If you work in communication and primary care then please do consider submitting original research to BMC primary Care's “Communication in Primary Care” Collection. I’m delighted to guest edit this collection alongside Prof Russel Rothman, and we’ll be accepting submissions until 30th July 2026 👇

New study questions the evidence behind behaviour-change communication guidance for GPs Advice on how general practice staff should talk to adult patients about behaviour change is common, but new research from the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences found that this behav...

Talking to patients about diet, smoking or alcohol is common for GPs. 🥗🚭 But is guidance on how to have these conversations evidence-based?

New systematic review in @bmc.springernature.com from a team including @charlottealbury.bsky.social & @jlivbanks.bsky.social suggests often not 🤔

Is behaviour change communication guidance for primary care professionals evidence based?

Important findings from our new systematic review 🔓👇

link.springer.com/article/10.1...

@jlivbanks.bsky.social
@iscaupdates.bsky.social #ConversationAnalysis #ClinicalCommunication

Doctors cleared of criminal damage Six healthcare workers, including four doctors, say their climate activism has been vindicated after being found not guilty of criminal damage for breaking glass windows at the offices of JP Morgan th...

Six healthcare workers, including four doctors, have been found not guilty of criminal damage after breaking windows at the offices of JP Morgan, which they claimed was ‘an act of care’.

Read the full article 👇

Assessing patient education materials about low back pain for understandability, actionability, quality, readability, accuracy, comprehensiveness, and coverage of information about patients’ needs Patients have unhelpful beliefs about low back pain (LBP), which are associated with worse outcomes. Education may modify these beliefs, but patients …

A pleasure to examine Dr Bradley Furlong’s PhD thesis last year at @memorialu.bsky.social primary care research unit, & great to see important publications resulting from his thesis looking at the effectiveness of patient education materials on low back pain

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

No cervical cancer cases in fully HPV-vaccinated women in Scotland A study published by Public Health Scotland finds that the HPV vaccine is

Also very cool: a study from 2024 found that in Scottish women fully vaccinated with the HPV vaccine in 2008, *no* cases of cervical cancer have been found. Not a single one. 100% success rate.

Co-author: "It is [now] possible to make cervical cancer a rare disease.”

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Bertie’s having a whale of a time with his stocking gifts. 🎁

We also say in our paper that results should be interpreted cautiously. I know this is unexciting (and got me replaced on the evening news by an enthusiastic bee keeper), but our research definitely doesn’t say ‘spend a lot on fancy honey’.

Effectiveness of honey for symptomatic relief in upper respiratory tract infections: a systematic review and meta-analysis Background Antibiotic over prescription for upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs) in primary care exacerbates antimicrobial resistance. There is a need for effective alternatives to antibiotic pr...

Recently seen a few companies on Instagram citing our research as a basis to sell fancy honey for treatment during cold season.

A reminder our results showed normal honey can support management of URTI symptoms; you don’t need ‘designer’ honey
ebm.bmj.com/content/26/2...
@oxprimarycare.bsky.social

a woman is covering her mouth with her hand while holding an arrow in her hand . ALT: a woman is covering her mouth with her hand while holding an arrow in her hand .

Saturday morning coincidence-

1. Comedically huge amount of tranexanmic acid arrived in the post
2. An equally comedically huge wooden chopping board falls & bounces off my foot

TXA odds were in my favour
Today.

Systematic review screening going slower than it should because my research buddy just wants chin tickles right now.

Prof Sam Vanderslott kicks off what promises to be a great day thinking about vaccines, vaccinations, and the role of the social sciences. @medsci.ox.ac.uk

If you work in communication and primary care then please do consider submitting original research to BMC primary Care's “Communication in Primary Care” Collection. I’m delighted to guest edit this collection alongside Prof Russel Rothman, and we’ll be accepting submissions until 30th July 2026 👇

conference programme: Time Title Presenter 09:30 – 9:55 Registration, tea and coffee 09:55 – 10:00 Welcome to CA Day 10:00 -10:30 Does Silence Speak Volumes? Accounting for Silences during GPs’ Background Tasks in Telephone Consultations Gilian Noord | Alison Pilnick | Elizabeth Stokoe | Tony Avery | University of Nottingham | Manchester Metropolitan University | London School of Economics and Political Science | University of Nottingham 10:30 -11:00 Whose choice is it? (Shared) decision-making in conversations between social workers and people with learning disabilities. Virginia Calabria | Joe Webb | Brett Smith | Durham University | University of Bristol | Durham University 11.00 – 11:45 Keynote 1: Institutional ‘Lingualism’ as Interactional Practice: A Sequential Typology of Language Access Chase Wesley Raymond | University of Colorado, Boulder 11:45-12:15 Break – tea and coffee and #CAkeOff2025 12:15- 12:45 Are Family Mealtimes Insitutional? Alexa Hepburn | Jonathan Potter | Rutgers and Loughborough Universities | Rutgers and Loughborough Universities 12:45 – 13:15 On the three-partedness of lists Natàlia Server Benetó | Universitat d’Alacant 13:15 – 14:30 Lunch: Christmas Menu available the Edward Herbert Building (EHB) or bring you own! 14:30– 15:00 When Children Take the Floor: Children’s Self-Selection and Doctors’ Recipiency in Pediatric Consultations in China Luyang Zhou | University of York 15:00- 15:30 Lessons learned from trouble: Third-position repair in human-chatbot interaction Ole Pütz | Bielefeld University 15:30 – 16:00 A conversation analytic study of culturally relevant storytelling in consultations between General Practitioners and ethnic minority patients Sanaa Hyder | University of Manchester 16:00 – 16:30 Break – tea and coffee and #CAkeOff2025 16:30-17:00 Managing Emotion Displays in Early Childhood Kathryn Jordin | Loughborough University 17:00 – 17:45 Invited talk 2 Deborah Chinn | King’s College London

