Humorous social media campaign helps promote women's pelvic floor health
An injection of humour can help stimulate interest and engagement with taboo women’s health topics, a new study suggests.
Over a three-month period, researchers tracked engagement of a social media campaign which used humorous nudges to encourage women to carry out pelvic floor training exercises in the lead up to Christmas.
The Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) study was led by Rosie Harper, a PhD researcher at Bournemouth University and pelvic health physiotherapist at University Hospitals Dorset; the social media content was created by comedian and women’s health physiotherapist, Elaine Miller.
Rosie Harper
Elaine Miller
The results have been published in the journal Health Expectations..
“Lots of women forget to complete prescribed pelvic floor exercises,” Rosie said. “Adopting and adhering to new exercises is very hard to do and requires behaviour change.” she added.
This led to Rosie and the research team to explore the potential of popular social media platforms to carry public health messages in a more light-hearted way.
The study focussed on an Instagram campaign run by co-author Elaine Miller called ‘#DryByChristmas’. Elaine posted humorous visual content daily for three months for the campaign, which aimed to help women improve their continence levels through pelvic floor muscle training. She tailored style of the content based on feedback from her clinics and from her comedy shows.
Analysis of how well the posts performed showed that engagement with the account the nudges were posted from – @gusset_grippers – increased by twelve percent over the campaign. The posts were seen by over 22 thousand users, received 9700 likes and nearly 900 comments.
96 percent of those who engaged with the post were women, the highest proportion of whom were aged between 35 and 44 which is one of the key groups targeted by the campaign.
The most popular nudges were based on social norms to encourage or discourage particular behaviours.
“Posts that speak to the shared female experience promoted engagement. These posts highlighted that symptoms of pelvic floor dysfunction, such as urinary incontinence, are common and that people shouldn’t feel alone with the condition,” Rosie explained.
“Humour is a persuasive behavioural technique. Elaine’s work suggests if you can make someone laugh, they are more likely to listen,” she added.
The insights generated from this study have been used to co-design a digital intervention in on ongoing clinical trial at Poole Hospital. The trial will explore whether digital pelvic floor muscle training nudges from a mobile app can be used in maternity pathways to support women with pelvic floor muscle training.
“Some of the nudges build on an in-joke that no-one can see when you’re doing your pelvic floor exercises so you can do them at the bus stop or hospital waiting area.
“If used appropriate humour could be used to reframe how people experience their condition and how they can help themselves,” Rosie concluded.
New partnership delivering solar energy for Poole Hospital
As part of UHD’s transition to net zero, Aztec Solar Energy has become a Centrica Business Solutions energy partner and will complete its first solar photovoltaic (PV) design and installation project at Poole Hospital. 
The project involves five interconnected roofs on one building and will have 470 PV panels, five SolarEdge inverters and 261 optimisers. Estimates show that it will generate circa 200,000 kWh annually to save circa 50 tonnes of CO2 a year.
Aztec Solar will connect, commission and test the new solar PV system over just two days after installing the panels, inverters and other equipment over the preceding weeks.
Stuart Lane, UHD's sustainability and carbon manager, said:
“We are delighted to announce successful project completions with Centrica Business Solutions and Aztec, overcoming site constraints and height access challenges.
“We are implementing a new roof-mounted photovoltaic system to advance our commitment towards achieving net zero carbon targets.
"Upon completion, this installation is projected to generate circa 200,000 kWh of power or approximately 5% of Poole Hospital’s power demand and offset approximately 50 tonnes of CO2 a year.
“The solar panel arrays are situated atop the Phillip Arnold blocks and the Dorset Cancer Centre.
"This partnership underscores our commitment to embrace solar energy as we decarbonise our estate - enhancing healthcare facilities and services for our community.”
Phil Bryant, head of public sector sales for Centrica Business Solutions said:
“Aztec Solar is an excellent addition to our energy partner programme and given their experience in the health sector and their expertise in installing solar PV systems on commercial buildings, they were the ideal company to partner with for the delivery of the project at Poole Hospital.
