

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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Publishing your research open access is extremely beneficial – to facilitate this, BU has a number of agreements with publishers that you can take advantage of.
Details of these agreements are now set out on a dedicated page found here.
If you have any queries, please email Open Access.
Congratulations to Prof. Vanora Hundley who co-authored an important commentary ‘WHO next generation partograph: revolutionary steps towards individualised labour care’ in the international journal BJOG [1]. The authors comment on the partograph which is widely used across the globe as part of the assessment of labour progress. It was recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) in the early 1990s as a routine tool for displaying the progress of labour. Despite its global acceptance, utilization and correct completion rates as low as 31% and 3% respectively, have been reported.
Congratulations!
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
CMMPH (Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health)
Reference:
Hofmeyr, GJ, Bernitz S, Bonet M, Bucagu M, Dao B, Downe S, Galadanci H, Homer CSE, Hundley V, et al. (2021) WHO next generation partograph: revolutionary steps towards individualised labour care (Commentary), BJOG An International Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, First published: 8 March 2021
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]
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Today FHSS Prof. Jonathan Parker published an article (online first) on structural discrimination and abuse associated with COVID-19 in care homes in The Journal of Adult Protection [1]. Whilst Dr. Preeti Mahato, Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen and FHSS Visiting Professor Padam Simkhada had a COVID-19 paper published in the Journal of Midwifery Association of Nepal (JMAN) in late-January 2021 [2], although an electronic copy only reached their email inbox today.
Today our chapter: Birth Systems across the World: Variations in maternity policy and services across countries was published in the renowned series of books: FIGO Continuous Textbook of Women’s Medicine [1]. This chapter was co-authored by Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen in the Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health (CMMPH) with Prof. Sirpa Wrede and Doctoral Researcher from the University of Helsinki (Finland) and Dr. from the European University at St. Petersburg (Russia). The chapter includes a set of recommendations for future practice.
Volume 1 is edited by Prof. Jane Sandall from King’s College London. Earlier this year Prof. Sandall was appointed as the first-ever head of midwifery research for England and one of her key focuses will be around ending racial health inequalities in maternity care.
Everything published on The Global Library of Women’s Medicine is available to everyone everywhere for free and there is no requirement to register in order to view it.
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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
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Guest Editors: R. Lyle Skains and An Nguyen, Dept. of Communications & Journalism, Bournemouth University
Register your interest and submit abstracts at https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/17893
Keywords: digital narrative, interactive storytelling, health communication, science communication, science education, science journalism
We are seeking papers for a joint issue with Frontiers in Communication (Science and Environmental Communication; Health Communication) and Frontiers in Environmental Science (Science and Environmental Communication) on digital and interactive narratives and science and health education and journalism. This Special Topic aims to investigate how digital media affordances—such as human-machine and human-human interactivity, multimedia capacities, dynamic visual appeal, playfulness, personalization, real-time immersion, multilinear narrative, and so on—have been and can be used to effectively communicate health and science issues. We would like to go beyond the current discourse on fake news, mis/disinformation and online radicalization, which recognizes the malignant effects of digital media on health and science affairs, to refocus on the positive affordances of digital media—both in direct education (e.g., museums, public demonstrations, school settings) and through the media (e.g., news, film, games)—as communication tools and techniques for health and science topics.
The aim of this Research Topic is, therefore, to explore the current state of play, as well as potential future trajectories, of digital narrative and storytelling in the communication of health and science topics. We invite scholarly investigations, including theoretically driven and practice-related research, on any topic relevant to that overall goal. Some potential topics include, but are not limited to:
Types of Manuscripts:
● Empirical Research Papers
● Practice-led research Projects
● Reviews
● Conceptual Analysis
● Brief Research Reports
● Perspectives/Commentaries
Details on manuscript types: https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/communication#article-types
Abstract Deadline: 31 March 2021
Full Papers: 30 Sept 2021
The full call is at https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/17893; please register interest using the “Participate” button, and contact Lyle Skains (lskains@bournemouth.ac.uk) with any questions.
Congratulations to Professor Jonathan Parker on his latest publication ‘By Dint of History: Ways in which social work is (re)defined by historical and social events‘. This interesting paper is co-authored with Magnus Frampton from the Universität Vechta in Germany and published in the international journal Social Work & Society.