It's nearly time for CA day!

I'm so:::::: looking forward to the **18th** year of #EMCA @darg-sessions.bsky.social @lborouniversity.bsky.social having made a tragic diary error last year and missing it.

Here's the registration link and terrific programme:

darg.lboro.ac.uk/event/ca-day...

I will do- thanks Sarah 😀

I’m sure they’re more than likely in the works!

Thanks Charles - I do indeed ❤️ real talk and use it in teaching all the time- i couldn’t find a published paper (yet) though showing measurable changes practitioner behaviour following training using real talk; or papers showing evidence in real talk is absent from ‘standard’ training.

I have a few refs (including @laalaajenkins.bsky.social’s great work on history taking behaviours) but keen to be as thorough as possible. Thanks so much for any references you can sugguest!

#conversationanalysis @lansi2024.bsky.social @rolsi-journal.bsky.social #EMCA #CA

Conversation analysts can you help me out with a response to reviewers? Plz share any evidence that training developed from CA can (a)change healthcare professional behaviours (b)change health outcomes PLUS (c) any references of ‘good practice’ identified through CA being absent from guidance. 🙏

A fantastic fireworks display last night at @somervillecollege.bsky.social . They do this every year, but I’ve missed the last 4 since joining the college as I’m usually away at conferences. Great to finally be able to attend this year and definitely worth waiting for. 🎆🎇

Thank you to everyone who has taken part in our 2025 Hedgehog Survey!

We have had a wonderful response to the survey so far and it has been lovely to see so many photographs of healthy hedgehogs across our patch 🦔

To take part please visit www.durhamwt.com/hedgehog-sur...

Come across Conversation Analysis and want to know more?

Loughborough University's annual online CA for Beginners workshop is on Jan. 15, 2026.

Talks, group work & data sessions with experts.

Registration (£45 or £90) is now open.

More information here
emcawiki.net/CA_for_Begin...

#EMCA

Trying to explain article processing charges to anyone who doesn’t conduct research

2025: GPs need training to spot perimenopause-related mental health issues | Centre for Academic Primary Care | University of Bristol

GPs need training to spot perimenopause-related #MentalHealth issues - new research by Jo Burgin et al. published in @bjgp.bsky.social.

Both patients and doctors frequently miss the connection between mood changes & hormonal shifts during #perimenopause, the study found.

News: tinyurl.com/mpnv2j2d

Fantastic Virgi 🤩🥳

Thank you so much Liliia, and so very happy too that you’re part of the team 🥰

Our 10-week online course on Conversation Analysis starts today. Each week a new module with video lectures, readings, and activities is released. You can enrol for another two weeks (and catch up on the earlier weeks) and you'll still get personalised feedback on your activities from me!

Image collage depicting key impacts of climate change: bleached coral reefs in shallow tropical waters, a massive whale swimming through a warming ocean; melting polar ice sheets breaking into the sea; barren stretches of land showing severe deforestation in the Amazon rainforest. The accompanying text reads: “Warm water coral reefs are suffering more damage than ever before. Polar ice sheets are melting. Atlantic Ocean currents are heading toward collapse. The Amazon rainforest faces devastation.”

The Global Tipping Points Report is clear: without urgent climate action, damage to nature could be irreversible. 🚨

But it's not too late to stop the destruction.

Tell your MP we need action at #COP30 - for the Amazon, for nature, for our world. 🌎👉 https://ow.ly/C9nB50X9Fjg

Planet’s first catastrophic climate tipping point reached, report says, with coral reefs facing ‘widespread dieback’ Unless global heating is reduced to 1.2C ‘as fast as possible’, warm water coral reefs will not remain ‘at any meaningful scale’, a report by 160 scientists from 23 countries warns

This report should be a wake-up call. 🚨

The #ClimateCrisis is already having a devastating effect on some of our world's most precious habitats.

Action must be taken now to protect what we have left, and turn us away from these dangerous tipping points.

"What about body language?"

#EMCA