PhD in NIHR School for Primary Care Research Doctoral Studentship - Exploring health literacy and health in older people using the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing

Number of awards:

1

Start date and duration

October 2018 for 3 years.

Overview:

Health behaviours are known to be risk factors for a number of chronic diseases (and therefore multi-morbidity), disability and mortality. Older individuals with lower expectation of survival appear to be less likely to engage in good health behaviours, and therefore have a greater risk of disease, disability and mortality all of which impact on health and care usage. This doctoral study will (a) develop theoretical models of how heath literacy and subjective expectation of survival impact health behaviours and key health outcomes (disease/disability/self-rated health); (b) explore these through logistic regression and structural equation modelling (SEM) with both cross-sectional and longitudinal data; and (c) estimate the impact of health literacy on healthy life expectancy and disability-free life expectancy.

Sponsor:

National Institute for Health Research (NIHR)

Name of supervisor(s):

Professors Carol Jagger and Gill Rowlands

Eligibility Criteria:

Applicants must have at least a 2:1 degree in a discipline relevant to primary care research, and preferable a master’s degree or equivalent research training/experience.

The award is available to UK/EU applicants only. If English is not your first language, you must have IELTS 7 with at least 6.5 in the written component, or equivalent.

How to apply:

You must apply through the University’s online postgraduate application system. To do this please ‘Create a new account’ (https://bit.ly/2t59qPm).

Only mandatory fields need to be completed. However, you will need to include the following information:
•insert the programme code 8300F in the programme of study section
•select ‘PhD in the Faculty of Medical Sciences (full time) – Health Sciences’ as the programme of study
•insert the studentship code HS033 in the studentship/partnership reference field
•attach a covering letter and CV no more than two pages for each. The covering letter must state the title of the studentship, quote the studentship reference code HS033 and state how your interests and experience relate to the project
•attach degree transcripts and certificates and, if English is not your first language, a copy of your English language qualifications.