As we career towards the end of the year, amidst the parties, the shopping and the flurry of preparations for the festive season, we’re taking a moment to reflect on all that has happened in 2018.  It wouldn’t be Christmas without an EST song (or maybe two!) so without further ado…

On the twelfth day of Christmas we’d like to share with you… twelve Cochrane comms

12 cochrane comms

If you’ve been following the blog avidly over the last 11 days (of Christmas) you’ll already know that we had a fabulous time at the Cochrane Colloquium in Edinburgh and returned eager to share the wisdom we had learned with our colleagues. But what were we doing whilst we were there? Fortuitously (for the sake of this blog) we presented 12 abstracts… follow the links to find out more!

… eleven super students, ten publications, nine active projects, eight bloggers blogging, seven wowing workshops, six collaborations, five ways we’ve cared, four invitations, three winning images, two pukka podcasts and our Cornish writing retreat.

But of course this isn’t the end of the story… it wouldn’t be Christmas without a song… thank you for being so patient and for all the likes, retweets and follows throughout 2018…

On the twelfth day of Christmas we have a song for you – it’s a gift from all of us to all of you – just click on the image below to follow the link – enjoy!

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On the eleventh day of Christmas we’d like to share with you… eleven super students

11 super students

It’s always an absolute pleasure to work with students and this year has been no different.  We’ve been fortunate to supervise students working on PhDs, MSc dissertations and BMedSci final year projects.  Some (Kat, Debbie, Chloe, Jess, Louise and Jayne) are in the midst of their projects, others (Ross, Paige, Nick and George) have finished their projects and moved on.  And Lottie is just beginning.

Here’s a selection of some of the projects they are working on:

meaningful occupation for people with dementia living in care homes (Kat Strick)

museum programmes for people with dementia (Debbie Kinsey)

developing a nursing intervention to improve fundamental nursing care for people living with dementia (Chloe Wood)

the nutritional care of people living with dementia (Louise Mole)

mealtime interventions and the health, quality of life and well-being of older people in residential care (Ross Watkins)

… ten publications, nine active projects, eight bloggers blogging, seven wowing workshops, six collaborations, five ways we’ve cared, four invitations, three winning images, two pukka podcasts and our Cornish writing retreat.

On the tenth day of Christmas we’d like to share with you… ten publications

10 publications

You may be wondering ‘What is the significance of the tiara?’… well this is the Tiara of Brilliance proudly worn by members of the team whenever a paper is accepted for publication… here elegantly modelled by Becca… enjoy!

1: Hunt H, Whear R, Boddy K, Wakely L, Bethel A, Morris C, Abbott R, Prosser S, Collinson A, Kurinczuk J, Thompson-Coon J. Parent-to-parent support interventions for parents of babies cared for in a neonatal unit-protocol of a systematic review of qualitative and quantitative evidence. Syst Rev. 2018 Oct 31;7(1):179. doi: 10.1186/s13643-018-0850-2. PubMed PMID: 30382886; PubMed Central PMCID:PMC6211448.

2: Abbott RA, Martin AE, Newlove-Delgado TV, Bethel A, Whear RS, Thompson Coon J, Logan S. Recurrent Abdominal Pain in Children: Summary Evidence From 3 Systematic Reviews of Treatment Effectiveness. J Pediatr Gastroenterol Nutr. 2018 Jul;67(1):23-33. doi: 10.1097/MPG.0000000000001922. PubMed PMID: 29470291.

3: Kuźma E, Hannon E, Zhou A, Lourida I, Bethel A, Levine DA, Lunnon K, Thompson-Coon J, Hyppönen E, Llewellyn DJ. Which Risk Factors Causally Influence Dementia? A Systematic Review of Mendelian Randomization Studies. J Alzheimers Dis. 2018;64(1):181-193. doi: 10.3233/JAD-180013. PubMed PMID: 29865062; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6004893.

4: Thompson W, Russell G, Baragwanath G, Matthews J, Vaidya B, Thompson-Coon J.Maternal thyroid hormone insufficiency during pregnancy and risk of neurodevelopmental disorders in offspring: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Clin Endocrinol (Oxf). 2018 Apr;88(4):575-584. doi: 10.1111/cen.13550. Epub 2018 Feb 8. PubMed PMID: 29325223; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5888183.

