You might notice something different straight away and that’s the fact that I’m not Nigel. Nigel is away on leave at the moment and has asked me to write this welcome on his behalf. One thing that struck me about this latest edition of Health Matters is the degree of emphasis placed upon ‘our students’ and their ‘experience.’ As educationalists that’s in essence what we are all about. It’s that desire to broaden people’s educational horizons and to help to fulfil their ambitions, that gets us up in the morning and which motivates us all to perform. The first thing that struck me was the variety of opportunities that exist for our students to get really involved and to influence their own educational experiences. These are just some of the ways. There’s the involvement that Jason, Donna and Sarah (our ‘super’ School reps) talk about in their short pieces later in the newsletter and the opportunities that these roles provide for them, both within university, but also as part of those ‘transferable’ skills so important in their future employment opportunities. When you read them you will see that they all want to have a ‘positive impact’, ‘make a difference’ and to ‘enrich and develop the student experience’. There’s the opportunity for our students to get involved in research offered by Jenny Saunders, which as she suggests is a fantastic opportunity to work with our existing experienced researchers, to gain valuable experience and knowledge and to have a positive impact upon their educational attainment. The celebration of our students success is also very important and our nursing and midwifery students have been actively involved in organising a recent ‘success’ event, where they also chose the award categories, nominated their fellow students for the awards, chose the award prize, and came up with the idea of the Photo Booth. And finally, ….As Associate Dean for Learning and Teaching it is clearly my responsibility to ensure that we maintain our educational standards from the perspective of the faculty/university, but also from the perspective of the many professional bodies that we work with, and at the heart of this are our staff and our students and I very much look forward to working with you all to develop further opportunities to involve our students in the development of a rich and involved educational experience.

Mark Savage (ADLT) on behalf of Nigel Thomas (Dean)

New Staff & Leavers

2

Research Participation

2

County Sports

Partnership

3

Validation and Approval Events in China

3

Student Engagement

4

Celebrating Student Success

5

Psychology News

7

Midlands Health Psychology Conference

8

Public Health and Climate Change

9

Social Policy 10

Pre-Welcome Evening

11

Publications 12

FAC ULTY

O F H EA LT H

S CI EN C ES

I N S I D E T H I S

I S S U E :

Health Matters March/April 2015 I S S U E 3 4

Welcome to March/April 2015's

Edition of Health Matters.

Goodbye & Best Wishes

23.04.15 Alex McNally Lecturer in Community Nursing BHL

13.04.15 Clare McGroarty Clinical & Technical Skills Specialist BHL

20.04.15 Ruth Carter Lecturer in Midwifery RSH

22.06.15 Shelley Howles Lecturer in Community Nursing BHL

New Staff Welcome to the Faculty of Health Sciences

P A G E 2

09.03.15 Donna Doherty

17.03.15 Joy Fitzsimmons

26.03.15 Doreen Dakin

24.04.15 Alison Walker

01.05.15 Sue Devenish

01.05.15 Steve Suckling

Participation in Research We are looking for students volunteers to assist with a study conducted by the School of Social Work, Allied and Public Health. The study is looking at ways of facilitating a ‘difficult’ conversation in a small group of students. Participants - Your participation will involve having an informal conversation about death and dying with fellow students of the Faculty of Health Sciences. 60 minutes, plenty of tea and cake, BHL and Stoke campus Facilitators – Facilitating the conversations, full training given, 3 x 90 minute sessions, plenty of tea and cake, BHL and Stoke campus, expenses reimbursed Fantastic opportunity to be involved in research and may assist your own studies. Experienced researchers and support will be available throughout the discussions. For further information please state which role you’re interested in and email: Jennifer.sanders@staffs.ac.uk

Jenny Sanders Lecturer in Health Studies Faculty of Health Sciences

P A G E 3 Peter Jones elected as Vice Chair of the County Sports Partnership

Head of the School of Psychology Sport and Exercise, Dr Peter Jones, has been appointed as Vice Chair of the Staffordshire’s County Sports Partnership, Sport Across Staffordshire and Stoke on Tent (SASSOT).

