NIHRDataInsights/HRCSData huggingface dataset:
Title: The Centre of Excellence for Public Health (Northern Ireland)
Funder: Economic and Social Research Council

Abstract: This is one of five Centres funded as part of the UKCRC Public Health Research: Centres of Excellence. Based at Queen’s University Belfast the Centre is building research excellence and multidisciplinary capacity around the social and biological aspects of nutrition and physical activity and the study of inequalities in health and macro-economic determinants.


Research activity codes: 8.5 RESOURCES AND INFRASTRUCTURE (HEALTH SERVICES);8.2 HEALTH AND WELFARE ECONOMICS
Health categories: GENERIC HEALTH RELEVANCE
Title: ESRC/NIH Health Disparities Call: Children's Health Disparities in the US and the UK: The role of the Family
Funder: Economic and Social Research Council

Abstract: This research focuses on the role of family structure in creating and maintaining significant inequality in children's health. In particular, we consider family structure as an independent contributor to health disparities, as a factor that explains some of the observed racial/ethnic and socioeconomic health inequalities, and as a factor that works together in complex ways with race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status to create disparities. Specifically, family structure, along with changes in family structure, is expected to influence (1) the quantity of time that parents spend with their child; (2) the quality of parental time, and (3) the quality of children's physical environments within and outside of the home. Differences in family structure also may account for some of the persistent socioeconomic and racial/ethnic disparities that have been observed in previous work. Over the last several decades the experience of family change has been particularly concentrated among disadvantaged populations, suggesting that family structure transitions may account for what appear to be racial/ethnic and socioeconomic effects on children's health. Similarly, observed relationships between income and children's health may be due indirectly to changes in family structure which have led to a decrease in the financial resources available to mothers. Lower resources influence the quality of children's physical surroundings, their exposure to health risks, and/or their ability to access high-quality health services. Finally, it is unlikely that family structure, race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status work entirely independently of one another to influence children's health. Examining these questions across the U.K. and the U.S. will be particularly instructive, given the similarities in the socioeconomic profiles and traditions of the two countries, combined with differences in their population composition and social policies, especially health care provision. The project will use data from two nationally representative birth cohort studies that follow children from birth through middle childhood: the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (FFS), and the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS). Both surveys contain detailed information on family structure and children's health, and both have substantial socioeconomic and racial/ethnic diversity.


Research activity codes: 2.3 PSYCHOLOGICAL, SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC FACTORS;1.2 PSYCHOLOGICAL AND SOCIOECONOMIC PROCESSES
Health categories: GENERIC HEALTH RELEVANCE
Title: Industrial Productivity, Health Sector Performance and Policy Synergies for Inclusive Growth: A Study in Tanzania and Kenya
Funder: Economic and Social Research Council

Abstract: The proposed project studies the supply chains of commodities - essential medicines, medical equipment and supplies, and some other health essentials such as disinfectant - from local industries and from imports into the health systems in the two countries. Shortages and unaffordability of these commodities are persistent causes of poor quality health care and exclusion from care in low income Africa. For two selected case study countries, Tanzania and Kenya, both low income but one (Kenya) with more developed manufacturing, we aim to test the hypothesis that there are unexplored synergies between industrial and health policies that could be identified, and that, if addressed, could contribute to higher employment, industrial upgrading and improved health system performance and accessibility in each country. If we are correct, improved industrial production, in terms of higher producitivity, more appropriate and cheaper products, and innovative methods of production, could improve health service performance while raising economic output: in other words, it could contribute to inclusive growth. The proposed research would bring together two groups of researchers who often work in separate 'boxes, by linking up the concerns of industrial specialists, looking at the scope for industrial innovation to develop new products and processes and raise industrial productivity, and the concerns of health systems specialists with health system strengthening including improving access to supplies. There is patchy evidence that local production of medicines may improve access to essential medicines, and that shorter supply chains and diversification of sources of supply can reduce shortages, but there are also doubts among health specialists about the quality and economic viability of local production of medicines in Africa. There is however renewed interest among African policy makers and international donors in supporting African industrial development, including local production of pharmaceuticals, and this project would contribute new information to assist debate. This is a research collaboration between two East African research institutes, ACTS in Nairobi, Kenya, and REPOA in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and the Open University, UK, and Rand Europe. It brings together expertise in health systems and health markets; health economics; industrial economics; and technology and innovation studies. The research process will involve from the start private, NGO and public sector stakeholders in both health and industrial sectors, and thus aims to bring together two groups of policy makers too often working in isolation from each other, to debate concrete policy options that arise from the research findings. We aim to translate the research into local and international policy impact.


Research activity codes: 8.1 ORGANISATION AND DELIVERY OF SERVICES;8.3 POLICY, ETHICS AND RESEARCH GOVERNANCE
Health categories: GENERIC HEALTH RELEVANCE
Title: Citizen Contribution to Local Public Services: Field Experiments in Institutions Incorporating Social Information
Funder: Economic and Social Research Council

Abstract: Citizen contributions to public goods are regarded as increasingly important by researchers and policy-makers. These include volunteering to make communities better places. The classic problem is that there are strong incentives for these goods not to be provided, which derive from social norms and competing pressures on people's time. A core idea in recent thinking in behavioural economics and the study of collective action, is that the way information is presented to citizens matters. This can include who makes the request, what social norm is conveyed, and how the behaviour of other participants is recorded. The key idea is that an external agency, what we call an institution, is capable of presenting these messages in ways that are encouraging and help citizens overcome obstacles to participating. We are particularly interested in whether recommendations from prominent people such as those in the voluntary sector can promote civic action, and whether the mentioning of politicians might have a downward effect when compared to other public figures (while being positive overall). We are interested in finding out whether conveying the social norm is important. We want to know whether the form of feedback to citizens creates more of a response. We will feedback information in different ways to examine how it enhances citizen participation. Critically, we are interested in whether the effect of social information is sustained in time or whether the effect diminishes. Our method is the randomized controlled trial, which can isolate the effect of an intervention. The proposal will carry out experiments on two kinds of citizen action. The first is about citizen contributions to a timebank, which is about logging people's time for volunteering. We will work with ten local timebanks, seeing to recruit people by a randomly allocated letter that conveys a commendation from a prominent politician, community representative or fellow citizen. Once we have recruited these people we will monitor their attendance and activities, and see to encourage them to contribute. We will carry out a similar randomised controlled trial to recruit students to an event and to continue voluntary action. Again we test the importance of an endorsement by a politician and important person, with the idea that this person's promised own contribution to a timebank will increase contributions. Again we will monitor this by feedback, but will add an additional feature, whether a financial incentive will increase contributions or crowd them out. With these findings we will be in a position to find out what things public institutions can do to increase voluntary contributions by citizens, in particular by providing them with information that encourages the voluntary donation of time.


Research activity codes: 8.3 POLICY, ETHICS AND RESEARCH GOVERNANCE
Health categories: GENERIC HEALTH RELEVANCE
Title: Understanding resilience in later life in a low resource setting
Funder: Economic and Social Research Council

Abstract: It is estimated that close to 60 percent of the urban population in Kenya live in slums and informal settlements and the number of slum dwellers continues to grow at a fast pace. One of the key development goals is to reduce urban poverty and improve the lives of slum dwellers. The majority of the population in urban areas in sub-Saharan Africa including Nairobi are of working age. However recent research highlights that a growing number of migrants are choosing to age 'in situ', resulting in an increase in the number of older people living in slum areas. Ageing in urban areas of developing countries can be challenging particularly given the lack of formal social support systems for the aged coupled with employability in the urban economy which is notably problematic for older people. Furthermore, the capacity of the family to contribute to the wellbeing of older persons may be weakened both by migratory moves and the daily challenge of life in the slum. Given this context, it is crucial to understand how older people in low-resource settings adapt, their resourcefulness in maximising on the available social capital and how this translates to better health and socio-economic outcomes and overall wellbeing. The proposed study will use recently available panel data to investigate the health and socio-economic trajectories of a cohort of people aged 50 and over living in two Nairobi slums to shed light on the factors that are associated with successful ageing in such a setting. The study will apply mixed methodology and advanced statistical approaches to understand the interplay between individual inherent characteristics and external protective factors such as social or family networks, household attributes, and how these interact with shocks, stressors and adverse life-course events to influence individuals' vulnerability or resilience in experiencing negative outcomes. In-depth cross-case analysis using qualitative techniques will be used to triangulate the findings from the statistical analysis and provide comprehensive understanding of the processes through which older people navigate risks, opportunities and [lack of] choices in mitigating shocks and adverse life events. This research provides the basis for understanding resilience factors among older people and how they might be supported to maximise on existing opportunities and social capital amidst shocks or stresses as well as other life-course events that would potentially impact negatively on their health and socio-economic wellbeing. Findings from the study will be valuable in informing developmental policies designed to alleviate poverty and improve the lives of poor people. In particular, the study will highlight the situation of older people living in urban slums in sub-Saharan Africa, a group that is largely invisible in the development discourse and research focusing on the region.


