Research Type: Housing & Area-Based Characteristics

Health, housing tenure, and entrapment 2001-2011: Does changing tenure and address improve health?

Health, housing tenure, and entrapment 2001-2011: Does changing tenure and address improve health?

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.

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November 26, 2019
Who you are or where you live? Examining the impact of individual and area level effects on reproductive decision-making, health and risky causes of deaths in Northern Ireland. Part one: fertility and reproductive behaviour.

Who you are or where you live? Examining the impact of individual and area level effects on reproductive decision-making, health and risky causes of deaths in Northern Ireland. Part one: fertility and reproductive behaviour.

There is a growing understanding that there are social gradients in health, teenage birth rates and causes of morbidity and mortality. However, the more ultimate causes and the more precise patterns that underlie this variation is yet largely unknown (Nettle 2010). The overall project aims to better understand individual and area level effects on reproductive decision-making, health and a range of “risky” behaviours related to mortality in Northern Ireland.

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November 26, 2019
Evaluating current area level indicators for measuring disadvantage.

Evaluating current area level indicators for measuring disadvantage.

NI Government currently uses the NIMDM to define areas of disadvantage and subsequently target and channel additional funds to these areas. The methodological foundations of this should be constantly tested, as it is possible that current methodologies are not optimal and that other approaches, such as modelled income data, measures of income inequality (the GINI coefficient), or a combination of the two, may enable a better identification of disadvantaged individuals. The project aims to use NILS to test a range of possible measures of disadvantage. This includes both an examination of (a) the measures themselves – GINI, NIMDM, a measure of areas of multiply deprived households; and (b) the cut points – the boundaries defining the categories used with the indicators. Outcome measures will include both (i) mortality (2001-2009), and (ii) an examination of social mobility as represented in the transitions associated with (NI-)internal migration patterns between super output areas (SOA).

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November 26, 2019
Exploring the relationship between deprivation measured at individual, household and area level and cancer incidence and survival in Northern Ireland: An exemplar linkage study using the NILS and NICR databases.

Exploring the relationship between deprivation measured at individual, household and area level and cancer incidence and survival in Northern Ireland: An exemplar linkage study using the NILS and NICR databases.

Cancer is the most common cause of death in Northern Ireland accounting for 27% of all deaths with one in three people developing some form of the disease before the age of 75 years.

Exploration of inequalities in cancer incidence and survival in Northern Ireland has largely been carried out using area indicators of disadvantage (Donnelly et al, 2007). While such research is valuable and provides useful insights into service delivery on an area basis, there are obvious limitations.

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November 26, 2019
The effect of population movement on the spatial distribution of socio-economic and health status.

The effect of population movement on the spatial distribution of socio-economic and health status.

Recent research has shown that despite government efforts to reduce inequalities in health between areas, the relative gap between those areas with the poorest and best health outcomes has in fact widened. One explanation for the widening gap is that health improvements amongst people living in affluent areas have occurred at a faster rate than for people in deprived areas. An alternative explanation is there has been selective movement between areas, with more affluent individuals leaving deprived and moving towards more affluent areas.

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November 15, 2019
The use of house value (as defined by rateable value) as an indicator of cumulative wealth in older people: a study using the Northern Ireland Mortality study.

The use of house value (as defined by rateable value) as an indicator of cumulative wealth in older people: a study using the Northern Ireland Mortality study.

There has been relatively little research into health inequalities in older populations. This may be partly explained by the difficulty in identifying appropriate indicators of socio-economic status for older people. Ideally, indicators of socio-economic status to be used in studies of health inequalities in older populations should incorporate some measure of life-time socio-economic standing, and house value may fill this role. This study uses recently available data on the rateable value of properties in Northern Ireland which can been linked to the NILS mortality study and examines whether an indicator of accumulated wealth based on a combination of housing tenure and house value is a strong predictor of ill-health in older populations.

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November 15, 2019
A study of the socio-demographic and area correlates of suicides in NI.

A study of the socio-demographic and area correlates of suicides in NI.

Suicide rates vary markedly between geographic areas but it is unclear whether or not this is due to differences in the populations of the areas (composition effects) or to factors which operate at an area level (contextual effects). This study uses to NI-LS to examine a number of area level characteristics to determine if they are independently related to suicide risk after adjustment for individual and family characteristics.

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November 14, 2019
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