“We’re seeing an uptick in demand from public sector and commercial organisations, looking to take advantage of the space above their heads for solar schemes.
"This provides cost certainty and a source of green power, supporting long-term sustainability ambitions.”
Commenting on the project Chris Cowling, commercial director at Aztec Solar said:
“Becoming a Centrica Business Solutions energy partner is an important step in our business’ growth in designing and delivering commercial solar PV installations.
"Poole Hospital is one of many healthcare buildings that we have provided solutions for, so we understand how important it is to work closely with Centrica Business Solutions to minimise the effects of our installation and the electrical shutdown on patient wellbeing and medical equipment.”
In line with the NHS Long Term Plan, UHD is committed to embedding sustainability across its organisation and with partners, leading by example in its sector and improving the health and wellbeing of the communities it serves.
One week left to nominate for our Patient Choice awards!
Your local hospitals are giving you the chance to put forward staff or volunteers you feel have gone the extra mile for special recognition.
The Patient Choice Team Award and Patient Choice Individual Award are two of the categories seeking to highlight some of the incredible individuals and teams that make up University Hospitals Dorset – Christchurch, Poole and Royal Bournemouth hospitals.
They form part of the UHD Awards 2024, which recognise and celebrate hospital staff, those working for key partners in our hospitals and for volunteers who freely give their time and skills.
Nominating is simple – just click here to find an online form and guidance on what judges will be looking for to help your nomination stand out.
Judges will be looking for individuals and teams for who nothing is too much trouble, provide great care or service, treat others with kindness and respect, and are a great example to others.
Siobhan Harrington, chief executive for UHD, said: “Ultimately we are all here to provide the best care we can for our patients. For me, this means the complete experience patients have from the moment they step foot in our hospitals or speak to a member of our team on the phone or online, not necessarily just the clinical care we provide.
“Every member of our staff can contribute to the care a patient experiences, and I hope as many members of the public as possible take the opportunity to put someone forward in the Patient Choice categories.
“We saw at our first awards last year how much that recognition from the public means to our UHD family, so we’d love to see as many nominations in this category as possible.”
The winners will be decided by a judging panel representing a wide range of UHD staff and announced at an awards event at The Pavilion in Bournemouth on 20 June.
Nominations must be made by midnight on 3 May 2024.
Click here to make your nomination!
Our 2023 UHD Awards winners
Patient Choice Awards judging criteria
Recognising an individual or team who (some or all criteria may be relevant):
- actively promote a positive and memorable experience of our hospitals
- go the extra mile - nothing is too much trouble
- deliver consistently great care or service
- treat others with kindness and care, dignity and respect, and are supportive and compassionate
- are a great example and role model to others
University Hospitals Dorset (UHD) recently held a free Understanding Health talk around ‘Understanding hips: how to avoid surgery’.
The talk was presented by Professor Robert Middleton, consultant orthopaedic surgeon and head of the orthopaedic research institute at Bournemouth University and brought to you by your trust governors.
The free event took place on 10 April 2024 at 2.30pm in St. Saviour's Church in Bournemouth. Despite the bad weather, the event was attended by almost 300 people. It was also streamed via Microsoft Teams.
To watch a recording of the event, please click here.
Planned relocation of haematology inpatient services
In the ongoing transformation efforts of University Hospitals Dorset, we are pleased to announce the relocation of the Poole inpatient haematology ward (Durlston), to Ward 7R at the Royal Bournemouth site, effective from the week commencing 29 April 2024
This strategic move is designed to centralise our haematology inpatient beds onto a single hospital site, thereby streamlining resources and fostering the development of a unified, highly skilled team.
We anticipate significant benefits for our haematology patients, including the establishment of a sustainable specialist service, aimed at ensuring the delivery of optimal treatment outcomes.
We wish to reassure you that this relocation is not expected to impact your cancer care treatment, aside from the change in the location for inpatient admissions, which will now be facilitated at the Bournemouth site from the w/c 29 April 2024
We appreciate this matter may raise some questions and hope these FAQs are helpful.
If you have any further questions, please contact our patient experience team: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