SASSOT (www.sportacrossstaffordshire.co.uk) is one of six County Sport and Physical Activity Partnerships within the West Midlands and one of forty-nine across England. They support partners in sustaining current participants and increasing participation in sport and physical activity.

SASSOT is a countywide partnership that offers a one-stop shop of information by linking together local providers of sport and physical activity. Key partners that work with SASSOT include Local Authorities, National Governing Bodies of Sport, Staffordshire Public Health, universities, schools, sports clubs and volunteers. Working in partnership with these organisations helps to connect and engage local communities to become more active and achieve their potential.

Dr Jones comments it’s a great privilege to be appointed at Vice Chair and support the work SASSOT does in promoting all levels of sport and physical activity. As a County we have some real physical activity blackspots and the work we can do as an organisation with our partners is key to addressing some of the health inequalities in our region. I hope to bring my commercial approach as well as energy and networking skills to the post.”

Director of SASSOT Mark Thornewill adds “Peter’s academic skill set will complement those of Chair Sue Finnegan. I am sure together they will be very successful.”

Mark Thornewill

Nigel Thomas enjoyed a busy week between 14th and 21st March chairing validations and approval events in China (Suxhou and Chengdu) on behalf of the Faculties of Computing, Engineering and Science and Business, Education and Law. While chairing such events is of course part of a Dean’s role, it is also provided a valuable opportunity to learn more about the international student market, what’s involved and the issues surrounding the franchise of courses delivered overseas.

Together with Lisa Blenkinsop (Head Of International Recruitment) we are developing a plan that seeks to make our on-campus courses more attractive to international students, and also to identify existing (and new) awards that have international franchise potential. As a Faculty our international student numbers are low, but the work Lisa has already undertaken demonstrates that there are opportunities for Health Sciences (for example in China and India in Nursing, Psychology and Sport). New inter-national developments and the relationships that need to be built take time – and there is work we need to do to make sure we are attractive to the international market (e.g., from course information on the web to entry criteria). My recent experience in China has confirmed for me that we have courses that tare attractive to the international market and with the right support, we have expertise and commitment of staff, to develop over the next 3 years a strong international profile.

(Pictured with Graduates from Chendu University of Technology together with Jennie Aincham (Quality Administrator and Liz Hathaway Associate Dean in Computing, Engineering and Science)

Focus on Student Engagement

P A G E 4

One of the university’s key quality enhancement themes

is student engagement and we are lucky to have a team of staff and students in Health Sciences who are working

together to ensure the Student Voice is heard loud and clear.

Andrea Bailey coordinates matters relating to student engagement as part of her role, and she works closely

with our Student Representatives (note new title- no STARS now!) and the Students’ Union, she also liaises

with Student Experience Managers from the other three faculties. The Programme Committee Meetings are an

essential part of our student engagement and the

minutes are noted at our Faculty of Health Sciences Quality Committee, Andrea raises any issues with the

Senior Management team on behalf of the students.

As we are striving to increase our partnership with

our students the university pledges in its business

plan (2012-2017) that we will be,

‘Creating an academic community that values our students as partners and co-producers of their own learning and actively involved in decision-making, curriculum design and enhanced service provision.’

In Health Sciences we will be assisted in achieving this

goal by our student representatives working in partner-ship with staff, these representatives will be led by three

newly appointed ‘super’ representatives. We are pleased

to introduce Jason Fowell, he is the School Representative for Psychology, Sport and Exercise,

Donna Jones, who is the School Representative for courses delivered at Stoke and Sarah Bird who is the

representative for Black Health Lane, Shrewsbury and

Lichfield students. Andrea and the three ‘super’ representatives have regular meetings with Yash Nooka,

our elected Students’ Union Officer for Health Sciences and we all attend student voice forums. The team are

now working on a project to enhance our student engagement in governance, quality assurance and

learning and teaching, and this will contribute to a new

university policy. This is just one example of the work undertaken- let’s hear from each of our ‘super’ school

representatives.

Firstly, introducing Sarah…

Hello, my name is Sarah Bird and I am a full time Level 5

BSc Health Studies (with Foundation Year) Student based at Blackheath Lane, Stafford. I am a mature student, a

single parent of 5 extremely active children, a Student Ambassador, and a Volunteer at my local Primary School.

