Latest research and knowledge exchange news at Bournemouth University
The week saw the publication of a new book by Elsevier (June 9th) Health Through Social Media which contains a chapter by FHSS staff Drs Carol Bond and Osman Ahmed called ‘Patient Empowerment Through Social Media’. Carol and Osman have a wide-ranging experience in researching and publishing about e-health, m-health and social media. They co-authored this topical chapter with a colleague in Australia.
Congratulations!
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
CMMPH
We like to congratulate Ms. Preeti Mahato, Ph.D. student in the Centre for Midwifery, Maternal and Perinal Health (CMMPH) in the Faculty of Health & Social Sciences, has been awarded a Civil Society Scholar Award by the Open Society Foundations for US$ 8,000. The Civil Society Scholar Award offers support for international research activities, such as fieldwork, research visits, or research collaboration at institutions abroad. Preeti has been awarded her scholarship for her Ph.D. fieldwork in Nepal. Her Ph.D. project is a mixed-methods study of birthing centres in Nawalparasi, in southern Nepal. In Nepal, birthing centres act as first contact point for pregnant women seeking maternity services especially basic obstetric care.
Preeti is supervised by Dr. Catherine Angell and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen, both based in CMMPH and BU Visiting Faculty Prof. Padam Simkhada, who is based at Liverpool John Moores University. This is the third piece of really good news this year for Preeti as last month she gave birth to a lovely baby girl and earlier this year the first article from her Ph.D. research was accepted for publication in the Asian Journal for Midwives.
Congratulations!
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
CMMPH
Congratulations to FHSS PhD student Sheetal Sharma on her latest paper [1]. The paper ‘Measuring What Works: An impact evaluation of women’s groups on maternal health uptake in rural Nepal’ appeared this week in the journal PLOS One. Sheetal’s innovative mixed-methods approach was applied to a long-running maternity intervention in rural Nepal. The paper concludes that community-based health promotion in Sheetal’s study had a greater affect on the uptake of antenatal care and less so on delivery care. Other factors not easily resolved through health promotion interventions may influence these outcomes, such as costs or geographical constraints. The evaluation has implications for policy and practice in public health, especially maternal health promotion.
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Congratulations to Katharine Barnard and Janet James in FHSS and their colleagues in the USA and Sweden on their latest publication on the ‘Impact of Chronic Sleep Disturbance for People Living with T1 Diabetes’ [1]. Recently Dr. Barnard also co-authored an editorial in the international journal Diabetes under the title ‘Psychosocial Aspects and Diabetes Technology – Head to Head or Hand in Hand?’ [2]. Finally, the third recent paper by Dr. Barnard and colleagues from across the UK was published in Diabetes Care, the journal of the American Diabetes Association [3].
Congratulations!
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
References
This week saw the publication of a new paper co-written by BU staff in the Sociological Bulletin. This is the first paper comparing Indian and Nepali Maoist rebels providing health services and health promotion to the communities under their influence. It presents the key provisions either made by rebel health workers themselves or by putting political pressure on government health workers to deliver better services in the areas controlled by rebels. Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen’s co-authors are based in India and Nepal. Prof. Gaurang R. Sahay is based at the Centre for Study of Developing Societies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, India, whilst Bhimsen Devkota is Professor in Health Education, Tribhuvan University, Nepal.
This sociological paper is based on a mixed-method approach comprising 15 interviews and a questionnaire survey with 197 Nepalese Maoist health workers and a secondary analysis of policy documents and other published materials on the Maoist health services of India. The paper suggests that rebel health services in India and Nepal followed a fairly similar approach to what and how they offered health care services to local populations. Maoists becoming a government party changed the political landscape for the rebel health workers in Nepal. However, not incorporating the Maoist rebel health workers into the government health system was a missed opportunity. There are lessons that India and Nepal can learn from each other. Should the Maoist rebels and the Government of India come to an agreement, potential for rebel health workers to be integrated in the official health care system should at least be considered.
The paper benefitted from an earlier review through eBU: Online Journal. The feedback from the eBU: Online Journal’s reviewers helped shape and polish the paper before submission to the Sociological Bulletin.
Edwin van Teijlingen
CMMPH
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Dr. Jenny Hall in CMMPH published her latest article ‘Facilitating learning of spirituality in midwifery’ in the academic journal Spiritual Care [1]. She highlights that there has been considerable discussion in the literature around spirituality at the end of life but little relating to childbirth. Perhaps because of this facilitation of learning around the subject is limited. The aim of this article is to raise awareness of these issues and promote future discussion and research.
Congratulations
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
CMMPH
Reference:
Hall, J. (2016) Facilitating learning of spirituality in midwifery, Spiritual Care 5(2): 81–88. DOI: 10.1515/spircare-2016-0021,
As an ECR I am delighted to see that a research paper that Prof. Pritchard and myself wrote in 2014 has been cited in one of the most well regarded journals in the field.
