BU Research Blog

2 August 2024

Drowning prevention meeting for NIHR-funded study

international, PG research Edwin van Teijlingen

This week our collaborators on the Sonamoni project traveled from Bangladesh and Uganda to Dorset for a set of research planning meetings. The visitors represented CIPRB (The Centre for Injury Prevention and Research, Bangladesh) and DWB (Design without Borders). They were hosted by colleagues from Bournemouth University, the RNLI (Royal National Lifeboat Institute) and from the University of Southampton. Since Monday we managed to have an intensive week of design workshops, reviewing and incorporating local-community prioritised interventions for child drowning prevention (aged <2years) in Bangladesh. I say ‘we managed’, but I have been at home all week with COVID-19. The past few days I was beginning to feel quite well again, so I was unpleasantly surprised that I was still positive when I tested yesterday, and even more so this morning. Consequently, missing the whole week working with our visiting collaborators.

The Sonamoni project recently presented its own video recording on YouTube,which you can watch here!

Sonamoni is a public health project is funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) through its Research and Innovation for Global Health Transformation programme. For more information, visit the NIHR website.

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health (CMWH)

1 August 2024

Sonamoni collaborator recognised for services rendered to water safety

Awarded & submitted bids, international Edwin van Teijlingen

All the members of the Sonamoni team would like to congratulate Dr. Aminur Rahman, the Co-PI of our project for his award this week from HRH Prince Michael of Kent. Dr. Rahman from CIPRB (Centre for Injury Prevention and Research, Bangladesh) was awarded the HRH Prince Michael of Kent Certificate of Merit for services rendered to water safety. Dr. Rahman is visiting Bournemouth this week as part of a planning meeting for our project. This Sonamoni project has been made possible thanks to a grant from the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) through their Research and Innovation for Global Health Transformation programme. For more information, visit the NIHR website.
In Bangladesh, drowning is the leading cause of death in children between one and two years old. This low-income country has one of the highest rates of drowning, especially among children, in the world.

Congratulations!

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health

30 April 2024

New eBook published in April

international Edwin van Teijlingen

Two weeks ago our eBook Evidence-based approaches in aging and public health was published online by Frontiers Media [1]. This ebook is co-edited by BU Visiting Faculty Dr. Brijesh Sathian (based in Qatar), Prof. Padam Simkhada (based at the University of Huddersfield) and Prof. Edwin van Teijingen in the Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health (CMWH) as well as Drs. Russell Kabir and Hanadi Al Hamad. This eBook started life as a Special Issue for the journal Frontiers in Public Health. We wrote the accompanying editorial for 15 selected articles in this Special Issue [2]. This publication raises the interesting question when does a Special Issue become an eBook.

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMWH

References:

Sathian, B., van Teijlingen, E., Simkhada, P., Al Hamad, H., Kabir, R., eds. (2024). Evidence-based approaches in aging and public health. Lausanne: Frontiers Media SA. doi: 10.3389/978-2-8325-4780-9
Sathian, B., van Teijlingen, E., Simkhada, P., Kabir, R., Al Hamad, H. (2024) Editorial: Evidence-based approaches in Aging and Public Health, Frontier in Public Health 12 2024 https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2024.1391432

27 March 2024

Editorial accepted by Frontiers in Public Health

international, open access, Publishing, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

As part of the special issue in Frontiers in Public Health on ‘Evidence-based approaches in Aging and Public Health’ the guest editors included 15 academic papers. These 15 contributions to the Special Issue were introduced in placed in perspective in our editorial ‘Editorial: Evidence-based approaches in Aging and Public Health‘ [1] which was accepted for publication two days ago. The guest editors included two Visiting Faculty to FHSS: Prof. Padam Simkhada and Dr. Brijesh Sathian.

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health (CMWH)

Reference:

Sathian, B., van Teijlingen, E., Simkhada, P., Kabir, R., Al Hamad, H. (2024) Editorial: Evidence-based approaches in Aging and Public Health, Frontier in Public Health 12 2024 https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2024.1391432

10 February 2024

New BU Public Health publication

open access, Publishing, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

Yesterday we received the proofs of the recently accepted paper ‘Improved Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Facilities at School and their Effect on Educational Achievement in Basic Level Students in Nepal’ [1]. Luckily these are only the proof pages as my family name is misspelt, and the paper still lists the old name of our Centre for Midwifery and Women’s Health, which was, of course, the correct name at the time of submission.