5: Mole L, Kent B, Abbott R, Wood C, Hickson M. The nutritional care of people living with dementia at home: A scoping review. Health Soc Care Community. 2018 Jul;26(4):e485-e496. doi: 10.1111/hsc.12540. Epub 2018 Jan 24. Review. PubMed PMID: 29365369.

6: Cheng SH, Augustin C, Bethel A, Gill D, Anzaroot S, Brun J, DeWilde B, Minnich RC, Garside R, Masuda YJ, Miller DC, Wilkie D, Wongbusarakum S, McKinnon MC. Using machine learning to advance synthesis and use of conservation and environmental evidence. Conserv Biol. 2018 Aug;32(4):762-764. doi: 10.1111/cobi.13117. PubMed PMID: 29644722.

7: Anderson JK, Ford T, Soneson E, Thompson Coon J, Humphrey A, Rogers M, Moore D, Jones PB, Clarke E, Howarth E. A systematic review of effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of school-based identification of children and young people at risk of, or currently experiencing mental health difficulties. Psychol Med. 2018 Sep 13:1-11. doi: 10.1017/S0033291718002490. [Epub ahead of print] PubMed PMID:30208985.

8: Germeni E, Frost J, Garside R, Rogers M, Valderas JM, Britten N. Antibiotic prescribing for acute respiratory tract infections in primary care: an updated and expanded meta-ethnography. Br J Gen Pract. 2018 Sep;68(674):e633-e645. doi: 10.3399/bjgp18X697889. Epub 2018 Jun 18. PubMed PMID: 29914880; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6104881.

9: Nunns M, Mayhew D, Ford T, Rogers M, Curle C, Logan S, Moore D. Effectiveness of nonpharmacological interventions to reduce procedural anxiety in children and adolescents undergoing treatment for cancer: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Psychooncology. 2018 Aug;27(8):1889-1899. doi: 10.1002/pon.4749.Epub 2018 May 22. Review. PubMed PMID: 29714037.

10. Humphreys, G., King, T., Jex, J., Rogers, M., Blake, S., Thompson-Coon, J., & Morris, C. (2018). Sleep positioning systems for children and adults with a neurodisability: A systematic review. British Journal of Occupational Therapy https://doi.org/10.1177/0308022618778254

And a couple of bonus extras…

11: Hunt H, Pollock A, Campbell P, Estcourt L, Brunton G. An introduction to overviews of reviews: planning a relevant research question and objective for an overview. Syst Rev. 2018 Mar 1;7(1):39. doi: 10.1186/s13643-018-0695-8. PubMed PMID: 29490699; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5831229.

12: Clare L, Teale JC, Toms G, Kudlicka A, Evans I, Abrahams S, Goldstein LH, Hindle JV, Ho AK, Jahanshahi M, Langdon D, Morris R, Snowden JS, Davies R, Markova I, Busse M, Thompson-Coon J. Cognitive rehabilitation, self-management, psychotherapeutic and caregiver support interventions in progressive neurodegenerative conditions: a scoping review. NeuroRehabilitation. 2018 Nov 8. doi: 10.3233/NRE-172353. [Epub ahead of print] PubMed PMID: 30412509.

13: McInnes MDF, Moher D, Thombs BD, McGrath TA, Bossuyt PM; the PRISMA-DTAGroup, Clifford T, Cohen JF, Deeks JJ, Gatsonis C, Hooft L, Hunt HA, Hyde CJ, Korevaar DA, Leeflang MMG, Macaskill P, Reitsma JB, Rodin R, Rutjes AWS, Salameh JP, Stevens A, Takwoingi Y, Tonelli M, Weeks L, Whiting P, Willis BH. Preferred Reporting Items for a Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Diagnostic Test Accuracy Studies: The PRISMA-DTA Statement. JAMA. 2018 Jan 23;319(4):388-396. doi: 10.1001/jama.2017.19163. PubMed PMID: 29362800.