Our paper on the occupational backgrounds of Non-executive directors at NHS acute trusts, published in the Journal for the Royal Society of Medicine Open, was also the subject of an article in the now defunct Independent newspaper and a post on this blog in May 2014.
Last year, in 2015, it was cited by a paper published in the Journal for Health Services Research and Policy. I won’t name which edition or paper because there is a ‘but…’, and it concerns the carelessness of the authors who cited our work.
There is a ‘but…’ because the authors got my name wrong – both in the in text citation and in the bibliography. The good news is that it still links on citation tracking systems (such as the function on Google Scholar) as a paper that I co-wrote. Yet as an ECR, who is trying to make his way in the ‘publish or perish’ world of academia, I can’t help but feel a bit frustrated. Here’s my name in a top journal, but it’s incorrect.
So I took action, I emailed the editors. To their credit I got a response within minutes, with an apology for the carelessness of the authors and that contact with the publisher had been initiated to see if it could be corrected. Yet, due to the inflexibility of doi, apparently this is unlikely.
This then got me thinking about my first publication. I have to admit I did not check the final galley proof thoroughly enough. Indeed, when it was published, it became apparent that I had not corrected some basic incorrect spelling of names in the bibliography. In other words, some very respected authors’ names were wrong! I can happily report that this was corrected, and no offence caused (I hope!).
But the lesson here – check final galley proofs. If you cite an article, I think the very least you can do, out of respect for colleagues, is to get the authors name right. I have made this mistake, and so have authors who have cited me, so it would scream hypocrisy if I was too mad! But it does show that it might be a relatively common problem, so again – check final galley proofs!
However, once the relative pain bypassed, one our papers has still been cited in a top journal – and that is very satisfying indeed.
On Thursday 14th April Dr. Bibha Simkhada (Liverpool John Moores University & BU Visiting Faculty) and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen presented their education research in Liverpool. The work is part of a THET-funded project at the 14th Britain-Nepal Academic Council (BNAC) Nepal Study Days. The presentation ‘Mental Health Training and Education in Nepal‘ is part of an international project led by Bournemouth University. BU collaborates with Tribhuvan University (Nepal’s largest & oldest university) and Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU). The project receives funding from DFID, and is managed through THET and supported locally in Nepal by a non-governmental organisation called Green Tara Nepal. The project takes UK volunteers, people with experience in midwifery, mental health, higher education, nursing, health visiting, etc. to the southern part of Nepal.
Mental health is a difficult topic to discuss in Nepal (as it often is in the UK). This makes it hard for front-line health workers, especially non-mental health specialists, to start a discussion about mental health issues with patients.
As part of this THET-funded programme to train community health worker such as Auxiliary Nurse Midwives (ANMs) on mental health issues related to pregnancy, we conducted a review of all relevant health curricula in Nepal. The key findings are that mental health issues in pregnancy and childbirth are often lacking in the curricula for both nurses and ANMs as a result community-based staff lack training in this topic. There is a great need for a curriculum to facilitate relevant training for ANMs.
We would like to repeat our call for volunteers. If you are a health or education professional with an interest in mental health and/or maternity care and you are interested in volunteering later this year for a week to ten days in Nepal please contact Edwin van Teijlingen (evteijlingen@bournemouth.ac.uk ).
FHSS PhD student Jib Acharya presented a poster from his thesis research at last week’s BNAC (Britain-Nepal Academic Council) Study Days in Liverpool.[1] Jib’s PhD research focused on the knowledge, attitudes and beliefs of poor women about nutritious food and the study also identify major food barriers. He used a mixed-methods approached comprising a survey and qualitative research. The poster at BNAC focused on findings related to mothers’ knowledge, attitudes and beliefs about nutritious food. Jib’s research is supervised by Dr. Jane Murphy, Dr. Martin Hind and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen. Some of the preliminary findings of this FHSS thesis have recently been published in two academic journals. [2-3]
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
CMMPH
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Professor Edwin van Teijlingen will be running a Skills Building Workshop at the 14th national Nepal Study Days of the Britain-Nepal Academic Council (BNAC) in Liverpool. FHSS Professor van Teijlingen is a long-standing member of BNAC. Registration for this year’s Nepal Study Days is open now, if you are interested click here! Edwin van Teijlingen has conducted many qualitative studies and supervised many postgraduate students doing focus group research. He has published widely on qualitative methods, including research papers on Focus Group Research.1-3
Anybody interested in learning more about Focus Group Discussions as a research method should consider signing up for up for Bournemouth University’s two-day Masterclass ‘Focus Group Research‘ to be held next week Monday 18th and Tuesday 19th April in Bournemouth. Over a two-day period this Masterclass will cover the journey for a research project on focus group research. Basic previous knowledge on qualitative research will be assumed.