The last time I published a paper on hygiene was also with colleagues in Nepal seven years ago, this time it was on menstrual hygiene [2].

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health

References:

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.
Budhathoki, S.S., Bhattachan, M., Pokharel, P.K., Bhadra, M., van Teijlingen, E. (2017) Reusable sanitary towels: Promoting menstrual hygiene in post-earthquake Nepal. Journal of Family Planning & Reproductive Health Care 43(2): 157-159.

6 February 2024

Paper by BU MSc student accepted for publication

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

Congratulations to Mr. Musa Lewis Nhlabatsi whose paper ‘Clinicians’ barriers to screening and diagnosing diabetes distress in patients with type 1 and 2 Diabetes Mellitus: a systematic review’ has just been accepted by the African Journal of Health Sciences [1].This systematic review’s initial search identified 1,579 studies, but only four primary studies from three countries met the inclusion criteria. The studies reported five barriers: (1) lack of knowledge, (2) lack of time, (3) lack of accessibility to mental health services, (4) lack of motivation and (5) patients’ denial of their diabetes distress. The two most reported barriers were lack of knowledge and time. In conclusion this review identifies critical barriers to the underdiagnosis of diabetes distress by clinicians and highlights the need for policymakers and organisations to conduct pragmatic research to understand clinicians’ experiences in assessing diabetes distress in various healthcare settings to improve diabetes management.

The paper developed from his work on the Systematic Review Module for Masters student. Earlier Musa won The Department of Medical Science and Public Health Award in July 2023 and he graduated in November 2023.

Congratulations!

Profs. Vanora Hundley and Edwin van Teijlingen

CMWH

Reference:

Nhlabatsi, M.L., van Teijlingen, E., Hundley, V. (2024) Clinicians’ barriers to screening and diagnosing diabetes distress in patients with type 1 and 2 Diabetes Mellitus: a systematic review’, African Journal of Health Sciences (forthcoming)

25 January 2024

Health Promotion article is being read

international, open access, Publishing, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

Our article ‘Understanding health education, health promotion & public health’ [1] is getting read according to ResearchGate. This conceptual/ theoretical paper was published open access in late 2021 in the Journal of Health Promotion and it reached 4,500 reads yesterday. Whilst the web side of the journal suggests today that the PDF of the paper has been downloaded 8,511 times.

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health (CMWH)

Reference:

van Teijlingen, K. R., Devkota, B., Douglas, F., Simkhada, P., van Teijlingen, E. R. (2021). Understanding health education, health promotion and public health. Journal of Health Promotion, 9(1): 1–7. https://doi.org/10.3126/jhp.v9i01.40957

7 December 2023

Promoting interdisciplinary research

conferences, international, Publishing, REF Subjects, Training, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

This week’s Bournemouth University (BU) advertised a forthcoming event in February 2024 ‘Early Career Researchers and Interdisciplinarity in the Medical Humanities – South West‘. To promote this event I would like to highlight some papers published recently by BU academics on interdisciplinarity.

First, Dr. Shanti Shanker in the Department of Psychology and Dr. Pramod Regmi in the Department of Nursing Science and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen in the Department of Midwifery & Health Sciences published the paper ‘The Interdisciplinary Team Not the Interdisciplinarist: Reflections on Interdisciplinary Research’ [1]. This interesting paper is co-authored with two BU Visiting Faculty, Ms. Jillian Ireland, Professional Midwifery Advocate in Poole Maternity Hospital (University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust) and Prof. Padam Simkhada based at the University of Huddersfield. This paper argues that interdisciplinary working is within the team, not the person being interdisciplinary . Multidisciplinary teams provide unique opportunities for researchers from different disciplines (and hence different ways of working and thinking) to collaborate with one another. We need to be careful not to try to create interdisciplinarists, or at least, not too many. The worlds needs people who are strong in their discipline and open-minded/flexible/reflective enough to see the value of other people’s disciplines.

