NIHRDataInsights/HRCSData huggingface dataset:
Title: Global Ageing and Long-Term Care Network
Funder: Economic and Social Research Council

Abstract: The world's population is ageing rapidly. In 2015, there were 900 million individuals aged 60 and over, of whom two-thirds live in the developing world; by 2050 this figure is expected to more than double to over 2 billion and 80% of these individuals will be living in less developed countries, many of which currently lack comprehensive systems of social protection (WHO, 2015). Globally, the family remains the dominant source of support for social care in later life. However, with increasing participation - particularly of women - in the paid labour market and higher levels of migration, traditional systems of family support are coming under pressure. Across the globe formal systems of long-term care are evolving to complement informal (unpaid) care from family members and non-family networks. In some contexts, such systems are already well developed but in others they are evolving organically with little or no oversight or regulation. The WHO, in its World Report on Ageing and Health (2015) highlighted the imperative of developing long-term care systems that enable older people to receive care and support that is 'consistent with their basic rights, fundamental freedoms and human dignity'. Through the organisation of a series of workshops, the Global Ageing and Long-term Care (GALNet) will facilitate the sharing of insights into the factors underpinning the need for, and present realities of, long-term care and how these might vary across different social groups, along with discussion of alternative models for long-term care from different sources, and the balance between informal (unpaid) care provided by family members and non-family networks, formal support provided by the state or Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), or formal paid for support purchased through the private sector. A key outcome of the Network will be its final report, which will identify a future research agenda for the long term care of older people within a rights based framework, drawing on south-south learning.


Research activity codes: 8.1 ORGANISATION AND DELIVERY OF SERVICES
Health categories: GENERIC HEALTH RELEVANCE
Title: Long-term coping in families of released prisoners: a study of individual and family resilience
Funder: Economic and Social Research Council

Abstract: The proposed research will investigate processes of resilience in families who have experienced the imprisonment of the father. Building on a unique data set from a recent longitudinal study which gathered information from prisoners, their (ex)partners and children during and after imprisonment, this study will examine individual and family-wide coping processes and experiences of social (re)integration approximately six years after the father's release from prison. In contrast to most existing research, the study will not focus only on risk factors for problematic adaptation but put particular emphasis on protective functions of family relationships and support networks in the face of multiple risks to well-being (e.g. criminal behaviour, health problems, alcohol and drug misuse, school or employment problems, and social disintegration). The data will be used in part to test and further develop a family-oriented process model of resilience that can inform social policy and the development of practice.


Research activity codes: 2.3 PSYCHOLOGICAL, SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC FACTORS
Health categories: GENERIC HEALTH RELEVANCE
Title: How the Urban Poor Define and Measure Food Insecurity and Nutrition
Funder: Economic and Social Research Council

Abstract: Urbanisation in low-income nations presents both opportunities and immense challenges. As urban centres grow rapidly, inadequate housing and the lack of basic infrastructure and services affect a large and growing proportion of their population. There is also a growing body of evidence on urban poverty and its links with environmental hazards. There is, however, limited knowledge of how these challenges affect the ways in which poor urban residents gain access to food and secure healthy and nutritious diets. There is also limited understanding of how different forms of conflict/fragility affect food security and nutrition of the urban poor. Poor communities usually have little voice but enormous and in-depth knowledge of their contexts, and of the priorities for action. And while local governments in low-income nations have a key role in reducing poverty and increasing environmental sustainability, they are typically under-resourced and unable to gather sufficient, timely and reliable data on rapidly changing contexts where urban growth and the erosion of natural resources overlap and can lead to conflict. Working with poor community organisations led by women in cities in Cambodia and Nepal, this project lets the poor themselves define and measure food security and nutrition using methods and tools that include the use of innovative but affordable technology. The collection of data and their analysis provides the groundwork for a dialogue that brings together grassroots organisations of the urban poor, local governments and other stakeholders. This, in turn, sets the basis for the co-production of solutions that respond to the needs of local low-income communities. At the same time, the knowledge developed informs global debates on policy that addresses the intersection of poverty, environmental sustainability and institutional fragility that can lead to conflict.


