Research Type: Housing & Area-Based Characteristics

It is normally important to have accurate address information for statistical and health-screening purposes. However, internet-based methods (eg email) can be used as an alternative and they have the virtue of being ‘placeless’ (eg not tied to a fixed address or geographical location). This could be of value when people change address and become hard to contact if they do not update their address information in administrative data sources.

This research idea was submitted to Queen’s University Science shop by the North Down Community Network (NDCN).

Proposal from NDCN – To carry out research using NI Census information to develop profiles of particular areas within North Down and help identify unmet needs and the degree of resource allocation and investment per area.

Previous research has identified how the household environment, work and family composition can determine a person’s well-being, physical and mental health. One strand of such research has focused on household characteristics, although this has mostly been applied within the continental European context and only rarely within the context of the UK, especially Northern Ireland. Understanding the household structure based on its social, work and family composition and its impact on mental health/health would provide valuable evidence for practitioners, advocacy groups and local government.

Gerontological research repeatedly found a link between being socially isolated and ill physical and mental health of older people (Coyle and Dugan 2012; Hemmesch et al. 2012; Locher et al. 2005). Living alone and being childless have been found to enhance the risk of becoming isolated at older ages (Coyle and Dugan 2012; Wall 1984; Burholt and Scharf 2013). Furthermore, the risk of isolation was found to increase with decreasing physical mobility and health (Victor, Burholt, and Martin 2012; Coyle and Dugan 2012), as actively taking part in local community life becomes more difficult.

Northern Ireland is a small open economy which has undergone a major transformation in migration flows. The accession of eight Eastern European countries to the EU in 2004 resulted in increased migration to Northern Ireland, with a peak net migration of 10,900 in 2007 (NISRA, 2013). In January 2014, Romanian and Bulgarian EU restrictions were removed, and many more migrants are expected to arrive in Northern Ireland. Research indicates that the new migrants are not following traditional patterns of settlement into cities, but are settling in rural towns and villages that do not have experience with the processes of immigration (Jarman, 2006).

Political and policy debates about social-rented housing focus on low spatial mobility and reduced chances of upward social mobility. Academics have also considered the concepts of housing entrapment and selective placement (Smith & Easterlow, 2005). There is also wider academic literature on the inter-relationships between: housing tenure, health, and wider dimensions of social wellbeing, and the measurement of these at both the individual and area level.  This proposal seeks to contribute to this research area by explicitly exploring the relationships between changing health and housing tenure status, and also spatial mobility in Northern Ireland, 2001-2011. A particular focus will be on the extent to which different tenure trajectories (e.g. movements from social rented to owner occupied housing) are associated with changes in health status, and how these are linked to different kinds of spatial move between different types of place.