Secondly, the Journal of Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences published our editorial ‘Public Health is truly interdisciplinary’ [2]. This editorial was largely written to counteract some of the jurisdictional claims made in Nepal by certain people in Public Health. These claims express themselves in arguments around the question whether Public Health is a single academic discipline or a broad interdisciplinary profession comprising many different individual academic disciplines. There are two quite distinct and opposing views. Some argue that Public Health is a broad-ranging single discipline covering sub-disciplines such as Epidemiology, Management, Medicine, Nursing, Health Psychology, Medical Statistics, Sociology of Health & Illness and Public Health Medicine. Those who support this argument, typically see: (a) Public Health is the overarching dominant discipline, which brings these sub-disciplines together; and (b) that a true Public Health practitioner amalgamates all these individual elements. Others argue that Public Health is more an overarching world view or interdisciplinary approach for wide-ranging group of professionals and academics [2]. In this view some Public Health professionals are first trained as clinicians, others as psychologists, health economists, health management, statisticians, or demographers, and so on and have later specialised in Public Health.

Thirdly, doing multidisciplinary research is not without its problems, hence we reflect on some of these in the paper ‘Interdisciplinary Research in Public Health: Not quite straightforward’ [3]. The authors are BU’s Dr. Pramod Regmi, Dr. Nirmal Ayral in the Department of Nursing Science and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen, and BU Visiting Professor Padam Simkhada and BU graduate Dr. Pratik Adhikary (currently at the University of the West of England). We all are Public Health researchers, with very different educational backgrounds and training, reflecting the diversity of and interdisciplinarity in the field. Several of us have a first degree in Education or Health Education, but one has a first degree in Sociology. Whilst four of the five authors have Master degree in Public Health and/or Health Promotion, two have a Master in Education. Most of the authors have a Ph.D. in Public Health, but again the Ph.D. of one of us is in Sociology. The key point is that we are all working in Public Health.

Unfortunately the ‘Early Career Researchers and Interdisciplinarity in the Medical Humanities – South West’is for ECRs from the South West Hub only.

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMWH

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.
Wasti, S.P., van Teijlingen, E., Simkhada, P. (2020) Public Health is truly interdisciplinary. Journal of Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences 6(1): 21-22.
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.

30 August 2023

Dedicated to drowning prevention in Bangladesh

international Edwin van Teijlingen

Today we held the first International Advisory Group for the Sonamoni project. Sonamoni is a BU research project with CIPRB (the Centre for Injury Prevention and Research, Bangladesh) which aims to design and develop interventions to reduce the number of young children drowning in Bangladesh. The public health project is funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) through its Research and Innovation for Global Health Transformation programme. For more information, visit the NIHR website.

We are grateful to the members of our International Advisory Board for volunteering to do this important work. We were struck by the dedication of the international team members this morning. We especially admire the International Advisory Board member who was online at 21.00 local time in Australia and even more perhaps our member in Canada for whom the local time was 3.00 in the morning.

Sonamoni is being coordinated by Bournemouth University in collaboration with the University of the West of England, Bristol, the University of Southampton, and the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI). This project, with Prof. Dr. Aminur Rahman as Bangladesh lead, includes a BU-based PhD project. The interdisciplinary team at Bournemouth University covers three faculties through: Dr. Mavis Bengtsson, Dr. Kyungjoo Cha, Dr. Mehdi Chowdhury, Dr. Yong Hun Lim, Mr. John Powell, and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen.

25 July 2023

New BU migration and health publication

international, Publishing, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

Congratulations to Drs. Pramod Regmi and Nirmal Aryal in the Faculty of Health & Social Sciences who published their latest paper this week [1]. This peer-reviewed paper ‘Assessing the knowledge of, attitudes towards, and practices in, food safety among migrant workers in Klang Valley, Malaysia’ in the journal Travel Medicine & Infectious Disease assesses the current food safety KAP (knowledge, attitudes and behaviour) as well as strategies to promote food safety awareness, among migrant workers across occupational sectors in Malaysia.

The authors conducted a survey with 403 migrant workers using telephone interviews and online self-administered questionnaires. The respondents were Nepalese, Filipino and Indonesian migrant workers. The majority were male, working in the services industry, had completed high school, aged between 30 and 39 years and had worked in Malaysia for less than ten years. Knowledge was significantly correlated with attitudes and practices. Female respondents had lower knowledge and attitude scores while younger respondents had lower knowledge scores. Indonesian and Filipino respondents had lower knowledge and attitudes scores than Nepalese respondents. Understanding food safety information from social media was positively correlated with the respondents’ food safety knowledge and practices. The paper concludes there is: (i) a to target female, younger, Indonesian and Filipino migrant workers, and (ii) the potential of social media to improve public awareness of food safety and hygienic practices.

