COVID-19: Families in Tower Hamlets and Newham
Research type
Research Study
Full title
COVID-19: Families, children aged 0-4 and pregnant women: vulnerabilities, resources and recovery in Tower Hamlets and Newham
IRAS ID
284494
Contact name
Claire Cameron
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
UCL
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 6 months, 0 days
Research summary
Adverse impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic disproportionately fall on individuals and families from poorer backgrounds. Tower Hamlets and Newham, the sites of this study, with their pre-existing stark income and health inequalities, are already high-risk inner city areas, placed in one of the richest global cities. This project will focus on the impacts of the lockdown, and its aftermath, for the boroughs' young children, who are likely to experience new health and educational inequalities as a result of the unprecedented restrictions on mobility associated with slowing the spread of COVID-19 introduced on 23 March 2020. Both boroughs have a highly diverse population profile, with residents from a wide range of ethnicities and social and economic backgrounds, which offers an opportunity to identify how families deploy their interpersonal, economic and social resources to manage risks associated with living with and in recovery from lockdown. In close partnership with borough Public Health and children's services teams, we will run a repeat survey of 2000 couple and single parent families with children aged 0-4, including all shielded children, and pregnant women; a longitudinal qualitative panel with approximately 60 household members including fathers and wider kin; and examine changing family support services, and emergent community resources such as mutual aid and peer networks. We are interested in families' cultural and inter-personal assets as well as their vulnerabilities: what new forms of managing family and community life have emerged and how are they helping young children? The survey tools are also being run in the concurrent Born in Bradford (BiB) cohort study and by the International Network on Leave Policies and Research in 15+ countries, offering robust comparisons. Findings will help guide the borough's deployment of scarce resources in the recovery phase of the pandemic and will have relevance to all inner-city areas.
REC name
London - Camden & Kings Cross Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
20/LO/1039
Date of REC Opinion
14 Oct 2020
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion