Northern Ireland Family Research Articles

A qualitative exploration of the impact of COVID-19 on food decisions of economically disadvantaged families in Northern Ireland

BackgroundThe first UK-wide lockdown to prevent the spread of COVID-19 had a serious financial impact on low-income households, a population already in higher risk of food insecurity and poor dietary choices. Qualitative data on the impact of COVID-19 lockdown on food decisions of UK families are scarce. This study aimed to explore how the measures to control the spread of COVID-19 influenced the food-related decisions of socioeconomically deprived families in Northern Ireland.MethodsA qualitative study captured data from online individual interviews. Participation was open for parents of children 2–17 years old living on a tight budget in urban and rural areas of Northern Ireland. A sampling matrix enabled equal representation of single- and two-parent households, as well as parents of younger children (<12y) and adolescents (≥12y). Data were collected by using the methods of Photovoice and mapping exercise. Data were analysed through a thematic approach.ResultsTwelve online interviews were conducted and five distinct themes were identified reflecting families’ food-related decisions that were affected by the COVID-19 lockdown: 1) food planning; 2) food purchasing; 3) meal preparation; 4) eating and feeding behaviours and 5) eating food prepared outside the house.ConclusionsThe restrictions put in place to inhibit the spread of COVID-19 influenced all aspects of dietary decisions of low-income families. Changes observed during this period included frequent consumption of homemade meals, but also increased unhealthy snacking. Infrequent food shopping encouraged good meal planning, but was also a barrier to securing adequate fresh food. Food-related support including school meal assistance contributed to families’ food security, particularly those of single parents.

Food Decisions of Low-Income Families in the Era of COVID-19: A Qualitative Exploration

ObjectivesThe first lockdown enforced in the United Kingdom to limit the spread of COVID-19 had serious financial consequences for some lower-income households, which were already at risk of suboptimal food choices. Particularly in Northern Ireland, where 10% of the population live in food insecure households, the pandemic has potentially further exacerbated the nutritional challenges experienced by low-income families. This paper aimed to explore the impact of the COVID-19 lockdown on food-related decisions as experienced by economically disadvantaged families in Northern Ireland, UK.MethodsA qualitative study collected data through online individual interviews. Participation was open to parents of children 2–17 years old who self-identified as living on a tight budget in urban and rural areas of Northern Ireland. A sampling matrix enabled equal representation of single- and two-parent households, as well as younger(<12 y) and older children (>12 y). Photovoice and participatory mapping techniques were employed to capture participant data. A thematic approach was utilised for data analysis.ResultsA total of 12 interviews were conducted. Five distinct themes were found, reflecting families’ food-related decisions that were affected by the COVID-19 lockdown: 1) food planning; 2) food purchasing; 3) meal preparation; 4) eating and feeding behaviours and 5) eating food prepared outside the house. Changes included an increase in home food preparation, but also in unhealthy snacking. Fear of being exposed to carriers of the virus led to infrequent food shopping and greater reliance on supermarket home deliveries. Long waiting times in-between food shops encouraged food planning but were also a barrier to providing daily fresh foods including fruit and vegetables to their families. Financial constraints were exacerbated during lockdown and led to a search for new ways to budget when food shopping. Food donations from the community and the government were important to maintain food security, particularly in single-parent families.ConclusionsThis study highlights that the COVID-19 lockdown influenced a broad range of dietary decisions of economically disadvantaged families and offers an insight into the nutritional challenges they experienced.Funding SourcesThe work was completed with financial support from internal funds of Queens University Belfast.