Well done!

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health (CMWH)

Reference:

Chaudhary MN, Lim V-C, Sahimin N, Faller EM, Regmi P, Aryal N, Azman AS (2023) Assessing the knowledge of, attitudes towards, and practices in, food safety among migrant workers in Klang Valley, Malaysia, Travel Medicine and Infectious Disease doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tmaid.2023.102620.

24 July 2023

World Drowning Prevention Day Bournemouth University

international, PG research Edwin van Teijlingen

Worldwide drowning has caused over 2.5 million deaths in the last decade. The overwhelming majority of these deaths (90%) happen in low-middle-income countries. Globally, the highest drowning rates occur among children aged 1–4 years.

To mark this year’s World Drowning Prevention Day, the World Health Organisation (WHO) is raising awareness of drowning interventions such as teaching school-age children basic swimming water safety and safe rescue skills. Drowning is a public health issue, through their World Drowning Prevention Day campaign, WHO will be reminding people that: “Anyone can drown, but no one should.”

In Bangladesh, drowning is the leading cause of death in children over the age of one. Globally, the country has one of the highest rates of drowning, especially among children. Additionally, the risk of drowning in rural areas is twice as likely in comparison to cities. Some of the reasons for this are due to access to hazards, e.g., because there are a significant number of ponds and ditches, creating natural drowning hazards for very young children.

Bournemouth University and the Centre for Injury Prevention and Research, Bangladesh (CIPRB) jointly have received funding for research into the number of children drowning deaths in Bangladesh. The project, called ‘Sonamoni’, is being coordinated by Bournemouth University in collaboration with the University of the West of England, Bristol, the University of Southampton, and the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI). We are working with CIPRB to reduce drownings among newly-mobile children, generally under two years old. The project, with Prof. Dr. Aminur Rahman as Bangladesh lead, includes a PhD project by BU’s Mr. Shafkat Hossain. Shafkat’s thesis focuses on aspects of the Human-Centred-Design element of the Sonamoni project.

This £1.6m project has been made possible thanks to a grant from the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) through their Research and Innovation for Global Health Transformation programme. For more information, visit the NIHR website.

The interdisciplinary team at Bournemouth University cover three faculties supported by the following academics: Dr. Mavis Bengtsson, Dr. Kyungjoo Cha, Dr. Mehdi Chowdhury, Dr. Yong Hun Lim, Mr. John Powell, and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen.

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health (CMWH)

2 July 2023

Reflections from visiting Erasmus+ students to Bournemouth University

international Edwin van Teijlingen

Late last week my colleague Dr. Pramod Regmi, Senior Lecturer in International Health, returned home from his Erasmus+ exchange to Nepal. He brought home for me a copy of the MMIHS (Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences) Souvenir 2023, this outliens key events at the institution of the past year. One of the write ups in the Souvenir is from the seven MMIHS M.Sc. students in Public Health who visited Bournemouth University in late 2022-early 2023 for three months. The students have since all completed their M.Sc. in Public Health at MMIHS. Their story highlights some of the British features of student life which were new to them. These included the support they received from our SUBU (=students’ union), or registering with the NHS, and the UNIBUS app, as well as cultural celebrations during their time in Dorset, such Halloween, Christmas and New Year. They rave about the module Public Involvement in Research and specifically thank Dr. Mel Hughes and BU’s PIER (Public Involvement in Education & Research) team. Their second module at BU focused on Systematic Reviewing, they particularly mention the guidance and support received from Prof. Vanora Hundley in the Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health (CMWH) and our Faculty of Health & Social Sciences librarian Mr. Caspian Dugdale.

Unfortunately, the Erasmus+ scheme has come to an end, but Bournemouth University has just been awarded funding for a serious number of Turing Scheme exchanges. The latter is for BU students to go aboard, and this funding supports study exchanges, work placements, voluntary traineeships and other international extra-curricular or curricular activities worldwide for a minimum of 28 days and maximum of 12 months.