14: Kuźma E, Lourida I, Moore SF, Levine DA, Ukoumunne OC, Llewellyn DJ. Stroke and dementia risk: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Alzheimers Dement. 2018 Nov;14(11):1416-1426. doi: 10.1016/j.jalz.2018.06.3061. Epub 2018 Aug 31. PubMed PMID: 30177276; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6231970.

… nine active projects, eight bloggers blogging, seven wowing workshops, six collaborations, five ways we’ve cared, four invitations, three winning images, two pukka podcasts and our Cornish writing retreat.

On the ninth day of Christmas we’d like to share with you… nine active projects

9 active projects

When is a project an active project? When do projects become inactive?  Are they ever completely complete? It’s hard to say so here’s the nine (or so) projects that are currently taking up most of our time…

Just getting under way, the ICoN project includes a systematic review of effectiveness, cost effectiveness and contextual factors that modify interventions to improve continence in children and young people with neurodisability and a survey of current NHS practice.  The team, led by Chris Morris and funded by the NIHR Health Technology Assessment programme, includes a wealth of clinical and parental expertise; Harriet will be leading the systematic review which starts in earnest in January.

Morwenna is working with colleagues in the College of Medicine and Health and the Graduate School of Education on a systematic review led by Tamsin Ford, of behaviour in schools funded by the Education Endowment Foundation.

Harriet and Becca are just coming to the end of a 12 month systematic review of quantitative and qualitative evidence of Parent-to-Parent Support Interventions for Parents of Babies Cared for in a Neonatal unit (PaReNt).Working closely with Kate Boddy from the PenCLAHRC PPI team this project has had parental involvement at all stages from applying for funding to dissemination.  Now in the final stages, the findings will be submitted for publication in the New Year.

Anyone who follows our Twitter feed will know that we’ve been working on a systematic review of the effects of robopets on the health and wellbeing of care home residents this year.  A paper was submitted for publication back in the summer but sadly, our first choice of journal turned us down so we’ve been running some update searches and making a few tweaks and should have this re-submitted early next year.

Now that the answer’s in for robotic animals, Noreen has been busy with a systematic review of the effects of real live animals on the health and wellbeing of care home residents.

Both these projects are led by us and funded by PenCLAHRC with fabulous support from representatives with expertise in nursing home management, veterinary concerns, animal assisted therapy and human-animal interaction.

Ruth, Ilianna and Becca are working on an NIHR Health Services & Delivery Research programme funded project – Caring about Care – which involves three systematic reviews of quantitative and qualitative evidence to support improvements in the experiences of care for people with dementia in hospital, and their families.  This project was highlighted by BBC Spotlight earlier in the year – coverage which featured Julia (one of the carer representatives on the team) and David (a dementia researcher from the College of Medicine and Health).  We are still deep in the midst of synthesis but hope to have preliminary findings for discussion with stakeholders in May next year and are due to submit the final report in July 2019.

Morwenna is working with Chris Morris on the CASTLE (Changing agendas on sleep, treatment and learning in epilepsy) project.  CASTLE is a programme of research led by Professor Deb Pal at Kings College London and Professor Paul Gringras at Evelina London Children’s Hospital, with a large team of clinical and scientific experts as well as parents and young people.  Chris and Morwenna are working on one aspect of the project – CHOICE, which aims to develop the first ever core outcome set for childhood epilepsy research.

Alison is working with Ruth Garside at the European Centre for Environment and Human Health on two projects – Seas, Oceans and Public Health in Europe (SOPHIE) and Blue Communities.  In the SOPHIE project, Alison is involved in producing a systematic map of links between the marine environment and human health.  The protocol is freely available on CADIMA.  In the Blue Communities project Alison and Ruth are using the Nature and People Evidence data portal to identify relevant research by biome and by region, as well as evidence available within countries in local languages to produce an evidence synthesis of the interactions between the health/wellbeing ‘nexus’, conservation actions and marine management.

Scarbrough was a little foggy…

We’re also working on a systematic review of quantitative and qualitative evidence of implementation and dissemination in dementia care, a systematic review of quantitative and qualitative evidence of community pharmacist home visits for elderly or vulnerable populations, a systematic map of reviews of implementation and some further analysis of data from our NIHR Health Technology Assessment programme funded systematic reviews of interventions to improve the mental health and children and young people with long term conditions using qualitative comparative analysis.

