Nursing Team Launch New Educational Podcast

Today, the School of Healthcare Sciences, Cardiff University, launches its first podcast. The educational podcast titled Behind the Health Statistic explores the human and personal perspectives of health and illness. In a world where our media is saturated with health data and statistics, the podcast aims to take the listener's attention away from the numbers and on to the people.

Behind the Health Statistic has been produced by a team of Nursing Academics led by Ricky Hellyar, a Lecturer in Adult Nursing and involves the participation of individuals who have kindly and bravely shared their health stories. Series one of the podcast is made up of 10 episodes which cover a range of health topics and experiences from living with anorexia, to battling a gambling addiction.

Initially, the distinctive podcast was solely to be part of a module within the Undergraduate Nursing programmes, offering a new and innovative learning tool for students. As its development progressed however, it was clear to the team that it had a further public engagement role, providing a source of education and support for the wider public.

‘Life events, disease and health conditions all have a person, family, community behind them and it’s important that these stories are heard’ said Ricky Hellyar, Lecturer in Adult Nursing.

“These are not always an easy listen. There are candid, open and honest accounts from extremely generous people who have kindly shared their stories with us. It is so important for healthcare students to fully appreciate that there is always a person behind a condition. These people have families, jobs and lives which are all impacted by an individual’s health”.

The first series has taken a year to create with a large effort given to the duty and care of those that shared their stories. The team plan to release a second series in Summer 2021.

Andy Parry, Lecturer in Adult Nursing said; “These episodes allow us to take the time to really have an in-depth and meaningful discussion with somebody experiencing a health issue. It’s humbling to hear people speak so candidly about very personal experiences in their lives”. 

The podcast is narrated by Ricky Hellyar and produced by Pete Smith and Bex Potton.

Listen to series one of the podcast on Spotify here or search for 'Behind the Health Statistic'.