This report mentioned the input and advice of Bournemouth University (BU) staff, including Dr. Nirmal Aryal, who worked on the report prior to his appointment at BU and who is listed as Co-Investigator, furthermore listed as Resource Persons are: Dr. Pramod Regmi and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen. Working with the charity Green Tara Nepal (GTN) on this study has been good for IOM and BU. All of use have worked on the report in different kind of ways and to different degrees. The publication suggested a corporate authorship as ‘International Organization for Migration’, which is great for the status of the report as it is a UN agency. We feel part of this as BU academics and feel we are part of the team despite this not being a BU publication!
Professor Edwin van Teijlingen
CMMPH
Reference:
International Organization for Migration (2019) Research on the Health Vulnerabilities of the Cross-Border Migrants from Nepal, Kathmandu, Nepal: International Organization for Migration. Available at : https://nepal.iom.int/sites/default/files/publication/Research_on_The_Health_Vulnerabilities_of_The_Cross_Border_Migrants_from_Nepal_0.pdf
The paper was co-authored by Sanjeev Neupane, Sujan Marahatta and Edwin van Teijlingen. Prof. Sujan Marahatta is based at Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences in Nepal. Bournemouth University has a long-standing collaboration with Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences. Whilst Mr. Sanjeev Raj Neupane is based at the charity Save the Children in Kathmandu.
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Work-related migration is a common livelihood strategy for many young people in Nepal. It is estimated that about 3.5 million Nepali work abroad, mainly in Malaysia, the Gulf countries, and India. The economic contribution of Nepali migrants to the country is highly significant as they send over US$6.1 billion in remittances which is 26 % of Nepal’s gross domestic product (GDP) [1].
There is a growing global literature on migrant workers’ poor health and wellbeing and of those they leave behind. Over the past decade the media in Nepal have reported on the mortality and morbidity of Nepali migrants abroad. Every year at least one thousand dead bodies of Nepali migrants return back home via Tribhuvan International Airport (the only international airport in Nepal the country). The Government of Nepal estimated 5,982 deaths in migrant workers in the period 2008 to 2017, however there is likely to have been under-reporting [2].
Although there have been studies on Nepali migrants’ health [3-9], these are largely around (a) sexual risk-taking behaviours of Nepali migrants in India; and, (b) occupational health and injuries issues among Nepali migrants in Gulf countries. These studies are carried out with the support from development partners and/or government organisations. However, most migration health research in Nepal has been small-scale for example to collect baseline information or as part of Masters or PhD projects. Currently, there is no research priority agenda on the topic of Nepali migrants’ health and wellbeing issues.
To address this gap in the research agenda staff in BU’s Faculty of Health & Social Sciences and their collaborators organised a consultation workshop on August 2nd of this year in Kathmandu, Nepal. This workshop aimed to identify Nepali migrant workers’ health research prioritites and gaps. A total of 26 participants representing universities, ministries, non-governmental organisations working for migrants and research organisations attended the workshop.
The workshop was participatory in nature. To start with BU Professor Edwin van Teijlingen and Professor Padam Simkhada (BU Visiting Professor) shared global perspectives on migrant workers health. Whilst BU lecturer Dr Pramod Regmi highlighted key findings of BU’s migration research of Nepali migrants and their left-behinds. This contextual information helped focus the discussion on Nepali migrant health research priorities and gaps.
In order to identify the research agenda and prioritise issues and problems, participants were divided into four groups, each comprising 6-8 experts in the migration field. Groups were purposively formed to include participants from diverse backgrounds, e.g., migration related researchers, migration programme managers and policy-makers. Each member of the team was requested to identify two to five research needs around Nepali migrants’ health and share within their group for consensus. The group then prepared research priorities agreed in their team. Each team presented the research priorities to the wider group. A total of 46 research agenda items were identified which were subsequently prioritised through a voting process. Table 1 shows who participants ranked the top issues requiring further research.
Table 1 Top migration health research priorities in Nepal
The way forward
The consultation workshop was very productive in many ways. First, it identified wide ranging health research for Nepali migrants and prioritised these research issues. This information may help guide future research on migration studies. Secondly, the workshop offered a platform to build a network among researchers working for Nepali migrants.
Pramod R Regmi, Nirmal Aryal, and Edwin van Teijlingen
References: