The impact of caring on physical disease and mental health linking census and GP records
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Birmingham
Department Name: Social Work and Social Care
Abstract
The PhD will examine how being an unpaid carer impacts on physical and mental health. The PhD offers a unique opportunity to work with the ONS linking population-level data sources, including the Longitudinal Study, Clinical Practice Research Database and Hospital Episodes Statistics to explore the consequences of unpaid care on a range of health outcomes and the need for new prescriptions.
The research will be conducted using a range of quantitative methods to track individuals over time and capture changes in life circumstances, unpaid caregiving and health outcomes. It will also explore trends and patterns across the lifecourse in terms of age, sex, social class and ethnicity. This work will provide insights into important inequalities in unpaid care trajectories according to these characteristics and establish an evidence base for support and interventions. The findings will provide policy makers and practitioners with evidence to better understand the implications of unpaid care on health outcomes and NHS service use.
The PhD will incorporate a broad range of methodological techniques, provided by database experts. The PhD will develop excellent methodological skills through access to a range of taught courses at the University of Birmingham; but also at the ONS, including the Data Science Campus (the student will have access to health statisticians and training courses). The PhD student will be based at the University of Birmingham and be supervised by Dr Matthew Bennett and Professor Jon Glasby.
The PhD student will also become an active member of the 'Sustainable Care Research Programme' - a multi-disciplinary ESRC-funded Large Grant (£2.54M), which the academic supervisors are Co-investigators on (http://circle.group.shef.ac.uk/). The programme brings together academics from twenty-two universities worldwide and takes a future-oriented and internationally comparative
look at current approaches to the care needs of adults living at home with chronic health problems or disabilities, examining these in the context of care systems, care work and care relationships.
The research will be conducted using a range of quantitative methods to track individuals over time and capture changes in life circumstances, unpaid caregiving and health outcomes. It will also explore trends and patterns across the lifecourse in terms of age, sex, social class and ethnicity. This work will provide insights into important inequalities in unpaid care trajectories according to these characteristics and establish an evidence base for support and interventions. The findings will provide policy makers and practitioners with evidence to better understand the implications of unpaid care on health outcomes and NHS service use.
The PhD will incorporate a broad range of methodological techniques, provided by database experts. The PhD will develop excellent methodological skills through access to a range of taught courses at the University of Birmingham; but also at the ONS, including the Data Science Campus (the student will have access to health statisticians and training courses). The PhD student will be based at the University of Birmingham and be supervised by Dr Matthew Bennett and Professor Jon Glasby.
The PhD student will also become an active member of the 'Sustainable Care Research Programme' - a multi-disciplinary ESRC-funded Large Grant (£2.54M), which the academic supervisors are Co-investigators on (http://circle.group.shef.ac.uk/). The programme brings together academics from twenty-two universities worldwide and takes a future-oriented and internationally comparative
look at current approaches to the care needs of adults living at home with chronic health problems or disabilities, examining these in the context of care systems, care work and care relationships.
Studentship Projects
| Project Reference | Relationship | Related To | Start | End | Student Name |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ES/P000711/1 | 01/10/2017 | 30/09/2027 | |||
| 2594563 | Studentship | ES/P000711/1 | 01/10/2021 | 30/09/2025 | Abigail Savory |