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Congratulations to Prof. Sara Ashencaen Crabtree on the publication of her new Routledge research monograph, Women of Faith and the Quest for Spiritual Authenticity [1]. This new book is based on 59 interviews with women in Malaysia and the UK concerning their experiences, beliefs and practices across the faiths of Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity, Islam, Judaism and diverse Pagan pathways. These accounts are often very personal and detailed in referring to both the micro (individual) and the macro (social) in terms of how faith and gender are negotiated in multicultural societies that struggle with the politics of diversity.
This is an ecumenical and entertaining ethnography where women’s narratives and life stories ground faith as embodied, personal, painful, vibrant, diverse, illuminating and shared. This book will of interest not only to academics and students of the sociology of religion, feminist and gender studies, politics, political science, ethnicity and Southeast Asian studies, but is equally accessible to the general reader broadly interested in faith and feminism. Sara says that she road-tested some of these Sociology of Religion ideas in the classroom at Bournemouth University and she found that social science students really related to it in their discussions.
I have taken the liberty to reproduce one of the reviews written for the publisher’s website by Prof. Crisp from Deakin University in Australia.
Congratulations!
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
CMMPH
Reference:
Ashencaen Crabtree S (2021) Women of Faith and the Quest for Spiritual Authenticity: Comparative Perspectives from Malaysia and Britain, London: Routledge.
The year 2021 started in many ways in the same way as it had ended with a country gripped in COVID-19 and a national lock down to limit the spread of the disease. It is appropriate timely that the first publication from our international collaboration, studying the health system in Nepal, focuses on COVID-19 [1]. This academic paper forms part of our on-going study of the decentralisation of the Nepal health system. The study is run by the University of Sheffield, the University of Huddersfield and Bournemouth University in the UK and PHASE Nepal and Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences in Nepal. The study is funded by the UK Health Systems Research Initiative.
This paper was unplanned as nobody (neither in the UK or in Nepal) had heard of COVID-19 when we submitted the grant application in mid-2019. It was only when we started our project officially in April 2020 that COVID-19 had become the pandemic it is today. We took the opportunity to assess some of the early evidence on the effectiveness of the actions taken to deal with COVID-19 by the national government as well as provincial and local governments and the levels of cooperation and coordination between them.
Authors on this include BU PhD graduate Dr. Pratik Adhikary and FHSS Visiting Professor Padam Simkhada, as well as our collaborator on other funded projects, Dr. Sujan Marahatta from Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences (Nepal).
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
CMMPH
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Peer reviewing is the backbone of academic publishing. It is this peer review process to ensure that papers/publications have been vetted scientifically prior to publication by experts in the field, i.e. one’s peers. However, the process is not without its problems. One such problems is the delay in academic publishing. For example, a few days ago we published a substantive editorial on COVID-19 in Qater [1]. When we submitted this in July 2020 the information in our editorial was very up to date, and it still was when the Qatar Medical Journal accepted it on 26th July 2020. Unfortunately, with all the incredibly rapid developments in vaccine development, approval and roll out some of the paper now reads like ‘historial data’.
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health (CMMPH)
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Congratulations to Prof. Vanora Hundley whose article ‘Escalation triggers and expected responses in obstetric early warning systems used in UK consultant-led maternity units’ is now available Open Access online. The paper has been accepted in Resuscitation Plus. Co-authors include FHSS Visiting Faculty Prof. Gary Smith and Dr. Richard Isaacs.
The paper reports on a review of OEWS [Obstetric Early Warning Systems] charts and escalation policies across consultant-led maternity units in the UK (n = 147). OEWS charts were analysed for variation in the values of physiological parameters triggering different levels of clinical escalation. The observed variations in the trigger thresholds used in OEWS charts and the quality of information included within the accompanying escalation protocols is likely to lead to suboptimal detection and response to clinical deterioration during pregnancy and the post-partum period. The paper concludes the development of a national OEWS and escalation protocol would help to standardise care across obstetric units.
Congratulations!