Using photo-elicitation to explore the impact of COVID-19 restrictions on food decisions of low-income families in Northern Ireland

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Northern Irish Attitudes Toward Gendered Family Roles Before and After the Good Friday Agreement

The study investigates attitudes about the gendered division of labor in families in Northern Ireland. There is a paucity of existing research on this topic, and previous studies lack even basic controls for potential confounding factors. Northern Ireland is a particularly interesting case due to its history of violent conflict and to the strong salience of religion in the region. The current study investigates patterns of change in gender attitudes as the region moved from a period of relatively intense conflict to one of reduced conflict intensity. In order to make inferences about the influence of violent conflict on gender ideology, the analysis compares gender attitudes in Northern Ireland with those in eight other European countries and also assesses the influence of religious community membership on gender attitudes change. Data come from the 1994 and 2002 waves of the International Social Survey Program, supplemented with additional survey data from Northern Ireland. The findings offer little evidence that Northern Irish individuals increased their support for women’s non-domestic roles as the conflict’s intensity waned. Multivariate regression models suggest, further, that while Catholics were more egalitarian than Protestants in the early period, Catholic support for egalitarian family roles decreased between 1994 and 2002.

Families and poverty: everyday life on a low income

Families and Poverty, by Mary Daly and Grace Kelly, is the product of a qualitative study of 51 families in Northern Ireland (21 headed by single parents and 30 by married couples), conducted in la...

Children and Terrorism and commentaries

Children and Terrorism and commentaries

Human factors in energy efficient housing: Insights from a Northern Ireland pocket neighbourhood

This evaluation investigates the experiences of 5 low-income families in Northern Ireland who moved into new homes built using an innovative building design that dispensed with central heating. The design was able to achieve high standards of energy efficiency through raised standards of insulation, airtightness, and a heat recovery system. This paper gives an account of how families adapted to their new home and novel heating regimes. To do this, the study gathered accounts of household everyday experiences across the first 2 winters; electricity consumption was also tracked fortnightly using data downloads from smart meters. Compared with the average cost of powering a more conventional home in Northern Ireland at that time, energy consumption in the first year was 20% less than in the average newly built gas-fired home, and 34% less than the average oil-fired new build. When followed up after a second winter, the households had achieved improved levels of thermal comfort, whilst reducing their winter energy costs by a further 9%. However, these gains required sustained vigilance and adaptation from the occupants, particularly in the first year.

Queering the Family: Attitudes Towards Lesbian and Gay Relationships and Families in Northern Ireland

The Northern Ireland Life andTimes (NILT) Survey has asked questions on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) issues since 1998. To date survey data have focused primarily on issues relating to prejudice, discrimination and tolerance. In 2012 a range of questions focussing more speci cally on LGBT1 issues was included. This collected information on knowledge and perceptions of the LGBT population; personal prejudice; attitudes on equality issues; the visibility of LGBT people and family-related issues.This update provides an overview of some of the information emerging from this data. It discusses attitudes towards same-sex relations and notable changes over time. Given recent political debate the primary focus of this paper is on attitudes relating to ‘queer’ marriage, family and parenting. We use the term ‘queer’ here to refer to ‘the diverse family structures formed by those with non-normative gender behaviours or sexual orientations’ (Bernstein and Reimann, 2001: 3). As previous updates have noted, there have been signi cant legislative and policy changes in this area (Jarman, 2010) and this continues with ongoing discussions regarding the development of a Sexual Orientation Strategy for Northern Ireland (Gray et al, 2013).

Dr Joyce Neill

Joyce Gibbon Davies was born on 19 November 1915 in London, and was educated at the North London Collegiate School. She won a scholarship to Newnham College, Cambridge and went...

Children and political violence from a social ecological perspective: implications from research on children and families in Northern Ireland.

The effects on children of political violence are matters of international concern, with many negative effects well-documented. At the same time, relations between war, terrorism, or other forms of political violence and child development do not occur in a vacuum. The impact can be understood as related to changes in the communities, families and other social contexts in which children live, and in the psychological processes engaged by these social ecologies. To advance this process-oriented perspective, a social ecological model for the effects of political violence on children is advanced. This approach is illustrated by findings and methods from an ongoing research project on political violence and children in Northern Ireland. Aims of this project include both greater insight into this particular context for political violence and the provision of a template for study of the impact of children's exposure to violence in other regions of the world. Accordingly, the applicability of this approach is considered for other social contexts, including (a) another area in the world with histories of political violence and (b) a context of community violence in the US.