… eight bloggers blogging, seven wowing workshops, six collaborations, five ways we’ve cared, four invitations, three winning images, two pukka podcasts and our Cornish writing retreat.

On the eighth day of Christmas we’d like to share with you… eight bloggers blogging

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We love to blog… today we’re highlighting some of our blogposts that haven’t featured so far in our Countdown to Christmas and also a couple that have appeared on other blog sites…

  • It takes two flints to make a fire – a blog post that describes our contribution to a systematic review of sleep positioning systems for children and adults with neurodisability – a review that was initiated, led and conducted by clinicians with just a little support from us…
  • INSPIREing work – reflects on a successful INSPIRE studentship that resulted in the publication of a systematic review and meta-analysis of non-pharmacological interventions to reduce the distress and anxiety that children and young people experience when undergoing treatments for cancer…
  • Desperately seeking a pocketful of rainbow (coloured doughut)s – in which we attempted to understand how to achieve the ultimate in Altmetric doughnuts for the systematic review of non-pharmacological interventions to reduce distress and anxiety in children undergoing treatments for cancer! We had set ourselves an Altmetric score target of 100… have we done it?
  • Optimising support for children with ADHD in schools – an invited contribution to the British Educational Research Association (BERA) blog written with Tamsin Ford and Darren Moore in which we discuss highlights from our recently published systematic review of school-based interventions for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder using multiple synthesis methods.  This review published in the Review of Education is currently free to view for a time limited period… catch it while you can!
  • Once upon a time – in which we reflect on our experiences at Cochrane Edinburgh in September…
  • Sifting and sensemaking – and we finish by taking the opportunity to highlight not just a single blog post but a whole entire blog written by our colleagues in the Exeter HS&DR Evidence Synthesis Centre in which they share insights and innovations, discoveries and developments, fun and findings… Most recently they discuss the findings of their super-rapid review of the Nearest Relative provision of the the Mental Health Act which contributed to the independent review of the Mental Health Act released earlier this month.

… seven wowing workshops, six collaborations, five ways we’ve cared… four invitations, three winning images, two pukka podcasts and our Cornish writing retreat!

On the seventh day of Christmas we’d like to share with you…seven wowing workshops

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Our information specialists have been out and about workshopping with a variety of folks from University of Exeter students to clinicians and fellow information specialists.

In the spring, Alison and Morwenna with fellow ESTer, Becca Abbott, joined forces with CLAHRC North Thames to bring their popular ‘Searching and Beyond’ workshop to the big city. They use a flipped classroom model which culminates in a workshop day with information specialists and librarians talking, thinking and sharing all things systematic review and searching.

A trip to Cardiff in the long forgotten heat wave of June this year saw Alison and Morwenna with colleague Amanda Wanner deliver a couple of workshops at the EAHIL conference. They turned up the heat with a workshop on PRESS-ing your search strategies and AMSTARing your systematic reviews and with a new workshop on supplementary searching.

Postgraduate students from the MSc Clinical Education and MSc Environment and Human Health were also wowed this year with presentations and practical sessions from our ISs.

In October Morwenna helped deliver a new speedy lunchtime search workshop at Devon County Council attended by public health and quality standards staff. Finally in November, Alison and Morwenna taught on the popular PenCLAHRC Making Sense of Evidence day at the beautiful Buckfast Abbey Conference Centre

…six collaborations, five ways we’ve cared… four invitations, three winning images, two pukka podcasts and our Cornish Writing Retreat!

On the sixth day of Christmas we’d like to share with you… six collaborations

6collaborations

2018 has been a fabulous year for collaborations – here’s some of our favourites (in no particular order!).  They have all been an absolute joy – bringing enthusiasm, passion and fun to our little corner of the Evidence Synthesis world. Thank you!

