27th January 2023
We are delighted to announce that our call for abstracts for our 2023 iHV Evidence-Based Practice Conference opens today. This year’s conference “Hope for the future” will be held at King’s House Conference Centre in Manchester on 21 September 2023 – save the date!
The conference provides a great opportunity to present your work on a UK platform. We hope that you will join us and showcase the very best of health visiting in Manchester. See details below on how to submit your abstract.
The focus of this year’s EBP conference is health equity. How can we ensure a brighter future, where all babies can thrive and live healthy lives? How can we use the best available evidence and research to promote health equity and strengthen health visiting practice?
Long-standing health care disparities and inequities have been illuminated and exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent cost of living crisis. Systemic inequities, such as poverty and economic disadvantage are preventing babies, children, and families from achieving optimal health, leading to avoidable differences in health outcomes.
Our conference programme brings together local, national, and international experts and speakers who are focused on strengthening health visiting practice. The presentations and workshops will reflect the breadth of health visiting practice, within a “whole system” public health approach, with the aim to equip health visitors with new knowledge and skills to address key challenges in prevention and early intervention work with babies, children, and families.
What are the benefits of presenting at the iHV conference:
Our conference provides an excellent opportunity to showcase the work that you are doing, raising your own profile as a speaker at a UK-wide conference, and that of your organisation (you can add it to your CV and boost your career). It also provides an opportunity for practitioners working in the field of family public health to connect, collaborate and learn from each other. You can also showcase preliminary project work and gain constructive feedback to help shape future activity.
Top scoring abstract authors have the chance to present their work as a concurrent session speaker, or even a plenary talk in the main auditorium (depending on submissions).
Abstract Themes/Topics
We encourage submissions that support the conference theme of health equity. We would love to hear from researchers, educators and clinicians who have led work in the UK that aligns with the iHV conference topics and themes: health equity, integration, innovation, inclusion, and inequalities.
(non-UK applicants will also be considered where there is demonstrable transferable learning):
- Integration: Do you have a good example of an integrated programme of care, that includes health visitors and demonstrates a whole system approach to improve health and reduce inequalities for babies, children, and families, in one or more key public health priority areas?
- Improving access, experience, outcomes and reducing inequalities: We are also interested in submissions that can demonstrate impact and outcomes, particularly for health visiting service users who encounter obstacles accessing health care, and/or people with protected characteristics.
Conference themes may include, but are not limited to, the current priority public health topics for health visiting:
- Transition to parenthood, including preconception care
- Breastfeeding
- Perinatal mental health (mothers, fathers, and partners)
- Infant and child mental health
- Healthy nutrition, physical activity, and healthy weight
- Managing minor illnesses, building health literacy and prevention of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS)
- Reducing unintentional injuries
- The uptake of immunisations
- Primary prevention and health promotion in oral health
- Child development 0-5 years, including speech, language and communication and school readiness
- Sleep
- Children with developmental disorders, disabilities and complex health needs
- Tobacco, alcohol and substance misuse in the perinatal period
- Healthy couple relationships
- Teenage parenthood
Conference fees
There is no fee for making a submission. However, if your submission is accepted, the presenting author will be required to attend the conference in-person and pay the discounted speaker registration fee that applies to them.
To qualify for the discounted speaker rate, you will need to ensure the conference booking form and payment is made by 29 June 2023. Successful abstract authors are responsible for their own travel and accommodation expenses.
What are the presentation opportunities:
At the time of submission, you will be asked to select your preference for oral poster presentation, or oral presentation (concurrent/plenary keynote), or either. If your abstract is accepted, the event organisers will decide which format it will take and will cater to your preference where appropriate and possible.
Abstract Timeline:
- Submissions: The abstract submission deadline is 17 April 2023.
- Notifications: After an iHV peer-review process, participants will be informed of acceptance of abstracts for either oral keynote/concurrent presentation, or poster presentation, by 11 May 2023
How do I submit my abstract?
- Guidelines for submission can be found here
- We have an online submission form which enables you to enter:
- Your basic details
- Select your preference for oral presentation (concurrent/plenary keynote) presentation type or oral poster presentation or either
- Choose your conference theme/topic
- Enter your abstract title and summary of your presentation
