International Network for Research on Inequalities in Child Health (INRICH)

INRICH Research Priorities

We identified the following research priorities that can be conducted by members of our network:

1. Pathways and mechanisms

• Cumulative and additive social risk exposures (e.g. transient v. persistent poverty);
• Stress and allostatic load;
• Social into the biological and epigenetic;
• Intergenerational influences

2. Methodological issues

• Methods for examining change over time including longitudinal effects studies
• Need to define poverty
• Need to study social gradients as well as poverty
• Multi-level studies - Society, Family & Individual
• Regional studies (within countries)
• Which indicators?: for example, perception of health vs. objective measures of health (these may be more reliable in studying mechanisms)
• Root cause analysis to inform policy change.

3. Interventions

• Children’s rights & equity – research into effective use as tools to reduce child health inequalities Policy innovation
• What works in reducing child health inequalities?

INRICH International Projects/Comparisons

We strongly encourage collaborative works that are conducted in a comparative basis within or between countries. The following is a list of non exhaustive potential topics of great interest to our members.

• Societal and policy level influences – what kinds of societies promote child well-being and why?
• Examples: role of wealth transfer; comparing social gradients in child health outcomes across countries; role of paid maternity leave; role of breastfeeding promotion; using LCHD framework to explore how policy in different countries impact on children’s developmental trajectories
• Comparing social gradients in perinatal health indicators, in different countries. Risks differences versus risk ratios. (Nick & Anders to explore)
• Policies and their relationship to health outcomes. Funding being applied for and would welcome collaborators to study data
• Design study using standard measures in, for example, 2 neighborhoods in Montreal, 2 in Brazil, 2 in UK.
• Studies based on current cohorts – comparative secondary analysis of outcomes and relationships with social phenomena (extension of Dr. Louise Seguin and Dr. Nicholas Spencer’s work using ELDEQ & UKMCS)
• Studies on impact of current international situation: changes in economy, families moved into poverty, impact on children’s health and well-being
• Studies of safety nets in different countries