In my spare time I enjoy walking, running and travelling.

Last summer I walked up Mount Snowdon, swam in the ice cold lakes on the mountain and scrambled across Crib

Goch ridge to wait for a break in the clouds to see the most amazing views across North Wales. Heading back

to university after the recent holiday season I am really

pleased to have been appointed School Lead Representative for Health Students based at Blackheath

Lane, Shrewsbury and Lichfield, as I have been a Student Representative for the last three years and have enjoyed

representing the students on my course. I am looking

forward to meeting other Student Representatives and getting more involved with the Students’ Union. My aim

is to work together with both Student Representatives and Faculty members to enrich and develop the student

experience here at Staffordshire University. Do get in touch about anything you want me to look into or raise,

Sarah.

Next let’s meet Jason…

Hello, my name is Jason Fowell. I am the School Lead

Representative for the School of Psychology, Sport and

Exercise. I’m currently in my final year of studying Psychology and Criminology and when I saw the school

representative role offered by the student’s union, I thought it would be a great opportunity for me to listen

to fellow students and academic representatives to gain feedback about their experiences of their time at

university. I can then feed it back directly to the

Students’ Union to make some positive changes. This role is also benefited me, as it highlights new challenges, is

building my confidence and allows me to develop a number of key skills. I hope to create a real difference.

Let me know any issues you wish me to raise, Jason.

Finally, it’s over to Donna…

Hello my name is Donna and I am really pleased to have

the opportunity to represent students as a Lead (Super)

Representative. I applied for the role as it is important to me that the student voice is heard and I like to help

others at every opportunity. It is also important to me that the ‘Staffordshire University Journey’ is a positive

one for students and by working with students and staff collaboratively, this can be achieved. As a final year

Social Welfare Law, Policy and Advice Practice student, I

feel that this will undoubtedly benefit me as a Lead Representative, as I have formed positive relationships

with staff which I feel are important to the role. My ‘Staffordshire University Journey’ has had a positive

impact on my life and without this journey I am not sure

what I would be doing today. I look forward to working with everyone within the Faculty and hopefully having a

positive impact. Donna

So, finally, do get in touch with any of us if you have

issues you wish to raise about our students’ experience,

or ideas for improvements in student engagement. We all hope that staff and students will take an active interest in

the forthcoming leadership race, Donna Jones is standing for election, and we look forward to an increased student

participation in electing the officers for the next academic

year.

P A G E 5 SCHOOL OF NURSING AND MIDWIFERY CELEBRATING STUDENT SUCCESS FOR NURSING AND MIDWIFERY STUDENTS

An event was held on February 9th 2015 for Nursing and Midwifery students (all March cohorts) at both Blackheath Lane and Shrewsbury site. The purpose of the event was to acknowledge the students commitment, hard work and

dedication, and, celebrate with them their success of completing the end of their year and progressing into their

next year of studies.

Students were very actively involved in organising the event. They chose the

award categories, nominated their fellow

students for the awards, chose the award prize, and came up with the idea

of the Photo Booth. The photo booth was set up in the clinical skills labs and

different coloured wigs, glasses and funny hats were available so students

and staff could use. This was very

popular with the students and the staff!!! Especially Nigel Thomas who

seems to have taken a strong liking to wearing a pink wig!!!

Roy Thompson presented the awards to nursing and midwifery students at Shrewsbury and Nigel Thomas presented the awards at Blackheath Lane. Award winners were presented with a prize of £25.00 in gift vouchers.

It was an excellent evening and lots of fun was held by both academic staff and students. Staff and

student comments were very positive. Below are some

comments from nursing students at Blackheath Lane

‘Love my little nursing family’ ‘Photo booth was so much fun’

‘Thanks for a great evening…All staff and students, nice’

‘Really enjoyed the evening’

‘Thanks for a great evening’

Thank you to all the staff in the nursing cohort for making my first year of nursing studies so awesome!

‘Feeling valued!!!! Makes all the hard work of studying and placements worth it’

‘It felt so nice being rewarded for coming to the end of our midwifery course – it was quite emotional’

‘Thank-you, it was really nice to share this event with nursing students – we thought it would be a ‘them and us’ but it wasn’t, it was a really lovely evening’. A huge heartfelt thank you to all staff and students who made this event a success. We will be organising the same event for our September cohorts.