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMWH

18 June 2023

Global Consortium in Public Health meets in Huddersfield

international Edwin van Teijlingen

On Monday and Tuesday 18-19 June the University of Huddersfield will organize its Global Consortium in Public Health meeting. This meeting is the brain child of Prof. Padam Simkhada, he is Visiting Professor at Bournemouth University and based at the University of Huddersfield. The event brings together public health researchers and experts from the UK, the USA, Ghana, Nepal, India, Qatar and Brazil to discuss the latest developments and challenges in the field. The Global Consortium in Public Health is an international network of public health researchers, practitioners, and policymakers who are committed to advancing the field of public health through collaborative research, education, and advocacy. The consortium provides a platform for sharing best practices and building future collaborations.

On Monday 19th June Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen will be talking about the REF 2028 and the importance of strong international partnerships in the fields of research and education. BU’s Dr. Pramod Regmi was also invited to this event in Huddersfield, but he is on his way to Nepal as part of Bournemouth University’s Erasmus+ staff and student exchange with Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences (MMIHS).

18 April 2023

Sonamoni (golden pearl) research project

international Edwin van Teijlingen

Today we decided on the name of our interdisciplinary research project on ‘Drowning Prevention for newly mobile infants under two’s in Bangladesh’. We were looking for one or two words in Bangla (or Bengali) that also sounded good in English and which was not already used for another research project in Bangladesh. A team from BU and CIPRB (Centre for Injury Prevention and Research, Bangladesh) using Human-Centred Design (HCD) tools came up with the name. The wider research team, after some debate and and checking for its current use in the research field, settled for the word Sonamoni (golden pearl).

BU is leading on a new interdisciplinary study of nearly £1.7 million funded by the UK National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). Sonamoni aims to reduce the deaths of newly-mobile toddlers from drowning in rural Bangladesh. This multidisciplinary project is a collaboration of BU’s Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health (CMWH), BU’s Department in Accounting, Finance & Economics and Department of Design & Engineering, and external partners, namely the University of the West of England, the University of Southampton, the Poole-based Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) and the already mentioned CIPRB.

The Sonamoni project has been made possible thanks to a grant from the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) through their Research and Innovation for Global Health Transformation programme. For more information, visit the NIHR website.
In Bangladesh, drowning is the leading cause of death in children between one and two years old. This low-income country has one of the highest rates of drowning, especially among children in the world. This four-year project will be working with communities to apply human-centred design techniques in Bangladesh. Together they will identify and prioritise potential solutions, develop prototype interventions, and assess the acceptability and usability of proposed interventions.

Edwin van Teijlingen & Mavis Bengtsson

CMWH

17 April 2023

ERASMUS+ exchange with Nepal

international, PG research Edwin van Teijlingen

The first half of April I have been in Nepal on the ERASMUS+ exchange with Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences MMIHS). Apart from teaching and running tutorial and workshops at the host institution the exchange can also include student supervision. I had the pleasure of offering some support to one of the MMIHS Master of Public Health (MPH) students. Ms. Binita Dawadi designed an interesting project under the title on factors associated with burnout among nurses in the district of Jhapa (Nepal). She recently complete her research project as part of her dissertation which she subsequently presented as a poster at last week’s Ninth National Summit of Health and Population Scientists in Nepal. This annual research conference organised by the NHRC (Nepal Health Research Council) was held in Kathmandu on 11-12 April.

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

Centre for Midwifery & Perinatal Health {CMMPH}

13 April 2023

Free online masterclass: How can I involve patients and the public in literature reviews?

Public engagement, Research Integritiy, Training ngkounta

Patient and public involvement (PPI) is now widely accepted to be a standard requirement in health and social care research. While guidance on involvement in primary studies is available from organisations such as the National Institute for Health Research, researchers are often less clear regarding how PPI in systematic reviews and other forms of evidence synthesis might work, and exactly what to do during meetings. This presentation will look beyond the guidance to offer practical suggestions on when, how, and why patients and the public can be involved in reviews of literature.

When: Wed, 19 Apr 2023 13:00 – 14:00 BST

Bio: Sue Baxter is a Senior Research Fellow who has been carrying out qualitative research, service evaluations and evidence synthesis in the field of health and social care for over 20 years. This presentation will draw particularly on learning from PPI in two evidence synthesis centres in ScHARR, which carry out reviews of research relating to Health Services Delivery, and Public Health.