Tracing clonality of Helicobacter pylori infecting family members from analysis of DNA sequences of three housekeeping genes (ureI, atpA and ahpC), deduced amino acid sequences, and pathogenicity-associated markers (cagA and vacA).

Helicobacter pylori, a Gram-negative bacterium, is a causal agent of peptic ulcers and is estimated to infect the gastric mucosa of at least half of the world's population. As primary infections are acquired mainly by household contact, studies on family clusters provide a model for investigating transmission and the natural history of initial infection. Here, sequence typing exploiting genetic variation in core fragments of three key housekeeping loci (ureI, atpA and ahpC) was used to determine clonal descent amongst isolates of ten members of four families in Northern Ireland and a family with three generations in central England. Phylogenetic analysis of each locus for 73 strains of H. pylori from 11 countries indicated high background intraspecific diversity, apart from identical paired isolates from five unrelated patients and strains with identical sequence types (STs) detected in adult members of two families. In several families carrying strains with different STs, evidence of residual clonal descent was detected at one or two loci by comparison of nucleotide and amino acid sequences. Pathogenicity-associated genotypes were heterogeneous with respect to ST and amino acid type. Analysis of these three housekeeping genes provides unique evidence for precise tracing of clonal descent in isolates of H. pylori in family groups.

Informal care in farming families in Northern Ireland: some considerations for social work

Summary This paper is the result of a study of the dynamics of care-giving within farming families in Northern Ireland. It is argued that whilst much is known about informal care, existing knowledge is largely urban based and quantitative, and therefore limited. Following in-depth interviews with farm wives it is concluded that for these women care-giving patterns are dependent on a particular set of cultural expectations and norms. Within farming families there is much resistance to becoming involved with formal social ser vices. Outside help with the care of one's elderly relatives is often seen as an admission of failure, as there is a pride in being able to look after one's family members. Users of social services, which still evoke associations with the Poor Law, are highly stigmat ized. It is claimed that for these women the concept of carer has no bearing on their lives and is not something to which they can relate. The paper challenges the depiction of caring as a one-sided difficult relationship where the person being cared for is a passive recipient. It is suggested that caring is not necessarily oppressive but may be rewarding and positive. It concludes that if social workers are to support and facilitate informal care they must be aware of and fully understand the diversity of care provision and the different contexts in which care is undertaken. If intervention is to take place then it must be sensitive to the deeply embedded ideas and perceptions that exist within farming families.

Expectations and attitudes affecting patterns of informal care in farming families in Northern Ireland

Recent research in Northern Ireland examining the needs and circumstances of informal carers has highlighted the personal and financial costs of caring. In this paper it is argued that these studies have taken no account of the particular expectations and attitudes towards informal care that exist within farm families. In these families there is a strong expectation that care for older relatives will take place almost entirely within the family. The reputation of the farm family within the local community is strongly dependent on their treatment of the older generation. Help from the state and the voluntary sector is extremely limited. Rather than being described as burdensome and difficult, these family arrangements are described as beneficial for everyone involved. It is argued that expectations and attitudes towards care within farm families are significantly different from those in non-farm families and policy makers and practitioners must take account of this in the context of care in the community.

The home front. The families of politically motivated prisoners in Northern Ireland

This article is based upon a survey of partners of politically motivated prisoners 1 in Northern Ireland. It examines issues related to the visiting experience, the maintenance of contact through letters, home leave and release, and the provision of support from extended family, civil society and professional agencies. The authors argue that while the political ideology of prisoners and families is important, it does not insulate them from the practical and emotional difficulties of coping with imprisonment. It is also argued that despite a system of relatively well resourced support offered to prisoners' families in Northern Ireland, the failure of the families of politicals to avail themselves of these services offers important lessons for the process of prisoner release and reintegration as part of the Northern Ireland peace process.