Research activity codes: 1.2 PSYCHOLOGICAL AND SOCIOECONOMIC PROCESSES
Health categories: GENERIC HEALTH RELEVANCE
Title: Understanding the impact of discrimination on health and wellbeing
Funder: Economic and Social Research Council

Abstract: Growing evidence suggests that people who experience discrimination suffer poorer mental health and may even be at increased risk of physical health conditions, including cardiovascular disease and obesity. Discrimination, as a social stressor, may adversely affect health and wellbeing through biological stress pathways, promotion of unhealthy behaviours as a means to cope with or escape negative affect, and/or restricted access to or uptake of healthcare and disease prevention services. Research in this field has been dominated by studies of racism in the USA, and the current evidence base on the impact of discrimination on health lacks high-quality longitudinal data, and consideration of varied types of discrimination (e.g. discrimination on the basis of age, sex, ethnic group, nationality, religion, language, sexual orientation, health condition, disability and weight). Examining the influence of social factors on mental health is one of the ESRC's core strategic priorities. Discrimination is a topical issue in Europe with the migrant crisis, UK 'Brexit' vote and recent terrorist attacks in England and elsewhere fuelling negative attitudes towards social minority groups. Moreover, addressing health inequalities is a major policy focus, so it is crucial to understand how discrimination affects health and wellbeing in vulnerable groups and to identify the policy levers that can reduce inequalities in health that occur as a direct result of discrimination. This study is a collaboration between an academic group at University College London and several charities working on issues of discrimination and wellbeing (Age UK, Leonard Cheshire Disability and Weight Concern), and will clarify these relationships using data from large cohorts of adults from the UK and across Europe. Our partner charities have a specific focus on discrimination based on age, disability and obesity, but we shall also address issues related to gender, ethnicity/nationality, and religion. Our specific objectives are: 1) To estimate the impact of perceived discrimination on health and wellbeing, including the extent to which effects vary according to the type of discrimination, health outcome, and European country; 2) To examine health impacts in relation to the frequency and pervasiveness of discrimination; 3) To explore mechanisms through which the multi-faceted nature of discrimination affects health and wellbeing. We anticipate that findings from this study will help policy-makers and practitioners develop policies and interventions that can help improve health and wellbeing in the different groups that experience discrimination.


Research activity codes: 2.3 PSYCHOLOGICAL, SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC FACTORS
Health categories: GENERIC HEALTH RELEVANCE
Title: Centre for Longitudinal Study Information and User Support (CeLSIUS): Research Support Unit for the ONS Longitudinal Study for England & Wales 2018-20
Funder: Economic and Social Research Council

Abstract: CeLSIUS is a research support unit providing support for analysis of the Office of National Statistics Longitudinal Study (ONS LS) which is a complete set of census records for individuals, linked between successive censuses, together with data for various events. It relates to a sample of the population of England and Wales. The sample comprises people born on one of four selected dates of birth and therefore makes up about 1% of the total population. The sample was initiated at the time of the 1971 Census, and the five dates were used to update the sample at the 1981,1991 2001 and 2011 Censuses and in vital event registrations and registration of cancer. Thus, the ONS LS represents a continuous sample of the population of England and Wales, rather than a sample taken at one time point only. It currently includes records for over 1,100,000 study members. Census information is also included for all people living in the same household as the ONS LS member. However, it is important to emphasise that the ONS LS does not follow up household members in the same way from census to census. Full ONS LS members enter the study through birth on one of the four dates and immigration and existing members leave through death and emigration. The four dates are known only to a small number of researchers based in ONS and the data is analysed in anonymised form and all results are published so that no one could be identified from them. What types of analysis does CeLSIUS support? In the past valuable analysis of births, cancer, deaths, and other census data has been completed with support from the research support unit. This has included various projects. Linked analysis of census and births, deaths and cancer registration data. For example: studies of associations between employment status and mortality, between economic status and cancer registrations, or between socio-economic factors and fertility; or survival analysis of mortality by area deprivation. Analysis of successive census data. For example: analysis of patterns of retirement migration, studies of the effects of divorce and remarriage on housing tenure, comparison of changes in education, employment and migration between the 1970s and 1980s, patterns of NEETS in 1971 and 1991. Analysis of successive event data. For example, studies of changes in birth spacing, associations between fertility and cancer survival. Cross-sectional analysis of a single census year, especially for studies of ethnic or geographical factors where the 1971 round is a unique resource. International comparisons. Countries such as Scotland, Northern Ireland, France, Denmark, Finland and the USA have similar programmes to the LS. This project will continue to provide users with support in using the data and enable research to be carried out between 2018 and 2020.