  • The Sensory Trust – we continue to collaborate with The Sensory Trust on our #MyNature project.  Most recently Noreen and Wendy co-presented at the Devon Care Kitemark jamboree event to over 100 care home staff and managers.  They gave a fabulous presentation of 10 top tips for making nature a part of everyday life every day for people living in care homes.
  • George Coxon and the Devon Care Kitemark- George is a fabulous source of inspiration and knowledge about life in care homes. We regularly meet to chat about ideas for projects and funding applications.  This year, George has mostly been involved in our Robopets project, helping us to make sense of the findings.  He also kindly invited us to speak at the Devon Care Kitemark jamboree where we took the opportunity to discuss dissemination methods for this project with care home staff and managers.
  • CLAHRC North Thames – Alison, Morwenna and Becca worked with Antonio Rojas Garcia from CLAHRC North Thames and Claire Stansfield from the EPPI-Centre at UCL to deliver their Searching and Beyond course in London to 19 enthusiastic health librarians, mainly from the NHS and universities, including one visiting from the Netherlands. It was a super day – one delegate commenting that it was the ‘best training I have ever attended!’
  • Jeremy Grimshaw – we were super excited to welcome Jeremy to Exeter following Jo’s successful visit to Ottawa in the summer of 2017 – activity funded by the University of Exeter Medical School Internationalisation Fund.  Jeremy was lucky enough to visit us in February during one of the coldest weeks of the year and witnessed Exeter brought to a near stand-still by temperatures approaching minus two! Colleagues from across the peninsula enjoyed not one but two wonderful seminars and we continue to work together on an exciting project inspired by work we’ve been doing on reviews of implementation.

… five ways we’ve cared, four invitations, three winning images, two pukka podcasts and our Cornish Writing Retreat!

On the fifth day of Christmas we’d like to share with you… five ways we’ve cared

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It’s not all about work in the Evidence Synthesis Team.  And it’s not even all about fun (although we try and include as much fun in our daily lives as we can whilst also getting the work done!).  This year we’ve also tried to get away from our desks and do some things which make a difference to others.

So five ways we’ve cared…

  • Back in July, we joined with our colleagues in ESMI to take part in a Beach Clean on Exmouth Beach as part of the University of Exeter Community Challenge.  This is a great scheme that allows one paid day every 12 months to undertake volunteering in the community. It was probably the only rainy day in July but we managed to clear lots of rubbish and plastic from the sand before sheltering under the pier.
  • More recently, some of us took part in a Crafternoon organised by Sue Whiffin and Lucy Evans to raise money for the mental health charity, MIND.  The event raised £38.  More importantly people loved the opportunity to step away from their emails and spend some time chatting and making stuff.  So much so that Cloisters Crafting is to become a regular fixture.  We all need to find ways to #claimbackthelunchhour and look after our own mental wellbeing.
  • We all contributed to the College of Medicine and Health Reverse Advent Calendar gathering a HUGE pile of food for Exeter Food Bank.  We also contributed small gifts for vulnerable families in Exeter – an initiative co-ordinated by the lovely Vashti Berry.
  • Ruth has been instrumental in launching the St Luke’s Community Garden which is just behind our building.  Lots of opportunities to offer a helping hand – at the moment we are digging in the turf in an area destined to become a tapestry lawn in the summer.

… four invitations, three winning images, two pukka podcasts and our Cornish Writing Retreat!

On the fourth day of Christmas we’d like to share with you… four invitations

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Our information specialists, Alison and Morwenna have been in high demand this year,  with three of the four invitations we’re highlighting today being all about them!  We are not surprised as we think they are completely fabulous and an integral part of everything we do.  These invitations are just evidence of their growing reputation within the field… and that our secret is out!

First up, they were invited to contribute a chapter (Choosing the right databases and search techniques) to a book entitled ‘Systematic Searching for Health Information Professionals‘ edited by Paul Levay and Jenny Craven which is set to become a go-to resource on how to search more efficiently.  The book will be available from all good bookshops!

They were also invited to join the newly formed Information Retrieval Methods group of the Campbell Collaboration. This group brings together a diverse group of information specialists and librarians from a broad range of disciplines and from across the globe. The group will not only support the work of Campbell Collaboration review authors but will also explore and develop innovative methods to search for and identify evidence. Exciting times!

Alison was also invited to join a working group led by Dr Ruth Garside to develop methodological guidance for qualitative evidence synthesis for both the Campbell Collaboration and the Collaboration for Environmental Evidence.