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This month a team of FHSS staff published their editorial in the latest issue of the academic journal Health Prospect [1]. The lead author is Dr. Pramod Regmi working in collaboration with CMMPH’s Professor Vanora Hundley, FHSS PhD students Preeti Mahato and Sheetal Sharma, and Professor Padam Simkhada from Liverpool John Moores University who is also Visiting Faculty at BU. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are the new guidance for nations and international organisations worldwide following the completion of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which run from 2000 to 2015. We wrote about the MDGs and their relevance to midwifery and maternity care in a previous article [2].
Edwin van Teijlingen
CMMPH
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This week Professor Vanora Hundley in the Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health (CMMPH) published a systematic review form with her international collaborators working on early labour. The paper is called ‘Diagnosing onset of labor: A systematic review of definitions in the research literature‘ and can be found it the Open Access journal BMC Pregnancy & Childbirth. [1]
Congratulations!
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
Reference:
This new issue of the Nepal Journal of Epidemiology contains a systematic review by FHSS Visiting Faculty Prof. Padam Simkhada (based at Liverpool John Moores University). The review was produced in collaboration with Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen in BU’s Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health (CMMPH). Their paper ‘Factors influencing sexual behaviour between tourists and tourism employees: A systematic review’ is co-written with a researcher from Green Tara Nepal and an independent Public Health Consultant based in the UK. [1] This systematic review reports on factors influencing sexual behaviour between workers in the tourism industry and tourists, including their risk perceptions when engaging in sexual activities and the knowledge of STIs (sexually transmitted infections).
This is the third paper from this group on sexual health and tourism. The previous two papers were written with BU’s Dr. Pramod Regmi. These two publications reported on sexual behaviour of male trekking guides in Nepal such as sexual interactions with tourists and locals. The qualitative paper based on interviews with trekking guides has been published in Culture, Health & Sexuality [2] and the quantitative survey paper appeared in Journal of Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences [3].
This week’s publication the Nepal Journal of Epidemiology is Open Access, hence freely available, as is the third paper listed below.
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
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Since his arrival in the Faculty of Health & Social Sciences last year postdoctoral researcher Dr. Pramod Regmi has been busy getting his publications out. Yesterday saw the latest of his articles appear in print, this time in the latest issue of the Nepal Journal of Epidemiology. The editorial, co-authored with Dr. Om Kurmi (University of Oxford) and Dr. Puspa R. Pant at the University of the West of England, addresses the growing problem air pollution in low-income countries such as Nepal. The paper is called: ‘Implication of Air pollution on health effects in Nepal: Lessons from global research’. [1]
The journal is Open Access so the article can be accessed by anybody across the globe for free.
Congratulations!
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
CMMPH
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The April issue of the Journal of Neonatal Nursing will publish the latest article written by a combination of Faculty of Health & Social Sciences staff and Visiting Faculty. The paper ‘Experiences of fathers with babies admitted to neonatal care units: A review of the literature’ offers a systematic narrative review on issues affecting fathers, whose babies are admitted to neonatal units. [1] The authors include Visiting Faculty Poole Hospital NHS Foundation Trust midwife Jillian Ireland and Prof. Minesh Khashu (consultant neonatologist) and FHSS staff Jaqui Hewitt-Taylor, Luisa Cescutti-Butler, and Edwin van Teijlingen. Twenty-seven papers in this interesting review highlighted four key themes: (1) stress & anxiety; (2) information (or lack thereof); (3) gender roles and (4) emotions. This paper adds to the growing literature (and understanding) of the role and place of men in maternity care generally and for fathers of babies in neonatal care in particular.
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
CMMPH
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Our latest paper in the international journal BMC Pregnancy & Childbirth published late last month was highlighted yesterday in a BMC Series Blog.[1] The blog post reminds us that the media plays an important role in providing the general public with information about a range of issues, including pregnancy and childbirth. The visual media, such as television, can provide planned information (education), for example in documentaries, advertising and the news. Our paper “Is it realistic?” the portrayal of pregnancy and childbirth in the media’ looked into how the representation of childbirth in the mass media affects childbirth in society as there is evidence to suggest that it can have a negative effect. BMC Pregnancy & Childbirth is an Open Access journal therefore the paper is freely available for anybody across the globe with an internet connection, for access click here.
Our paper is great example of interdisciplinary research, as celebrated at the forthcoming Interdisciplinary Research Sector Day on June 21st (see here). The authors of our paper combine expertise in media studies, midwifery, sociology and health services research. Moreover, it involved collaborations across universities (Bournemouth and Stirling) and within BU across faculties, namely the Faculty of Media & Communcation and the Faculty of Health & Social Sciences.
