EHP March 2006, pages 18-19
The environmental health profession needs to advance its evidence base to demonstrate its value as a public health champion. Nick Warburton reports on the CIEH's training workshops and good practice toolkit offering advice to members on how to establish an evidence base
Flick through the pages of Environmental Health News and Environmental Health Practitioner and immediately the reader is struck by just how important a role environmental health plays in making public health gains. Across the UK, EHPs are applying their skills and expertise to a myriad of activities, be it campaigning for a ban on smoking in public places, raising awareness of the dangers of using sunbeds or working through community projects to improve diet and nutrition.
Environmental health has a long and proud track record when it comes to improving health. But with so many issues to influence, it is not surprising that many EHPs are too busy to find time to write up their work activities as case studies or prepare research papers to promote the value of their work.
Unlike the medical profession, which has a culture of writing up its work as case studies to feed into an evidence base, environmental health has yet to fully grasp the opportunities that can be gleaned from doing this.
For instance, imagine that you are a local authority that has a particular problem in your area. How useful would it be if you could find out how colleagues around the country have tackled the same problem and imagine if you could access case studies from other authorities, which provided just the information that you needed and have it at your fingertips? Well, that is exactly what the CIEH is in the process of doing by encouraging members to help advance the environmental health evidence base.
Skills enhancement
Starting in May (see dates, below), the CIEH will host a series of training workshops aimed at providing EHPs in both the public and private sectors with the skills they need to add their work to the evidence base and hence make it available to others. Run over two days, with a six-week gap between the two days, these interactive workshops offer an opportunity for members to enhance their existing skills and enable colleagues around the country to access information on good practice.
To complement the training, the CIEH's communications and education teams have developed a toolkit, which will only be available to those who attend a course. The toolkit contains practical guidance on how to turn good practice into case studies, write articles and papers for publication in technical journals and produce publishable research.
Written in an easy-to-use format and divided into six sections, the toolkit kicks off by looking first at the value of good practice in environmental health before going on to explain how EHPs can apply for funding for research projects. The following sections offer advice on how to write for a peer-reviewed journal as well as non-peer reviewed publications such as EHN and EHP. The final sections then look at how to prepare a good practice case study and how to prepare a presentation for a conference or seminar.
Good practice case studies
A vital ingredient in advancing the evidence base is the inclusion of good practice case studies that emphasise the value of environmental health. The toolkit contains two examples from beacon councils - Coventry City Council and Westminster Council, both of which have been proactive in putting in place projects that have produced measured successes.
Westminster is notable for achieving good performance in all areas of environmental health (EHP, November 2005, page 24) and has also demonstrated excellence and innovation. The toolkit uses the council's prominent licensed premises list as an example of good practice to underline how environmental health interventions can have a measured impact. The case study concerns a target list which is produced every month by the council's intelligence unit for the purpose of identifying licensed premises within the borough that may be experiencing crime and disorder issues. Data collected is used to score each premises and put them on a list. Using a multi-agency approach, a range of actions is employed, which ultimately will remove the premises from the list over future weeks or months.
In Coventry's case, the environmental health team has been recognised for developing and supporting sustainable development in the community and improving its health (EHP, September 2005, page 34). The team's food safety advisory service, which targets owners and managers of small and less developed food businesses in the city with the aim of improving food safety standards, is included as another case study to underline the measured impact of environmental health interventions. The project works by bringing in an adviser from the catering industry who provides peer support by offering practical information and advice to caterers, particularly in relation to hazard analysis. The approach has proven to be highly successful and shows how compliance with the law can be secured without resorting to formal enforcement action.
Research is vital
As the toolkit explains, "undertaking a piece of research is not the minefield that many think". Support is available and undertaking research is an excellent opportunity both for personal development and as a way to contribute to the evidence base.
The purpose of this section therefore is to encourage members to consider areas for research. To assist in this, the toolkit contains information on the CIEH's research grant scheme and other sources of funding. Because the CIEH recognises that carrying out research can be expensive both in time and money, it has set up a research fund, which offers assistance towards expenses incurred in undertaking environmental health-based research (up to £3,000 per application). However, this does not include assistance towards the payment of fees or staff costs.
The funding section also contains a case study of a successful applicant for the CIEH research grant - David Holmes, who has investigated the statutory nuisance of mineshafts (see article in this issue). Mr Holmes also provides his sample application form.
Putting writing skills to use
Another important way to contribute to the environmental health evidence base is for members to send articles to the peer-reviewed Journal of Environmental Health Research. Not only does contributing benefit the individual but it also helps the profession to establish the subject in its own right.
The JEHR is looking to encourage a range of potential authors, including those who wish to convert an academic dissertation into a journal paper (original research paper) as well as subject experts who wish to undertake a detailed review of the literature (review articles). It is also looking for environmental health and other professionals who have evaluated a professional practice issue and wish to write it up (professional evaluation).
The toolkit gives practical guidance on how to submit ideas and articles, detailed information on how to write and get articles published, and also examples of good practice.
But it is not just peer-reviewed research that helps build the evidence base. The CIEH's non-peer-reviewed publications, EHN and EHP, are both important forums for discussion and debate within the profession as well as disseminating information on good practice. In this section, members can find out what types of articles are published, how and what they should contribute to the editors, as well as tips like how best to send articles and photographs, and meeting deadlines.
Good practice case studies
Unlike other professions such as the medical community, environmental health does not have a culture of writing up examples of good practice (a case study). Huge benefits can be reaped from writing these up - foremost being that they enable the wider environmental health community to learn from individual successes and failures. Equally important, case studies can be used by the CIEH press office, members' employers or the local media to publicise important work.
A good case study incorporates many elements, for example, it must have clear objectives, a statement of the issue, and the aspects of environmental health work that it is concerned with. In the section on "how to prepare a good practice case study", EHPs can find out what elements to incorporate as well as refer to a case study proforma, which provides guidance when writing up work they have done themselves or by colleagues. The section also contains the "eat clever" toolkit as a practical example. Its summary puts the case study in to context - in this case tackling rising obesity and poor nutrition - what the response was, including the environmental health action, and the measured outcomes. Readers can also find out further information from the individuals involved.
Presenting your case
The toolkit's final section looks at how EHPs can promote good practice case studies or research projects through conference or seminar presentations. Through their work in the local community, EHPs develop good interpersonal skills, and speaking at events is a natural progression and a useful skill to develop. Many people, however, find speaking at public events intimidating and the purpose of this section is to provide advice on how to get the best out of these events.
The guidance comes with a good practice PowerPoint presentation from Alan Page, senior lecturer in environmental health at Middlesex University, on sustaining the environmental health community, which outlines how to write a good presentation.
Makes your case
EHPs are dedicated and passionate advocates of public health and many are working at the forefront of this challenging agenda. A first and important step in raising the profile and status of environmental health is to do what other professions have done and advance the evidence base to underline how environmental health interventions can bring measured improvements. With a good solid evidence base, EHPs can draw inspiration from the work of others, spread good practice and provide the profession with the tools it needs to make its case.
What the good practice toolkit covers
- an introduction explaining why the profession needs an evidence base
- the value of good practice in environ-mental health
- how to apply for funding for research projects
- how to prepare an article for a peer-reviewed journal
- how to prepare for a non-peer-reviewed journal or magazine
- how to prepare a good practice case study
- how to prepare a presentation for a conference or seminar
Successful applicants will be invited to attend the training workshops, which will be run over two days, with a six-week gap in between. They will be run in:
- Leeds on 2 May and 15 June
- London on 4 May and 12 June
- Bristol on 16 May and 27 June
- Derby on 18 May and 26 June
