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The logos of the Northern Ireland Assembly, Queen's University Belfast, Stranmillis College, St Mary's College, Ulster University and teh Open University. These institutions are the contributing members of the Knowledge Exchange Seminar Series.
The logos of the Northern Ireland Assembly, Queen's University Belfast, Stranmillis College, St Mary's College, Ulster University and teh Open University. These institutions are the contributing members of the Knowledge Exchange Seminar Series.

The Health and Mental Health of Informal Caregivers in Rural and Urban Northern Ireland

Dr Stefanie Doebler (QUB)

This presentation discusses new research findings from a project that analyses effects of providing unpaid care to a family member or neighbour on the self-reported health and mental health of the care-giver. The results are based on robust statistical analyses of Northern Ireland Longitudinal Study (NILS)-data. The NILS is a Census-linked health-records study, representative of the Northern Irish population. In addition, analyses include NILS-linked BSO-prescription data for mental health drugs, allowing for comparisons of the risk of suffering from ill-mental health across different social strata. Furthermore, the findings account for area-level effects (e.g. remoteness and access to services). This allows for a distinction to be drawn between relationships across different sub-populations and across rural-urban area-contexts. The results presented are highly useful to researchers and policy-makers in order to evaluate the social support – and care needs of individuals and families in Northern Ireland. The findings are highly relevant in the following areas: Transforming Your Care; Mental Health (the forthcoming Mental Capacity Bill); Access to Appropriate Care; Gender Equality (following the review of the Gender Equality Strategy); and, Differential Health Outcomes (a socio-economic, demographic and spatial analysis, e.g. differences in sickness rates, disability and mortality).

Date of seminar: 4 February 2015.

See also:
Policy Briefing
Presentation