Perspectives from practice: Part two of the c.c.c.r. family support research

There is general agreement that a central challenge from Northern Ireland's legislation, the Children (N.I.) Order 1995, is to refocus both assessment of need and provision of services in such a way that family support, incorporating child protection, becomes the defining characteristic of the child care system. This new policy direction is endorsed by the Department for Health and Social Services (D.H.S.S.) Regional Strategy for Health and Social Welfare 1997 - 2002 (D.H.S.S. 1996, 1997). This is also a policy direction for which there is considerable professional support. Alongside recognition of the importance of the policy direction and the considerable commitment to it, goes the question of how long it will take to achieve and indeed whether or not it can be achieved. To make a contribution to answering those questions is the aim of the Northern Ireland Family Support research study being undertaken by the Centre for Child Care Research (a partnership between Queen's University of Belfast, the D.H.S.S. and the four Health and Social Services Boards).

CATHOLIC‐PROTESTANT INCOME DIFFERENCES IN NORTHERN IRELAND

The purpose of this paper is to analyse income differences betweeen Catholic and Protestant families in Northern Ireland (NI) using Family Expenditure Survey micro‐data. The paper's first conclusion is that there is much greater inequality within the Catholic and Protestant communities than there is between them. It's second conclusion, based upon econometric analysis of data for full‐time employees, is that the lower mean income of Catholics, relative to Protestants, could be entirely explained in terms of different rates of reward attached to a given set of labour market characteristics.

X-linked clinical anophthalmos Localization of the gene to Xq27-Xq28

A Northern Ireland family is reported on, in which there is X-linked inheritance of clinical anophthalmos. Multi-point linkage analysis suggests that the gene is localized to the Xq27-28 region (Z = 1.9, Theta = 0.08), though not between the DNA markers DX13 and Factor VIII.

Dental abnormalities associated with familial expansile osteolysis: A clinical and radiographic study

Familial expansile osteolysis is a rare and possibly unique form of hereditary bone dysplasia with dental manifestations that has affected 42 members of a Northern Ireland family for five generations. Twenty-seven family members, aged 3 to 60 years, were examined clinically and radiographically, and it was found that cervical and/or apical root resorption is an early manifestation of the dysplasia. Of the 20 family members with skeletal manifestations of familial expansile osteolysis, 16 showed root resorption. Root resorption may therefore be a good prognosticator for later bone involvement.

Linkage disequilibrium and CF allele segregation analysis in cystic fibrosis families in Northern Ireland

Linkage disequilibrium and cystic fibrosis (CF) allele segregation were analysed in 46 CF families in Northern Ireland. The smaller (+) allele of the KM19/PstI polymorphism and the larger (-) allele of the XV-2c/TaqI polymorphism showed marked linkage disequilibrium with CF. This information can be used to alter the risk of an individual being a carrier of CF away from the expected population risk of 1 in 20. The high-risk genotypes K+K+ or X-X- have a risk of 1 in 10 and the low-risk genotypes K-K- or X+X+ have a risk of 1 in 50. A study of the segregation of CF alleles in the 46 families, using KM19 and Xv-2c, showed preferential inheritance of the paternal (79%), as opposed to the maternal (21%), CF allele by the heterozygous carriers. A mechanism that might explain this observation is discussed.

Familial Expansile Osteolysis

Familial expansile osteolysis (FEO) is a unique bone dysplasia, which has, over five generations, affected 42 members of a Northern Ireland family. The disease follows a classic autosomal dominant pattern of inheritance. The condition is distinct enough in its clinical features and natural history to be recognized as a new and unique disease. There are both general and focal skeletal changes, the latter having a predominantly peripheral distribution and an onset from the second decade. Progressive osteoclastic resorption accompanied by medullary expansion leads to severe and painful disabling deformities with a tendency to pathologic fracture. Most affected members of the family have an associated early-onset deafness and loss of dentition as a result of unique middle ear and dental abnormalities. The serum alkaline phosphatase and urinary hydroxyproline are elevated to a variable degree, whereas other biochemical indices are normal. The response of the disease to a therapeutic trial using parenteral dichloro-methylene-diphosphonate (dichloro-MDP) produced an initial rapid biochemical response, which was not sustained.