NHD Extra - October 17 issue 128

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EXTRA

ADDITIONAL ARTICLES FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY

NHDmag.com

October 2017: Issue 128

LEARNING TO WRITE ARTICLES

by Michele Sadler

Social media apps for nutrition

by Emma Berry

NHD-EXTRA: SKILLS & LEARNING

LEARNING TO WRITE ARTICLES Michèle Sadler RNutr Rank Nutrition Ltd Michèle is Director of Rank Nutrition Ltd, which provides nutrition consultancy services to the food industry.

Michele has a BSc in Nutrition (University of London), a PhD in Biochemistry and Nutritional Toxicology (University of Surrey), and is a Registered Nutritionist.

Writing skills are a valuable asset for dietitians and nutritionists. Published articles, book chapters and scientific papers will raise your profile and help to establish your expertise. All such contributions will make a useful addition to your CV, and if freelancing is in your future plans, writing skills will give more options for potential work.

Whether you are writing for fellow health professionals, research scientists, or the public, honed skills will help to get your message across.

If you are a newcomer to writing, or time has passed since you last wrote for a publication, deciding where to start can be quite daunting. If you have been invited to write a book chapter, or are looking to contribute an article to NHD for example, this article aims to give some basic approaches and tips to help you get going.

GETTING STARTED

Identifying the main message of the paper or article that you want to write is a good starting point. Try to express this in a concise sentence, as this will help you to communicate a clear message. Then outline the title to give you a clear focus - it can be changed later on if required.

Where a literature search is necessary, this needs to be undertaken at an early stage. Otherwise, it is advisable to capture details of all the references you want to cite as you are writing.

This avoids a separate, time-consuming job at the end to hunt down missing citations. If available, a reference manager programme such as Endnote is a great help in organising references.

STYLE

Before you get started, look at some examples of previous articles, chapters or papers in the publication you are writing for and familiarise

yourself with the ‘house style’. If you are writing for a magazine or publication, you will be given a word count, or at the very least a guide to how many words are required for a particular topic. Take a look at various publications so that you can visualise how many words fit a page and how many pages make up an article.

Find out if there is a ‘style guide’ that you can follow for the particular publication. This will cover details such as how to deal with numbers or numeric terms and use of abbreviations.

Common conventions include spelling out numbers from one to 9, and using numerals for 10 onwards, though this varies between publications. In NHD, for example, units are spelt out from one to nine, e.g. six children, and numerals for 10 onwards, e.g.12 patients. Numerals are used with standard units of measure, e.g. 35mg, and percentages, e.g. 8%, but, Sentences should not begin with numerals, but with numbers written as words.

Abbreviations should only be used if the term appears more than once in the text, in which case the term is provided in full on first use followed by the abbreviation in brackets. Some publications have a list of permitted abbreviations that can be used without providing the term itself, as they are universally understood.

How to insert references within the text can vary from publication to publication too. With NHD for example, references are numbered in a list at the

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NHD-EXTRA: SKILLS AND LEARNING end of the article and corresponding superscript numbering appears in the main text of the article.

References for all NHD articles are features on the website too (www.NHDmag.com).

An important aspect of style is to be concise - and this takes time. It may seem illogical that it takes longer to write something short than to write something long, but this is generally the case, as acknowledged by Mark Twain in his well-known quotation: “I didn’t have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead.”

Attention to other aspects of style will help your writing to flow more gracefully.

For example, it is best to avoid over-use of intensifiers, such as ‘very’ much, or ‘extremely’ positive - ‘much’ or ‘positive’ is sufficient. If emphasis is necessary, it is better to be more explicit, e.g. ‘less than twice the value’ rather than ‘very much less’, depending on the particular details. It helps to explain terms that the reader may not be familiar with rather than using jargon. Adding a glossary may be useful, if it fits with the publication style.

GRAMMAR

Clear concise language without ambiguity avoids the reader having to stop and think what you intended to say. To quote another famous writer, George Orwell: “Good prose should be transparent, like a window pane.”

Correct use of grammar helps the text to flow, making it easier to read. If your knowledge of grammar is a bit rusty and you are stuck on any particular points, an internet search will pull up various websites with helpful information or facilities to check use of grammar. Make sure you are using an English UK site though!

STRUCTURE

Like a novel, scientific writing needs a beginning, middle and end. Organising the material you want to communicate into a clear and logical sequence is essential for the flow of your article or chapter, in order to lead the reader through your arguments.

The text will typically begin with an introduction that sets out the relevant background and informs the reader what you are writing about. Identifying at the outset the other sections you want to include will help to 54

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structure the main body of your article. Setting the heading levels early on is also helpful. It is important to marry the particular points you want to make to the correct sections and to avoid repetition in different sections. The conclusion should give an overall summary of the main messages that you want to convey to the reader.

Making use of tables, figures or other illustrations helps to express information more succinctly than writing the details as text.

Refer to the table or figure to make the point, and avoid repeating information in the tables and figures as text.