Research activity codes: 1.4 METHODOLOGIES AND MEASUREMENTS
Health categories: GENERIC HEALTH RELEVANCE
Title: METADAC
Funder: Economic and Social Research Council

Abstract: Some of the most important advances in our understanding of health and society are based on research studies that have been collecting information (or data) from ordinary people over many years. These studies are called longitudinal studies. The UK has a unique history of supporting longitudinal studies, with some starting as long ago as the 1930s. Longitudinal studies collect data about how people live, their health, well-being, education, as well as their social and physical environments. Some also collect biological samples (e.g. blood or urine) which can be processed to obtain data about inherited characteristics (genetics). For example, these studies have shown us that smoking in pregnancy leads to poorer health in babies and that inherited characteristics can affect health conditions such as diabetes and high blood pressure. Researchers from the UK and around the world can use these data and samples from longitudinal studies to answer important questions about human health and wellbeing. Some of these data collections contain information that is sensitive, especially when different types of data or samples are combined. For this reason access to the data and samples for research is restricted. Only qualified researchers working for recognised research institutions can use these data or samples. Independent committees exist to safeguard the people who contributed the data. The METADAC project runs such an independent committee to approve applications from researchers to access data and samples from UK longitudinal studies. METADAC designs the rules for making sure that access to data and samples for research is safe and secure based on the best practice and policies from around the world. METADAC also ensures that the process of applying for access is fair and transparent. METADAC includes experts in science, ethics, law and clinical practice who have an understanding of the complexities of sharing data and samples for research. METADAC also includes people who provide data and samples for longitudinal studies (the study participants) in developing rules about access and in granting permission for researchers to access data and samples. METADAC has already successfully completed three years of development - 2015 to 2018. In its second phase (2018 to 2020) METADAC will continue to provide safe and fair access for research which combines different types of data and uses samples. METADAC will strengthen and promote its systems so that more researchers can use data and samples from longitudinal studies to advance knowledge about health and society. As part of its commitment to safe use of data and samples, METADAC will also work closely with other organisations who are charged with keeping the data and samples from UK longitudinal studies safe and secure.


Research activity codes: 8.3 POLICY, ETHICS AND RESEARCH GOVERNANCE
Health categories: GENERIC HEALTH RELEVANCE
Title: Developing methods to Evidence 'Social enterprise as a public health intervention'
Funder: Economic and Social Research Council

Abstract: In seeking to develop the methods required to evidence 'social enterprise as a public health intervention', three main stages of work are required. The first stage (years 1-3) focuses on building a conceptual model of the input-output relationship, characterising how we might get from engaging with social enterprise activity to enhanced health for individuals or communities and the implications for what should be measured. In this programme of work, we propose to do this through two means: a history project, combining oral histories with interrogation of the Social Enterprise (Scotland) Collection; and a more contemporary analysis, involving systematic review as well as survey research and in-depth interviews with entities in the social enterprise sector in Scotland. The programme will then move (in years 2-4) to investigate the input-output relationship in three case studies, involving overarching organisations encouraging social enterprise activities in rural and urban communities and across various age groups in Scotland. This will involve mixed methods, quantitative elements exploring the feasibility of using broader measures of health-related well-being covering aspects such as sense of coherence, social capital and capabilities as well as more-regular measures of health. The final stage of the proposed research (years 3-5) will involve the design and application of quasi-experimental comparative studies of the impact on health and well-being of engaging with two large social enterprises, one aimed at enhancing tenancy sustainability in young adults and social isolation in older people and the other aimed at improving health and educational opportunities of young adults.


Research activity codes: 8.1 ORGANISATION AND DELIVERY OF SERVICES;8.4 RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGIES (HEALTH SERVICES)
Health categories: GENERIC HEALTH RELEVANCE
Title: MICA: Supporting Older People into Employment (SOPIE): Identifying factors influencing return to work in the over 50s.
Funder: Economic and Social Research Council

