| Title | 'It depends on where you were born…here in the North East, there's not really many job opportunities compared to in the South': young people's perspectives on a North-South health divide and its drivers in England, UK |
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| Type | Journal article |
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| Authors | Fairbrother, Hannah, Woodrow, Nicholas, Holding, Eleanor, Crowder, Mary, Griffin, Naomi, Er, Vanessa, Dodd-Reynolds, Caroline, Egan, Matt, Scott, Steph, Summerbell, Carolyn, Rigby, Emma, Kyle, Philippa, Knights, Nicky, Quirk, Helen and Goyder, Elizabeth |
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| Abstract | Background: Improving the public's understanding of how regional and socioeconomic inequalities create and perpetuate inequalities in health, is argued to be necessary for building support for policies geared towards creating a more equal society. However, research exploring public perceptions of health inequalities, and how they are generated, is limited. This is particularly so for young people. Our study sought to explore young people's lived experiences and understandings of health inequalities.MethodsWe carried out focus group discussions (n = 18) with 42 young people, aged 13-21, recruited from six youth organisations in England in 2021. The organisations were located in areas of high deprivation in South Yorkshire, the North East and London. Young people from each organisation took part in three interlinked focus group discussions designed to explore their (i) perceptions of factors impacting their health in their local area, (ii) understandings of health inequalities and (iii) priorities for change. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, most discussions took place online (n = 15). However, with one group in the North East, we carried out discussions face-to-face (n = 3). Data were analysed thematically and we used NVivo-12 software to facilitate data management.ResultsYoung people from all groups demonstrated an awareness of a North-South divide in England, UK. They described how disparities in local economies and employment landscapes between the North and the South led to tangible differences in everyday living and working conditions. They clearly articulated how these differences ultimately led to inequalities in people's health and wellbeing, such as linking poverty and employment precarity to chronic stress. Young people did not believe these inequalities were inevitable. They described the Conservative government as prioritising the South and thus perpetuating inequalities through uneven investment.ConclusionsOur study affords important insights into young people's perceptions of how wider determinants can help explain the North-South health divide in England. It demonstrates young people's contextualised understandings of the interplay between spatial, social and health inequalities. Our findings support calls for pro-equity policies to address the structural causes of regional divides in health. Further research, engaging young people in deliberative policy analysis, could build on this work. |
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| Keywords | Qualitative |
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| Young People |
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| Health Inequalities |
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| Social Determinants Of Health |
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| North-south Divide |
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| Humans |
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| Focus Groups |
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| Socioeconomic Factors |
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| Adolescent |
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| Employment |
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| England |
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| Female |
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| Male |
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| Health Status Disparities |
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| Young Adult |
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| COVID-19 |
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| Article number | 2018 |
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| Journal | BMC Public Health |
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| Journal citation | 24 (1) |
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| ISSN | 1471-2458 |
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| Year | 2024 |
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| Publisher | BioMed Central |
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| Publisher's version | License CC BY 4.0 File Access Level Open (open metadata and files) |
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| Digital Object Identifier (DOI) | https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-024-19537-z |
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| PubMed ID | 39075449 |
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| Publication dates |
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| Published online | 29 Jul 2024 |
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| Published in print | 01 Jul 2024 |
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| Project | PD-SPH-2015 |
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| Funder | The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) School for Public Health Research (SPHR) |
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| The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) School for Public Health Research |
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| License | CC BY |
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