In view of increasing emphasis on conflicts of interest and funding sources, be prepared to declare these within your article or paper.

ACADEMIC JOURNALS

If you are writing a scientific paper or review for an academic publication, choose the journal you want to submit to at the outset.

Each journal has specific requirements and these should be identified before you start writing. The instructions to authors will give information about the required style and structure, referencing style, maximum word count and other relevant details such as any restrictions on the number of tables and figures.

A lot of time can be saved if you follow these guidelines when writing your initial draft.

Again, it is important to ensure your material is allocated to the correct section.

The methods section should cover factual information such as details of subjects, dietary manipulation and procedures and should not include any results. The results section should only report the findings and not explain them, whereas the discussion section is the place to elaborate on the results and put them into context with other research in the area in order to explore their significance. Most journals require discussion of the limitations of the research and suggestions for further research.

Where required, keywords and abstract are best written once you have a full draft, so you can draw on the main points you have written. The format of the abstract varies between different publications - some require

Table 1: Writing tips Check out and follow the house style of the publication you are writing for.

Organise your material into a clear and logical sequence; think: beginning, middle and end.

Keep your writing concise throughout.

Marry your points to the correct section.

Avoid repetition of the same point in different sections.

Data in figures and tables does not need to be repeated in the text.

Allow time to re-read and edit your draft; check your spelling, grammar and punctuation; also ask a colleague to read it.

a structured abstract with sub-headings and others require text without headings, so check this out beforehand.

PEER REVIEW

This is the ‘quality control’ process used by scientific journals that helps to maintain standards. It is also used by other publications.

For example, it is sometimes used by NHD to ensure that detailed facts have been correctly reported. It is more common today that peer review is a double-blind process where the identity of the authors is masked to the reviewer and the authors are unaware of the reviewer’s identity. In most cases peer review requires revisions to the manuscript, but this typically results in improvements to presentation and clarity, usually making it a positive process.

FINALISING YOUR MANUSCRIPT

Allowing sufficient time to leave your finished manuscript for a couple of days and then come back to it is usually beneficial. This allows you to read it with fresh eyes, making it easier to spot edits and tweaks that will improve the text before it needs to be submitted. It is also worthwhile asking a colleague to read through your draft for any extra insight they can provide.

MEETING DEADLINES

Finally, submitting in a timely manner is crucial, as publications work to tight schedules. Hence it is essential to bring time management and planning skills into the equation when writing articles. It generally takes longer than you think to write a polished piece of work that you can be proud of…but it is very rewarding.

NETWORK HEALTH DIGEST

A wealth of useful dietetic resources for all dietitians and nutritionists Login with your username and password to view the Subscriber zone.

If you don’t have login details, you can check whether you are eligible for a FREE subscription to Network Health Digest at

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NHD-EXTRA: SKILLS AND LEARNING

APPS AND SOCIAL MEDIA: FRIEND OR FOE IN NUTRITION? Emma Berry Student, University of Aberdeen

Emma is currently studying MSc Human Nutrition.

She has an interest in Public Health nutrition and health promotion within the community.

Emma hopes to work within the community setting to improve nutritional wellbeing and health.

For full article references please email info@ networkhealth group.co.uk

Young adults are the highest users of social media out of all generations, with over 90% shown to be active in a 2015 survey,1 with a variety of different applications (apps) used to communicate with friends, family or strangers, both in real life and in virtual reality. Although social media carries risks, it also presents a new way of engaging young adults with important issues regarding their health.2 Apps are most commonly found on transportable devices such as smart phones, allowing constant access to Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Whatsapp and many more virtual communication devices. These apps allow the posting of video, images, voice recordings as well as the written word, allowing the thoughts and opinions of young adults to be viewed by any number of interested parties.

Adolescence and emerging adulthood presents an important stage of life where nutrition and weight can have effects in later life.3 Malnutrition, in the forms of both under- and overnutrition, can have serious implications in this age group. Ensuring that these young adults take an interest in their nutritional wellbeing and what they eat, is important to ensure their future health.3,4 Young adults also have the quickest rate of weight gain out of all the age groups and, therefore, could be targeted to try and reduce the risk of obesity in later life.5 The use of apps and social media could not only improve awareness of healthy eating from governmental bodies such as Change4Life,6 but also aid in improving dietary behaviours through increasing self-efficacy and supporting behaviour change techniques.

APPS FOR IMPROVING SELF-EFFICACY

Changing health behaviours in a young adult population is a difficult task.

Even though there are many efforts to 56

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improve healthy eating behaviours in the school setting, young adults are still defined as a at risk for developing a poor diet.9 Recent healthy eating campaigns are often presented as images targeted for families and children, making young adults believe they are not intended for them.10 One factor which can influence behaviour and behaviour change is self-efficacy.9 Studies have shown that young adults are more likely to improve their healthy eating behaviours when self-efficacy is higher.11 However, attempts to improve self-efficacy should be targeted towards the population of interest. Studies have shown that young adults face unique barriers for adopting healthy eating behaviours, such as perceptions of cost, time, peer pressure and competing factors including alcohol consumption.10 Targeting these barriers and demonstrating how these can be overcome could improve self-efficacy of young adults to make a change in their eating habits.