And finally, in July Becca was invited to attend a meeting hosted by @CochranePAPAS on Paediatric Pain at the Wellcome Building in London. The meeting, ‘Chronic pain in childhood, time for change; Evidence, policy, and practice in paediatric pain’, brought together many of those eminent in the field of paediatric pain in the UK. The invite was a result of our reviews of recurrent abdominal pain, which we published as three separate Cochrane reviews (#1, #2, #3) and a summary paper.  You can find out more about the discussions at the meeting in this blog post.

… three winning images, two pukka podcasts and our Cornish Writing Retreat!

On the third day of Christmas we’d like to share with you… three winning images

3 winning images

Systematic reviews don’t tend to be particularly photogenic… when details of competitions to showcase ‘images of research’ are circulated we usually scratch our heads and think they are probably not for us.

But… that all changed with our work on bringing nature and animals (including robopets) into care homes. Never ones to pass up an opportunity to promote the findings of our reviews – we had a go at entering the competitions as a means of using the images to spread the word.

Our first success was in the University of Exeter Doctoral College Images of Research competition.  Noreen won the Collaboration category with her image entitled ‘I’m glad I came outside’ and Becca won the Society and Culture category with ‘Meet Synthia’.

 

And then… during the summer there was much excitement for Noreen as she heard that her image had been shortlisted in the National Centre for Public Engagement (NCPPE) Images of Public Engagement 2018 competition. We later heard that her image ‘Little Stories of Nature and Wellbeing’ (shown above) taken during a workshop co-delivered with the Sensory Trust during the 2017 ESRC Festival of Social Science had been Commended in the Engagement category.  The judges commented that they felt the project was ‘A really purposeful, thoughtful and committed approach to bringing research into the world’ and the imaging ‘intriguing’ whilst the caption provided ‘a thoughtful and well explained narrative to contextualise it.’

There are some really super images amongst the winning and commended images – if you have a moment take a look. 

We’ve really enjoyed this way of raising awareness of our research – and are on the look out for more photogenic research questions!

… two pukka podcasts and our Cornish Writing Retreat!

On the second day of Christmas we’d like to share with you… two pukka podcasts

2 podcasts

Earlier in the year, Michael Nunns from the Exeter HS&DR Evidence Synthesis Centre decided to record a podcast about a systematic review he’d published with a student on the INSPIRE studentship scheme whilst working on our NIHR funded #tlc4ltc Long Term Conditions project.  In doing so, he also set up the EST Research Snapshot podcast channel which is available on Spotify.

Just last week, Liz Shaw also from the Exeter HS&DR Evidence Synthesis Centre, recorded a second podcast for the channel, discussing the findings from their systematic review of the views and experiences of the Nearest Relative provision of the Mental Health Act (1983) which contributed to the recent independent review of the Mental Health Act.  The podcast accompanies her blog and a short briefing paper summarising the findings of the review.

Have a listen, we’d love to know what you think! We have plans for several more in the coming months and we’d like to make them a regular part of our dissemination strategy – any tips and advice about how we could improve them would be gratefully received.

Now you’re in the listening mood, have a listen to the two podcasts recorded with the children and parents who contributed to our #tlc4ltc Long Term Conditions project and this one recorded by The Mental Elf at the 2018 Cochrane Colloquium with Erin and Katrina from that project.

… and our Cornish Writing Retreat!

On the first day of Christmas we’d like to share with you… our Cornish Writing Retreat!

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In July, Jo was lucky enough to attend a residential Writing Retreat funded by the College of Medicine and Health.  It was a fabulously useful experience and she was determined to create a similar opportunity for the team.  And so, for two days in mid-November we re-located to the super clean and comfortable Boscastle YHA for some much needed respite from the onslaught of emails and endless meetings.

We walked, talked, shared, encouraged, sang, danced, feasted, ran, crafted and we WROTE!

We spent one full day writing – interspersing chunks of time dedicated to quiet writing with energising tea, coffee, cake and fresh air breaks.  A quick sprint around the harbour at sunset a just reward for all the productivity.  There is something very special about the silent, creative energy of everyone writing together in a shared space.  Although we hadn’t planned to write the next day, we were all keen to get back to it and so spent a further morning in silent creative mode.  We used this as an opportunity to try out some remote writing – linking with colleagues back in the office – but this was somewhat less successful for those at a distance both in terms of distractions and feeling connected.