Book: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/how-can-i-involve-patients-and-the-public-in-literature-reviews-tickets-536016207907

13 March 2023

Applying FUSION in Bangladesh

Awarded & submitted bids, Fusion, international, Public engagement Edwin van Teijlingen

Photo: RNLI /Kate Eardley

Late in 2022 we started a new interdisciplinary study funded by the UK National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The research aims to reduce the deaths of newly-mobile toddlers from drowning in rural Bangladesh. This project called Sonamoni is being co-ordinated by Bournemouth University in collaboration with the University of the West of England, Bristol, the University of Southampton, the Poole-based Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) and the Centre for Injury Prevention and Research, Bangladesh (CIPRB).

In Bangladesh, drowning is the leading cause of death in children between one and two years old. This low-income country has one of the highest rates of drowning, especially among children in the world. The risk of drowning in rural areas is twice that in cities, because there are significant numbers of ponds and ditches, creating natural drowning hazards for very young children. CIPRB has implemented several effective drowning prevention solutions focused on children over the past 15 years, including a successful daycare model to keep young children safely away from water. However, enrollment and attendance rates for children under two years (those at the highest risk of accidental drowning) have been low.

The team will be working with communities to apply human-centred design techniques in Bangladesh. Together they will identify and prioritise potential solutions, develop prototype interventions, and assess the acceptability and usability of proposed interventions.

This research is an excellent example of BU’s FUSION. BU endeavours to bring together Research, Education and Practice to create something that is greater than the sum of its parts. FUSION is central to our Bangladesh project, the Research is focusing on social sciences and public health, the Education is around health education of people in rural communities as well as training of the research team members, whilst Practice will be the outcome of the human-centred design approach, when we test the best interventions.

The £1.6m project has been made possible thanks to a grant from the NIHR through their Research and Innovation for Global Health Transformation programme. For more information, visit the NIHR website. NIHR uses aid from the UK government to support global health research.

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH (Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health)

12 January 2023

It is all about experience

Delicious links, international, Knowledge Exchange, PG research, Publishing, student research, Women's Academic Network, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

This week we published a paper on the experience of conducting fieldwork in the public health field in the Journal of Health Promotion. [1] Fieldwork is usually a crucial part of PhD research, not only in the health field. However, few researchers write about this, often challenging, process. This paper highlights various occasions where fieldwork in the area of public health, health promotion or community health was more difficult than expected or did not go as planned. Our reflections on working in the field are aimed at less experienced researchers to support them in their research development. Moreover, this paper is also calling upon health researchers to share more details about the process of doing fieldwork and its trials and tribulations. Our key advice is to be inquisitive and open-minded around fieldwork, followed by: be prepared for your fieldwork, conduct a risk assessment of what might go wrong, and consider your resources and options to overcome such trials and tribulations. Fieldwork can be unpredictable. We believe it is important to share practical lessons from the field which helps other to better understand these tribulations, and learn from them. Finally, sharing such information may guide new researchers and help them identify strategies that can address those issues and challenges in their future studies.

Dr. Preeti Mahato (at Royal Holloway, University of London), Dr Bibha Simkhada and Prof. Padam Simkhada (both based at the University of Huddersfield) are all BU Visiting Faculty. Moreover, I have had the pleasure of acting as PhD supervisor for five of my co-authors. I have included in this blog what is probably my favourite fieldwork photo taken a decade ago by former BU PhD student Dr. Sheetal Sharma.

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH (Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health)

References:

Mahato, P., Tamang, P., Simkhada, B., Wasti, S. P., Devkota, B., Simkhada, P., van Teijlingen, E.R. (2022) Reflections on health promotion fieldwork in Nepal: Trials and tribulations. Journal of Health Promotion 10(1): 5–12. https://doi.org/10.3126/jhp.v10i1.50978

Tagged / public health

Paper by BU MSc student accepted for publication

Promoting interdisciplinary research

New BU migration and health publication

Reflections from visiting Erasmus+ students to Bournemouth University

Sonamoni (golden pearl) research project

ERASMUS+ exchange with Nepal

Free online masterclass: How can I involve patients and the public in literature reviews?

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