An individual’s self-efficacy can also be improved through demonstrating change in a relatable character.12 Individuals having access to such examples of change is increased through apps such as Instagram, where individuals can post pictures of healthy food or weight changes. This may increase individuals’ awareness and knowledge of healthy food preparation.

Young adults have reported having access to more recipes through using

social media, including ones for specific diets such as vegan or paleo.7 These apps allow individuals to follow each other, so they can find people who inspire them or who they can relate too. However, these apps can also have a negative effective on young adults, as they may find some images damaging to their self-esteem.13 As app users have their own accounts, there is limited controls on what is posted and shared, therefore, unhealthy food pictures or advice can also be posted, and therefore may also have a negative impact on nutritional wellbeing. Individuals posting pictures of certain foods such as desserts or chocolate cake could cause an increased feeling of hunger despite not being hungry.7 APPLICATIONS FOR IMPROVING INTAKE

Although improving self-efficacy and encouraging healthy behaviour change can be targeted through apps and social media, they can also have a role for supporting individuals at times of change. There are various apps which encourage and support individuals when attempting to improve their nutritional intake.

Improving intake and health through the use of apps and social media still follows the same principles of any healthy behaviour intervention.14 Although using apps and social media for nutritional purposes is fairly new, similar behaviour change techniques are employed, such as self-monitoring, goal setting and having a support network.15 There are apps which are purposely designed for this, such as MyFitnessPal, which encourages the use of self-monitoring, self-weighing, goal setting and sharing progress with other users. However, some individuals use social media accounts, such as Instagram or Facebook, for such purposes. Communities within these social media apps have risen to support individuals who are looking to lose weight, or improve their health. These are often formed through a shared interest in losing weight or getting healthier.16 There has been evidence that individuals who post online regarding weight loss receive more support than discussing weight loss in person with their social networks.16 Again, the principles of behaviour change are the same such as stating goals on their social media, updating regularly with achievements and failures to their online support network.15

In theory, the idea of using social media to support healthy behaviour changes is a great way to encourage and support a large number of individuals. The use of apps on their smartphones means that individuals have access to this network at any time. However, many of these social media accounts and apps are not monitored. Apps such as MyFitnessPal can have various foods and their content input by users – meaning that the foods added may not have the correct information.17 Social media account users can also post anything relating to food without having to verify that it is fact, or scientifically accurate.7 Many social media stars - who use the platform as a base for selfpromotion - have become well known for their food posts and restrictive diets without necessarily having scientific grounding.7 Although these accounts and apps may not cause a problem if individuals choose to listen to it for one meal, over a longer period of time this could have an impact on an individuals’ nutritional wellbeing.

SOCIAL MEDIA AND APPS IN RESEARCH

In recent years, there has been a move towards using social media and apps to improve health behaviours in research.18 Studies which have discussed the use of social media in promoting healthy eating have discussed various aspects of their use, for example, as a form of recruitment, encouraging forms of engagement and as a form of intervention itself.19 However, relatively few studies have looked at platforms which already exist and their effects on behaviours themselves.19 There is evidence to suggest that the retention of studies which used platforms that already exist in everyday life (such as Facebook, Twitter) is quite high.18 This suggests that using social media platforms which already exist could be an exciting way to reach young adults and engage them for future research on nutrition.

Although these small initial studies are important to determine how social media can be used to engage young adults, larger trials are needed. Evaluating the use of social media as a form of improving nutritional wellbeing in young adults could further current efforts such as the Change4Life campaign. This would allow governing bodies to better target this age group, improve their eating choices and long-term health outcomes. www.NHDmag.com October 2016 - Issue 118

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NHD-EXTRA: SKILLS AND LEARNING CONCLUSIONS

Social media and apps could have a role in improving nutritional wellbeing in young adults.

They have the potential to improve self-efficacy through the sharing of pictures, recipes and tips from inspirational and relatable figures. There are apps which are specifically designed to support and encourage healthy behaviour change, and apps which develop their own social media communities around relatable behaviours. These communities provide invaluable support that may be more encouraging than an individual’s

family or friend network in-person. These platforms also have the potential to improve engagement with young adults in health research. However, apps and social media can have negative effects. There is the potential to damage an individual’s self-esteem, and expose followers to nutritional information which is incorrect or dangerous. It is important that individuals who offer nutrition-based advice should be able to verify their claims, and that consumers of these messages are trained to be wary of claims without scientific backing.

NETWORK HEALTH DIGEST

Coming in the next DIGITAL ONLY issue November 2017

• Premature infant feeding • IBS and IBD

• Low carbohydrate diets • Food health claims

• PLUS: Nutritional support supplement

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