Ann Luce, Marilyn Cash, Vanora Hundley, Helen Cheyne, Edwin van Teijlingen & Catherine Angell
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Bournemouth University’s Centre for Qualitative Research (CQR) is proud to announce its developing association with the online, qualitative journal, The Qualitative Report (TQR). Electronically published from Nova-Southeastern University in Florida, the journal was the first of its kind in both qualitative research and open-access publication solely on the Internet. The journal also publishes The Weekly Qualitative Report to subscribers.CQR is envisioned as a resource for qualitative research across departments and faculties at Bournemouth University. TQR is particularly well placed to support CQR in these efforts, with its cross-discipline approach in leading-edge, qualitative publication.
CQR is particularly interested in participation in a specific TQR editorship rubric. The scheme will offer BU academics and postgrad students the opportunity to develop their editorial skills through a three-tier process of Assistant, Associate and then finally, full Editor of the journal. Further details will follow shortly.
Additional developments are also in the pipeline: possible publication in TQR Books; participation in TQR’s Annual Qualitative Conference in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, either in person or virtually; participation in Nova’s qualitative webinar series; joint research grant applications with Nova; and participation in the Graduate Certificate in Qualitative Research.
The Qualitative Report Editor-in-Chief Dr. Ron Chenail stated, “I see a future for Bournemouth and TQR supporting each other, particularly in innovation and forward-looking education, research and publication.”
Dr. Kip Jones, Director of CQR, remarked: “TQR was one of the first journals to publish my work postdoc. Rather than simply reject my early attempt at a submission, the editors worked with me to construct the best possible version of my paper on systematic review of qualitative data. It was published by TQR in 2004 and is the most frequently cited paper of all of my publications to date.”
TQR Editorial Statement
The Qualitative Report (ISSN 1052-0147) is a peer-reviewed, on-line monthly journal devoted to writing and discussion of and about qualitative, critical, action, and collaborative inquiry and research. The Qualitative Report, the oldest multidisciplinary qualitative research journal in the world, serves as a forum and sounding board for researchers, scholars, practitioners, and other reflective-minded individuals who are passionate about ideas, methods, and analyses permeating qualitative, action, collaborative, and critical study. These pages are open to a variety of forms: original, scholarly activity such as qualitative research studies, critical commentaries, editorials, or debates concerning pertinent issues and topics; news of networking and research possibilities; and other sorts of journalistic and literary shapes which may interest and pique readers.
The Qualitative Report is published by Nova Southeastern University. Its Uniform Resource Locator (URL) is http://nsuworks.nova.edu/tqr/
TQR Index and Listing Information
The Qualitative Report is indexed in Scopus, Google Scholar, ERIC, Cambridge Scientific Abstract‘s (CSA) Web Resources Database (WRD) for the Social Sciences, Gale’s Academic OneFile, EBSCO Open Access Journals, Open Science Directory, SocioSite, and All Academic. (Abbreviated list)
This first week of March has been a good week for FHSS publications. On March 1st CMMPH Prof. Vanora Hundley published her collaborative paper ‘Do Cochrane summaries help student midwives understand the findings of Cochrane systematic reviews: the BRIEF randomised trial’.[1] With colleagues based across the UK and Ireland she surveyed over 800 midwifery students at nine universities. This results of the study can be found in the journal Systematic Reviews. This is a Gold Open Access journals, hence the paper is freely available for anybody to read across the globe. To read this paper click here!
The second FHSS publication is a chapter in a Kindle book on the Importance of public health in low- and middle- income countries, written by Dr. Puspa Raj Pant,CMMPH’s Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen, and BU Visiting Faculty Prof. Padam Simkhada.[2] Padam Simkhada is Professor of International Public Health and Associate Dean (Global Engagement) for the Faculty of Education, Health and Community at Liverpool John Moores University. The chapter is part of the Kindle book with the long title: Public Health for the Curious: Why Study Public Health? (A Decision-Making Guide to College Major, Research & Scholarships, and Career Success for the College Students and Their Parents) edited by Richard Lee Skolnik from Yale University, USA.
The third paper is by FHSS PhD student Clare Farrance with her supervisors Dr. Fotini Tsofliou and Dr. Carol Clark. This systematic review ‘Adherence to community based group exercise interventions for older people: A mixed-methods systematic review’ assessed the views and adherence of older participants attending community-based exercise programmes of over six-months duration. Reporting that evidence is still very limited, although the preliminary limited evidence is positive regarding long-term adherence rates. This paper is also Open Access, funded by BU’s Open Access fund.
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
CMMPH
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European research project exploring use of ‘virtual twins’ to better manage metabolic associated fatty liver disease
Patient & Public Involvement workshop with Arabic women European research project exploring use of ‘virtual twins’ to better manage metabolic associated fatty liver disease
BU Professor has been invited to a series of plenary and invited lectures.
An Interview of BU-lead EU H2020 FIRST project published in “Horizon”, the EU Research & Innovation Magazine
Research Information Network