Abstract: The objectives are: 1. To understand the different work and health trajectories experienced by clients during their engagement with the Ingeus WP and how these differ by stage of the lifecourse and multiple dimensions of socio-economic position; 2. To establish a large-scale cohort of WP clients to enable long term analysis of the relationships between health, worklessness and the RTW process, and sustainability of employment, in the over 50s. We intend to use a mixed-methods observational methodology consisting of embedded fieldwork, and longitudinal qualitative and quantitative components. The embedded stage will establish administrative data collection procedures and map the detailed processes clients pass through in Ingeus WP. The qualitative study will involve interviews with purposively sampled WP clients to focus on experiences of: the WP; the interaction between age, health and employability across the lifecourse; and barriers or facilitators to RTW. Staff will be interviewed to give an understanding of the referral, assessment and intervention processes. The quantitative component will study a cohort of clients engaging in the WP from April 2013 to March 2014. We will quantify the relative frequencies of various patterns of RTW (or not), and the various intervention components provided, cross-classified by client characteristics relevant to programme success and explore those individual and area characteristics (such as unemployment measures and job densities), associated with sustainable RTW with a particular focus on how these vary by age. Analyses will use logistic regression and Cox regression models for time to event (RTW or length in work following return). We will also link the pilot sample (5,000 individuals) to routine health data (e.g. deaths, hospital discharges, prescriptions). The findings will help Ingeus to improve their services, and the research findings will provide important policy learning about how to support older people's RTW.


Research activity codes: 2.4 SURVEILLANCE AND DISTRIBUTION;8.1 ORGANISATION AND DELIVERY OF SERVICES
Health categories: GENERIC HEALTH RELEVANCE
Title: Extending Working Lives in the NHS: Opportunities, Challenges and Prospects
Funder: Economic and Social Research Council

Abstract: The research, a case study of the management of employment change in the NHS, is advanced against the backdrop of far-reaching changes in the UK state pension age, the abolition of the mandatory retirement age and raising of the NHS occupational pension age. Using quantitative and qualitative methods and taking a dynamic, longitudinal approach, our research will recognise that employees are members of teams within inter-related strategic functions in health care delivery. Attitudes and behaviour are thus formed within specific social settings and against particular histories that bear on current choice sets. It will examine the formation of individual beliefs and knowledge and their impact on employee decision making over working life and retirement planning. A focus is how the decision architecture rooted in employer practices impact on behaviour at key points of transition in career pathways, retirement planning, and pension choices. How do, eg, the availability of flexible working and the scope for redeployment construct and constrain behaviour? The significance of job design and redesign will also be investigated. Our study will deepen theoretical and empirical knowledge of how an ageing workforce, health and work interact. It will enable a better assessment of the impact of an ageing workforce on organisational performance, with three distinctive focuses: 1) previous research on labour productivity has been highly aggregated and focused on crucially important measurement issues; we will also investigate the processes underlying age-wage-productivity dynamics through quantitative and qualitative research at Trust and occupational level. 2) we will interrogate the connections between inputs (differentiated by skill, gender, age and occupation), processes (eg, employee voice, participation) and outputs (absenteeism, response times, exit rates). It will explore perceived/real differences in interests between groups (eg, intergenerational and management/employees).


Research activity codes: 7.1 INDIVIDUAL CARE NEEDS;8.1 ORGANISATION AND DELIVERY OF SERVICES
Health categories: GENERIC HEALTH RELEVANCE
Title: Using linked health and administrative data to reduce bias due to missing data and measurement error in observational research
Funder: Economic and Social Research Council

Abstract: Aim To examine how linked health and administrative data can be used to avoid bias in cohort studies, using the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) as an exemplar. Objectives 1. To develop methods for using linked health and administrative data to examine patterns of missing data and model missingness mechanisms in ALSPAC. 2. To incorporate linked health and administrative data in multiple imputation models. 3. To compare data in ALSPAC to equivalent outcomes recorded in linked electronic primary care records to investigate measurement error. 4. To develop methods to use both linked data and self-reported data to minimise the impact of measurement error on analyses. 5. To devise and modify existing algorithms for defining depression using electronic GP data and to use this information to estimate the prevalence of depression among ALSPAC teenagers. Methodology ALSPAC is a prospective cohort study. Around 14,000 pregnant women were recruited into the study during 1990-1991. Follow up is ongoing; data have been primarily collected via questionnaires and clinics held at the University of Bristol. Educational data have also been obtained via linkage to the National Pupil Database and the Project to Enhance ALSPAC through Record Linkage (PEARL) has or is currently linking to other datasets, including electronic patient (GP) records. GP data will be analysed in a safe setting and relevant statistical methods, including simulations and multiple imputation will be used as appropriate. Scientific/medical opportunities To draw valid conclusions from observational research, selection and measurement bias need to be quantified and their impact minimised. The proposed research will address this by using linked health and education data to examine misclassification and missingness mechanisms in ALSPAC (a large observational study) and develop ways in which linked data can be used to reduce bias.


Research activity codes: 8.4 RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGIES (HEALTH SERVICES)
Health categories: GENERIC HEALTH RELEVANCE