Let’s all channel British novelist E.M. Forster and play a little game of Only Connect. What connects the things below?
I think it's fair to say that we all love a list. I mean, the premise of another very popular BBC gameshow is basically to list pointless stuff.“Yes of course, they can all be a type of list” (said in the friendly yet ever so slightly patronising manner of host Victoria Coren Mitchell)
So here again (a little later than advertised) is our annual list of the most-viewed Fuse blog posts of 2021!
You'd be forgiven for thinking that this would be dominated by Covid and the pandemic as we saw in the 2020 list.
Obviously, we had our fair share of pandemic related posts. Blogs about misinformation, food insecurity, malnutrition, obesity and what children made of it all. How it impacted on work and engagement with public partners, parents, decisionmakers, practitioners, policy-makers and commissioners. How it affected our mental health, our liberties and even inspired a song and a cat-scale of wellbeing!
But as you can see from the list below it didn't dominate the top 5 chart-toppers of 2021. Perhaps a little escapism goes along way...
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| Katsushika Hokusai: The Great Wave off Kanagawa |
Posted by Jack Nicholls, Lecturer in Social Work at Northumbria University
Lockdown restrictions were beginning to ease in the UK. But after the jubilation, what if you don't feel the way you think you should?
A very personal post by Jack Nicholls on the long-term mental health consequences of the pandemic, of lockdown and social restrictions, and of its easing.
*Content/trigger warning: mental health, depression, suicidal feelings.
Page views: 938
Page views: 938
Published: 16 April 2021.
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4. Patient and Public involvement with Parents during a Pandemic: the four ‘P’ challenge
Posted by Hannah Batten, Food and Human Nutrition undergraduate student at Newcastle University. Hannah was on a placement year with the Population Health Sciences Institute, as part of the MapMe study aiming to help parents assess child weight.
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4. Patient and Public involvement with Parents during a Pandemic: the four ‘P’ challenge
Posted by Hannah Batten, Food and Human Nutrition undergraduate student at Newcastle University. Hannah was on a placement year with the Population Health Sciences Institute, as part of the MapMe study aiming to help parents assess child weight.
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| Body image scales on the MapMe website are being updated for MapMe2 |
"Most importantly, is to say to our participants that we are extremely grateful for their time and input, particularly during these uncertain times."
Hannah tells us how she and the MapMe study team met the challenges involved in recruiting and running an online Parent Involvement Panel (PIP) to help review documents and study materials, when parents were already dealing with a global pandemic.
Page views: 1,029
Published: 5 March 2021.
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3. Should pregnancy 'be incentive enough' to quit smoking?
Posted by Susan Jones, Research Associate at Teesside University
In this blog post on #NoSmokingDay, Dr Jones explored deprivation, guilt, shame, stigma and the complex web of reasons behind smoking behaviour.
Posted by Susan Jones, Research Associate at Teesside University
In this blog post on #NoSmokingDay, Dr Jones explored deprivation, guilt, shame, stigma and the complex web of reasons behind smoking behaviour.
Just searched #smoking #pregnancy #incentives - struck by many tweets that say 'pregnancy should be incentive enough' to quit smoking. Clearly the stats tell a different story for a significant minority - the question surely is why and what can be done? @ASH_LDN @FreshSmokeFree
— Dr Susan Jones (@Susan_E_Jones) December 10, 2020
Page views: 1,155
Published: 10 March 2021.
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2. Things I wish I’d known when I started my PhD… (part 1)
Research doesn't happen overnight, avoid comparison and channel your inner Arsène Wenger ("Le Professeur"). In our second most popular blog post, the early, mid and senior career researchers at University of Cambridge share their tips for PhD survival.
Here is part 2 which interestingly received only half as many views despite including a High School Musical reference.
Page views: 1,347
Published: 4 June 2021.
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1. Can Forest School inspire the next generation to be happy & healthy?
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1. Can Forest School inspire the next generation to be happy & healthy?
Posted by Katie Beresford, undergraduate student at Durham University
With more than 2,700 views this is our most read post of 2021 by some distance!
In it Katie explores growing up in the Lake District, embracing nature, finding school restrictive and struggling academically in her early years.
Nearly two decades later she is completing a Fuse summer internship with the NIHR School for Public Health Research and is tasked to review literature discussing the effectiveness of Forest School as a public health intervention.
Why not grab a coffee and take a walk with Katie into the woods to find out what she discovered...
Page views: 2,746
Published: 8 October 2021.
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So there you have it, the top five Fuse blog posts of 2021. Congratulations to Katie who wins a rare and coveted Fuse paperweight!
Fantastically both Katie and Hannah's blog posts were part of our Fuse blog Student Series which we launched last year! This showcases posts by students who have been challenged to write a blog as part of their studies. The authors may be new to blogging and we hope to provide a 'safe space' for the students to explore their subject and find their voice in the world of public health research. Hopefully this will encourage other students to take the plunge!
As always, many thanks to our loyal readers and fantastic contributors.
Can we do any better in 2022? If you fancy giving it a go, please find out what we are looking for and how to take part here. All contributors receive a much sought-after Fuse badge.
Images:
2. Image: Katsushika Hokusai, (CC0 1.0), via Wikimedia Commons
4. Mr. Alexander Ottesen, CC BY-SA 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons
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