CMMPH
Today we received an end-of-year good-news message from ResearchGate telling us that 700 people had ‘read’ our book Midwifery, Childbirth and the Media [1]. Lee Wright, Senior Lecturer in the School of Nursing and Midwifery at Birmingham City University wrote in his review of our edited volume: “…our media image and digital foot print are rapidly becoming the most important window into our profession. In a rapidly changing environment this book provides an up to date and informative insight into how our profession is affected by the media and how our profession can inform and influence the image of midwifery. This area is going to become even more important in the future universities and trusts increasingly use broadcast and social media to manage information and inform our clients of the services we provide. This book will be the important first text in a new growth area. It brings together an internationally recognised group of authors who are experts in this field. I wholeheartedly recommend it to you.”
This edited collection was published by Palgrave Macmillan in 2017 and it is part of a larger body of Bournemouth University research on the topic [2-6].
Professor Edwin van Teijlingen, Professor Vanora Hundley and Associate Professor Ann Luce
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The general effects of lockdown on healthy individuals range from a general annoyance to a major limiting factor in life, especially in lockdown affects someone livelihood and/or mental health. These effects have been well documented in the media. At a societal level these effects are more mixed, first and foremost, there is positive outcome in terms of a reduced spread of the infectious disease COVID-19. Further positive effects include a reduction in air pollution, water pollution levels (in Venice), traffic jams, but also fewer break-ins (as more people are at home for more of the time). Whilst negative effects include not only economic decline, but also a lack of opportunity to travel for work or leisure, children missing education and people avoiding health care professionals for screening and treatment of diseases other then COVID-19. We have also learnt that lockdown affects different groups in society differently, some quite unexpectedly. For example, AbilityNet highlighted that “For students living with physical impairments and long-term health conditions, the benefits of studying from home and avoiding the exhausting experience of accessing face-to-face learning has left them with more energy to apply to their studies” [1]. Even before the first lockdown universities in the UK had been pro-active in their response to the pandemic [2]. One of the practical responses was to move to webinars, online teaching, marking and meetings. Before March most university academics don’t much about Zoom, Teams, Jitsi Meet or Google Meet, and today most academics will have used most of these platforms (and several others) for research meetings, webinars and conferences.
Our second example is a project to support midwifery education in Nepal. The Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health (CMMPH) in collaboration with Dalarna University in Sweden and University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust produced a draft Bridging Course for nursing lecturers in Nepal who are currently teaching midwifery and maternity care. This project is funded by GIZ (Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit). As part of this project BU offers academics at NAMS (National Academy of Medical Sciences) in Kathmandu support in their professional and pedagogic development.
Following the lockdown and seeing the success of online teaching of BU’s students earlier in 2020 we decided to try out online teaching with midwifery lecturers at NAMS. Since many people in Nepal only have a one-day weekend (Saturday) Sunday is usually a working day and due to time difference early Sunday morning are ideal times for webinars. To date online sessions in Kathmandu have been delivered by Juliet Wood, Michelle Irving, Edwin van Teijlingen and CMMPH Visiting Faculty Jillian Ireland (Professional Midwifery Advocate in Poole). The sessions proved very popular with 30 to 40 people regularly attending online from Nepal.
With challenges to delivering face-to-face lectures and tutorials at universities, online teaching and webinars have opened a whole set of new opportunities to internationalise our education.
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
CMMPH
References
Congratulations!
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
CMMPH
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BU Visiting Faculty Dr. Emma Pitchforth (Senior Lecturer in Primary Care, University of Exeter) spoke this week at International insights: What can the development of community hospitals in international contexts tell us about their role in healthcare futures?, the first of three UK Community Hospital online seminars. Emma presented our NIHR study on Community Hospitals [1-3].
Community hospitals are a crucial but often neglected part of the health care systems in the UK. Community Hospitals are often very popular with local communities but they often face political challenges. COVID-19 has prompted us to make dramatic changes to way we think about and organise health care. Community hospitals have made a significant contribution to the health and wellbeing during the pandemic. The flexibility, resilience and strong community engagement typical of many community hospitals is being brought to the fore. At this critical time, questions are being asked about the future role of community hospitals and what lessons we can learn from other countries.
There will be two further webinars at lunch time on the 12th and 19th November. You can register using the following link: https://bham-ac-uk.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_dX8LwdHxQX2-Mf8nlt8nwg .
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health
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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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