Research activity codes: 1.2 PSYCHOLOGICAL AND SOCIOECONOMIC PROCESSES
Health categories: GENERIC HEALTH RELEVANCE
Title: The design and evaluation of a mobile learning intervention for the training and supervision of community health workers
Funder: Economic and Social Research Council

Abstract: This project relates to the Information and Communications Technology and Development theme of the call. Through this innovative 2-year mobile learning project, the Institute of Education, University of London (IoE) and the African Medical and Research Foundation (AMREF) aim to advance the training and supervision of community health workers (CHWs) in Kenya, resulting in improved access to primary health care for the marginalised communities of Makueni County and the Kibera informal settlement. This is important because supporting poor communities gain access to health care by training CHWs and connecting them to the local health system can help reduce poverty. CHWs are community members who provide basic medical services. Research consistently evidences CHWs pivotal role in providing equitable health access in support of poverty alleviation by preventing and diagnosing diseases like malaria and HIV, treating minor ailments, referring patients and providing support and care for pregnant women and babies. This project will work closely with CHWs and their supervisors to collaboratively design, develop implement and evaluate a mobile learning intervention that better connects CHWs and supervisors. The innovative nature of this intervention will mean that for the first time CHWs will have a mobile portfolio of their practice, easily accessible reference material on their phone and the ability to share practice related questions and resources with their colleagues through activities which promote peer learning and reflection. Supervisors will be better informed of CHWs' training needs and AMREF will gain a better insight into the nature and frequency of their two-way interaction and into the specifics of on-the-ground support structures needed for intervention implementation. Kenyan policymakers will benefit from policy briefings demonstrating how our mobile intervention supports affordable, equitable and effective access to health care. The improved mobile-based supervision and training will link CHWs more closely to the local primary healthcare system so as they can be more effective in reducing poverty through improving the access of local communities to health care.


Research activity codes: 8.1 ORGANISATION AND DELIVERY OF SERVICES
Health categories: GENERIC HEALTH RELEVANCE
Title: INTEGRATE: International Network of Generational Transfers Research
Funder: Economic and Social Research Council

Abstract: The ageing of populations is a global phenomenon. National governments are concerned about the financial implications of this. In particular, the extent to which states can provide services and support through public transfers of funds. This raises further concerns about the equity of transfers away from a declining younger generation toward a growing older generation. There are significant debates to be had around the level of taxes, availability of benefits, and age of retirement. This however addresses only half of the issue, and ignores the private transfers that take place within families. The transfer of private wealth (and in-kind support) is increasingly important not only for the life chances of younger generations but also the protection of older ones. Younger people's opportunities are increasingly dependent upon the level of assistance they receive as they face key life events (such as education, starting a family and home ownership). Furthermore, as limited public resources are stretched, support from families has (once again) become an important aspect for older people as an insurance against poverty and increased care needs. Much current works focuses on this 'generational conflict' - whether transfers happen, and which direction they operate: a public focus on upward transfers (from younger to older generations) or a private focus on downward transfers (from parents to children and grandchildren). But little research considers the implications of these transfers for the reproduction of inequalities and the welfare and wellbeing of future societies. The issue of transfers across and within generations is thus an emerging and growing area of concern at national and international level, but much research has concentrated on single countries. Comparative research is developing, however, there are still restrictions due to data availability; a focus on western developed nations; and lack of funds/resources to build and develop connections with other scholars. Institutional, policy and cultural differences exist across individual nations, however, the nature and need for inter- and intra-generational transfers is universal. This new network of researchers will bring together expertise in the field, share current knowledge and importantly identify key gaps in understanding. The INTEGRATE Network will have a specific purpose of developing international research, and maintaining international links for the continued sharing and exchange of data, research and knowledge.


