Caring and its impact on health

background

The majority of care in the UK is provided by family and friends rather than by the NHS and social care services. The 2011 Census revealed that 6.5 million people in the UK are carers. Since the 2000’s, there has been a shift in the locus of care from hospitals and care homes to care at home. Carers have had to take on a quasi-nursing role, with higher physical and emotional demands being placed on them. Carers are also likely to face considerable financial hardship, as well as facing social isolation. Previous work has focused on the mental health and well-being of carers, but there are major gaps in the evidence base on the physical health consequences of caring, with a lack of prospective studies and a lack of control for confounding. 

Using data from the prospective Million Women Study, this research will provide robust evidence on the health consequences of caring and the associated cost to the NHS.

The objectives are:

1. Assess the prospective association between caring and risk of cause-specific hospital admissions
2. Assess whether the association of caring with hospital admissions varies by socio-economic factors
3. Estimate the additional costs associated with any increase in hospital admissions.

RESEARCH EXPERIENCE, RESEARCH METHODS AND TRAINING

Attendance at seminars, workshops and courses provided by the Department and University will be encouraged. There will be opportunity to present research work at relevant international/national conferences.

PROSPECTIVE  STUDENT

This project will be most suitable for a student who has experience in social epidemiology and health economics. Advanced knowledge of epidemiology and statistics is required, as is scientific writing ability.