Award Categories and Winners Staffordshire Graduate Award for Nursing Malon Maobovera Sarah Ede Cheryl Scarrott-Sansome

Staffordshire Graduate Award for Midwifery Lauren Vaughan

Joker of the Year – Nick Jones & Jaz Kaur Mouthpiece of the Year – Shell Dewsnapp & Sam- Leigh Preston The ‘go to’ Person of the Year – Sarah Powis & Kat Webb Cheesy Grin Award – Laura Dean & Daniel Hillyard The Laissez-Faire Award – Carl Johnson & Brandon John Einstein Award – Gill Smith & Linda Langford The Waterfall Award – Paula Elliot The Red Face Award – Courtney Jehu & Deana McInley For further information about this event please contact: Val Nixon, AGL for Adult Nursing or Traci Hudson, AGL for Midwifery.

P A G E 6

Dr Chris Gidlow was invited to present as part of a Public Health England, Behavioural Insights symposium at the Annual NHS Health Check conference in Leeds. Chris and Dr Naomi Ellis have been involved in research and evaluation of Health Checks in Stoke-on-Trent in recent years, with exciting plans for HECTR (Health Check TRial), which will be starting later this year. As this work is co-funded with Local Authority and Public Health England, there is already significant national interest in this work.

Sharon Graham was a co-Event Director of ‘The Adventurous Traveller’ Conference, where she chaired both plenary and workshop sessions. This was the 16th British Global Travel Health Association Annual Conference and the first held in association with Faculty of Travel Medicine Royal of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow. Held on Saturday 28 March 2015, held at De Montfort University, Leicester.

Rebecca Rushton, MSc in Health Psychology student, reports from the MHPN Conference. Becky Rushton, a current MSc student at Staffordshire University’s Centre for Health

Psychology, reports on presenting her Dissertation research at the recent Midlands Health Psychology Network Conference held in February 2015.

Presenting a poster at the Midlands Health Psychology Network Conference provided me with an opportunity to discuss my research for my MSc dissertation titled “Adding Personality to the Theory of Planned Behaviour to Predict Cervical Screening Intentions”.

In the forty five minute session I was able to disseminate my research and gain valuable feedback and views on the topic area from other individuals attending the

conference. I was also able to view other research posters gaining an insight into a range of areas in Health Psychology research such as pain communication and

acquired brain injury, as well as differing research methodologies.

From the poster presentation I have been able to develop skills of producing and presenting a poster, both of

which are new experiences to me. Although daunting at first, presenting a poster at the MHPN conference was a great experience which I would not hesitate to repeat.

The conference provided those in attendance with knowledge of recent research, a platform to share and discuss

research either by an oral or poster presentation and an opportunity for a question and answer session on

Psychology News

Psychology’s Big Bang! Psychology Staff (Sarah Dean, Louise Humphreys, Erica Lucas and Judy David) and Student Advocates (Liam

Howitt, Blessing Edobor and Kiran Ul-Haq) attended the Big Bang UK Young Scientist and Engineers Fair at

Birmingham NEC on Friday 13th and Saturday 14th March 2015. This large event aims to promote science, technology, engineering and maths to young people aged 7-19. The Staffs Psych team were part of the British

Psychological Society’s stall at the fair and gave live demonstrations to visitors using the department’s Mirror Drawing task, a procedural memory activity!

Level 4 student Blessing said “Working at the Big Bang Fair 2015 was an amazing experience I can never forget

in a hurry. I was involved in approaching people of diverse age groups to perform a mirror drawing task and at the end explaining why they experienced difficulty in performing the task using Perception and Learning explan-

ation. I felt really pleased to have taken part in this event to promote Psychology and Staffordshire University. I was able to put my communication skills into effective use during the event. I will also like to add that taking

part in this event boosted my confidence level because I was given an opportunity to be in charge; to work as an

exhibitor, as participants looked up to me for an explanation and I believe my response was well appreciated based on their expressions. Once again it was an amazing experience!!!’’ http://www.thebigbangfair.co.uk/

About_Us/

P A G E 7

Midlands Health Psychology Conference:

Staffordshire Staff & Students well represented!