One evening we explored the use of Lego as a facilitator to discussion – focusing on how we write and the barriers to this – with one eye on how we could use Lego in our project advisory team meetings.  It was fascinating to see how people expressed their approach to writing in different ways using the Lego but also to observe the similarities amongst the barriers (or perceived barriers) we face and to discuss ways in which we could overcome those as a team.

We also spent time reflecting on the things we’ve done this year, things we’ve enjoyed and would like to do more of in the future and things we would like to avoid! We thought about our individual and combined priorities for 2019 and we planned this blog.  We’ll be dedicating some regular time to a shared writing space in 2019… we’ll let you know how it goes!

And of course we had lots of well-being enhancing fun too – a walk before breakfast to see the sun rise, stargazing, wonderful cooked breakfasts and evening meals and a randomised, double blind trial in search of the best brand of baked beans with qualitative and quantitative outcomes!  We may have done a little singing too. We left refreshed and energised, convinced both of the value of writing retreats and of spending time together outside the office environment.  Boscastle – we’ll be back.

 

Abbott, R.A., Martin, A.E., Newlove-Delgado, T.V., Bethel, A., Thompson-Coon, J., Whear, R., Logan, S. Psychosocial interventions for recurrent abdominal pain in childhood. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 2017 Jan 10;1:CD010971. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD010971.pub2

Newlove-Delgado, T.V., Martin, A.E., Abbott, R.A., Bethel, A., Thompson-Coon, J., Whear, R., Logan, S. Dietary interventions for recurrent abdominal pain in childhood. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 2017; Issue 3. Art. No.: CD010972. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD010972.pub2

Martin, A.E., Newlove-Delgado, T.V., Abbott, R.A., Bethel, A., Thompson-Coon, J., Whear, R., Logan, S. Pharmacological interventions for recurrent abdominal pain in childhood. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews.2017; Issue 3. Art. No.: CD010973. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD010973.pub2 

Abbott, R.A., Martin, A.E., Newlove-Delgado, T.V., Bethel, A., Thompson-Coon, J., Whear, R., Logan, S. Recurrent Abdominal Pain in Children: Summary Evidence From 3 Systematic Reviews of Treatment Effectiveness. Journal of Paediatric Gastroenterology & Nutrition. 2018; 67 (1): 23-33. doi: 10.1097/MPG.0000000000001922

Shaw L, Nunns M, Briscoe S, Anderson R, & Thompson Coon J. Experiences of the Nearest Relative’ provisions in the compulsory detention of people under the Mental Health Act: a rapid systematic review. Health Serv Deliv Res 2018;6(39) http://dx.doi.org/10.3310/hsdr06390

Hunt. H., Whear. R., Boddy. K., Wakely. L., Morris. C., Abbott. R., Prosser. R., Collinson. A., Kurinczuk. J., Thompson-Coon. J. (2018) Parent-to-parent support interventions for parents of babies cared for in a neonatal unit—protocol of a systematic review of qualitative and quantitative evidence. Systematic Reviews DOI: 10.1186/s13643-018-0850-2

Moore, D. A., Russell, A. E., Matthews, J. , Ford, T. J., Rogers, M. , Ukoumunne, O. C., Kneale, D. , Thompson‐Coon, J. , Sutcliffe, K. , Nunns, M. , Shaw, L. and Gwernan‐Jones, R. (2018), School‐based interventions for attention‐deficit/hyperactivity disorder: A systematic review with multiple synthesis methods. Rev Educ, 6: 209-263. doi:10.1002/rev3.3149

Moore, D. A., Russell, A. E., Matthews, J. , Ford, T. J., Rogers, M. , Ukoumunne, O. C., Kneale, D. , Thompson‐Coon, J. , Sutcliffe, K. , Nunns, M. , Shaw, L. and Gwernan‐Jones, R. (2018), Context and Implications Document for: School‐based interventions for attention‐deficit/hyperactivity disorder: A systematic review with multiple synthesis methods. Rev Educ, 6: 264-266. doi:10.1002/rev3.3154