Research activity codes: 1.2 PSYCHOLOGICAL AND SOCIOECONOMIC PROCESSES
Health categories: GENERIC HEALTH RELEVANCE
Title: Improved Measures of the Family Environment in Longitudinal Population Studies of Child Health in Sub-Saharan Africa
Funder: Economic and Social Research Council

Abstract: Child health is a global health priority with over 6 million preventable child deaths occurring every year in developing countries and more than 200 million children failing to reach their full developmental potential. The Millennium Development Goal to reduce child mortality by two-thirds is far from being met in sub-Saharan Africa. Families are central to the health and development of children. There is increasing evidence that interventions and policies can successfully support families in promoting better health and wellbeing of children. The design and evaluation of these interventions requires high quality, detailed and validated data on families and child health which is currently very limited in sub-Saharan Africa. Our research will identify better ways to measure and characterize complex and dynamic family relationships and processes. The improvements in data about families will assist us and other researchers and service-sector agencies in our efforts to understand and support families in promoting the health of their children in low and middle-income countries. Using a well-established demographic surveillance system in rural South Africa as a model, we will develop and test new instruments and strategies for collecting improved data about families. The research involves researchers at the University of Southampton, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the Africa Centre for Health and Population Studies.


Research activity codes: 1.4 METHODOLOGIES AND MEASUREMENTS;2.5 RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGIES (AETIOLOGY)
Health categories: GENERIC HEALTH RELEVANCE
Title: Education and social outcomes for young people: promoting success
Funder: Economic and Social Research Council

Abstract: This project aims to investigate the role of general education and vocational education and training in the determination of social benefits for individuals. It focuses in particular on health and civic and social engagement as possible social benefits of education. A number of studies have shown that the attainment of educational qualifications, or years of education, impacts on individuals' health, their degree of engagement with society, the way in which they interact with their families and society well-being in general. This research has focused on the direct effect of education, generally ignoring the 'kinds' of educational attainment that lead to particular social benefits and, more importantly, studies have not focused clearly on the potential channels for the transmission of these educational effects to wider social outcomes. This project builds upon these understandings through empirical research on the role of general education and vocational education and training in the determination of social outcomes for individuals during their school to work transition in England and Germany. Our theoretical grounds for undertaking this project are solid, with background work having been undertaken by leading economists, sociologists and psychologists in the area of the wider benefits of education. We also differentiate between the attainment of academic or vocational qualifications in two different educational systems (England and Germany) in order to address the potential institutional forms of support that complement the formation of particular social outcomes in these countries. This will be achieved through cross-country comparative analyses. The project uses two unique longitudinal datasets, the SOEP and the BHPS, which include yearly information on individuals over the age of 16 years since the late 1980s/early 1990s respectively. An innovative approach will be used to select the cohort of young people and identify their educational trajectories and transitions into the labour market. The analysis will differentiate between young people who have followed an academic route and those who have followed a vocational route. The study also includes a focus on important economic, social and psychological indicators that can be used to quantify the possible mechanisms by which education can lead to social outcomes. After an intense data management period, which includes identifying and classifying educational trajectories and linking educational trajectories to labour market trajectories, the researchers from Germany and England will develop structural equation models to identify the main channels for educational effects on particular social outcomes. Results will be analysed in the light of possible recommendations for policy and practice.


Research activity codes: 1.2 PSYCHOLOGICAL AND SOCIOECONOMIC PROCESSES
Health categories: GENERIC HEALTH RELEVANCE