Posted on March 13, 2015 Several members of staff plus past and present students from our Health Psychology MSc and Professional Doctorate in Health Psychology attended the Midlands Health Psychology Network (MHPN) Conference at the University of Derby in February 2015. Dr Amy Burton, Senior Lecturer in Health Psychology at Staffordshire University, reports on a successful conference for our Health Psychology students and staff.

The MHPN hold a one day conference in February every year which is attended by around 100 members from across the Midlands and is a forum for health psychologists to share clinical and research experiences, information, knowledge and training. Existing members include MSc students, doctorate students, chartered health psychologists based at local NHS sites and regional universities, third sector employees, senior and early career academics, health practitioners and pharmacists. The theme of this year’s conference was “Healthy Mind and Healthy Body – Understanding, Supporting, and Improving” and gave delegates the opportunity to learn about recent developments in E-Health research from key note Dr Neil Coulson and body image scanning research from key note Professor Sarah Grogan. In addition, several past and present Staffordshire University students delivered poster and oral presentations on their research: Professional Doctorate students Louise Clancy and Lisa Cowap presented findings from a research project led by Dr Amy Burton investigating facilitators and barriers to physical activity in older people with sight loss; Current MSc student Becky Rushton presented a poster on her project supervised by Dr Sarah Dean investigating adding personality to the Theory of Planned Behaviour to explain cervical screening behaviours; And past MSc student Catherine Burgess gave an oral presentation on her project supervised by Dr Sarah Dean exploring quality of life in people with Lupus. All of the conference sessions were well attended and the day was a fantastic opportunity to showcase the quality of the Health Psychology research currently being conducted at Staffordshire University.

P A G E 8

Dr Amy Burton

As part of the Public Health lecture series,

David Kidney delivered a lecture entitled

“Public Health and Climate Change”. In his talk, David explored how climate change will amplify existing risks and also create new ones. For example, it is expected to cause 250,000 additional deaths each year from 2030-2050, and the suffering will be greater for disadvantaged people and communities. He emphasised the links between climate change and health, what actions are needed and the next steps required to make a difference. David’s lecture was both fascinating and informative, making strong and clear links between climate change and public health.

An Honorary Doctor of the University, David Kidney was MP for Stafford between 1997-2010 where he was Department of Energy & Climate Change Minister with responsibility for tackling fuel poverty, promoting energy consumers’ interests, the resilience of energy systems and green skills. More recently, David has become Chief Executive of the UK Public Health Register, a regulator of public health leaders and increasingly of the wider public health workforce.

Tony Stewart FFPH MPH Professor in Public Health

P A G E 9

Staffordshire University lecturer publishes innovative new text book Martin Dixon, Lecturer in Sports Coaching and Professional Development, has recently published a new book on reflective practice within sports coaching with co-authors Sarah Lee and Professor Tony Ghaye. ‘Improving Performance: Coaching through Positive Reflection and Action’ has been written specifically for students and practicing coaches who are passionate and committed to improving what they are doing in the field of sports coaching and performance. It is underpinned by the relatively new and emerging area of positive psychology, encouraging practitioners to apply this approach to their coaching. The book contains practical strategies and activities to help

coaches and students become better at reflecting and

consequently develop themselves and their athletes. The

methods of elite sports coaches from a range of different

sports are also presented, demonstrating how positive

reflection and action has been applied in high performance environments. For students looking to under-

pin their coaching practice with academic literature, the book also provides key theories and useful

further reading. Drawing upon innovative concepts, this is currently the only text book available which

focuses on reflective practice within sports coaching.

Bringing Social Policy to Life!

I strongly believe in the importance of politics to social work, however in my experience social policy

often attracts the least enthusiasm amongst the majority of social work students. So, this year, I

engaged the level four social work students in a project aimed at sparking interest and enthusiasm in

social policy, and enabling them to understand not only our main parties’ policies, but also the working

of the House of Commons. Students were divided into different groups and assigned a party identity.

This was somewhat of a challenge amongst the students, as the parties included those more

‘controversial’ ones such as the BNP and UKIP. Nevertheless, students engaged in electing party

leaders, researching their party’s ideology and main policies on issues such as Health, Education and

Immigration and presented them to each other fully equipped with, blue ties and masks of David

Cameron and Nigel Farage! Local MP Joan Walley agreed to support this project and chaired an after-

noon in the “House of Commons” here at the University. Students had prepared questions to their

Prime Minister and had researched a motion on legislative changes to support Euthanasia proposed by

the Conservative Party. This resulted in a heated debate in the Commons, with a final vote on the

changes proposed: “The Ayes had it”. Joan Walley MP kindly answered questions and shared some of

her experiences of being an MP and the role and need of interest and voters in politics, particularly with

the upcoming general election. Students’ feedback on this project was positive throughout, and

perception and views on the importance of social policy in social work were successfully enhanced. One

student reminded the class that indeed as Ghandi once said a social worker “not interested in

politics, is like a drowning man not interested in water”.

Jessica Wagner, Lecturer in Social Work

P A G E 1 0

School of Nursing and Midwifery Pre Welcome Evening for Pre-Registration nursing students – March 15 intake School of Nursing and Midwifery have a new intake of student nurses who have started their programme 26th March. Prior to starting their programme the student were invited to attend a Pre Welcome Evening which takes place three weeks prior to starting their new course. This initiative was set up to increase a sense of belonging and build up a community network prior to embarking on their university journey. The event is very informal social event that enables students to meet their fellow students, personal tutor, award/field lead, student advisors, Academic Group Lead and current students. Information about the programme, timetables, accommodation, finance is given and time for Q & A to discuss any issues students may raise. The students also have the opportunity talk to current students about the programme and get to meet their fellow students. The Pre Welcome Evening has now been running for 18 months and it has been positively evaluated by academic staff and new students Comments by students are: ‘There was a lot of information and the Facebook page is amazing. I even got to see the timetables’ ‘Time and venue of first day at university, what to prepare and bring’ ‘What to bring with me on my first day’ ‘What shoes to buy and any extras’ ‘Easy going and friendly’, ‘Explicit and informative’, ‘Reduces stress levels’ ‘Interactive’ For further information please contact Val Nixon, AGL Adult Nursing. v.a.nixon@staffs.ac.uk

P A G E 1 1

P A G E 1 2 Publications

Bev Durrant, Christopher Morriss-Roberts and Nachiappan Chockalingam ( 2015) Assessment and diagnosis of Posterior Tibial tendon dysfunction- Do we share the same opinions and beliefs? In press. Journal of the American Podiatric Medical Association Robert Needham, Roozbeh Naemi, Aoife Healy and Nachiappan Chockalingam ( 2015) Multi-segment kinematic model to assess three dimensional movement of the spine and back during gait In press. Prosthetics & Orthotics International Tsaroucha, A, Boath, L, Porteous, E & Wright A. (2015, in press) Asking the Oracle: A Delphi study to develop a new Advanced Accreditation Award (‘Triple A’) in Money Advice Practice. Innovative Practice in Higher Education. Beverley Durrant, Nachiappan Chockalingam, Paula J Richards, Christopher Morriss-Roberts (2015) Posterior Tibial Tendon Dysfunction: What does the single heel raise test mean in assessment? In press. The Foot and Ankle Online Journal Roozbeh Naemi, Kimberley Linyard-Tough, Aoife Healy and Nachiappan Chockalingam (2015) The influ-ence of slow recovery insole On plantar pressure and contact area During walking. Journal of Mechanics in Medicine and Biology. Vol. 15, No. 5. By Bernard Moss, Emeritus Professor of Social Work Education and Spirituality, Communication Skills in Health and Social Care, 3rd Edition, (March 2015) London, Sage Publications

Health Matters Contact Details

Kerri Thomas

Faculty of Health Sciences, Staffordshire University

The Shrewsbury & Telford Hospital NHS Trust

Mytton Oak Road, Shrewsbury, Shropshire. SY3 8XQ Tel: 01743 261136 Email: k.thomas@staffs.ac.uk

Deadline

for Next Edition:

15th May 2015