Sickness in the family (SickFam) : A register study on the short- and long-term effects of severe sickness on family members
Project
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This project will study the short- and long-term effects of severe sickness on family members.
Summary
Even in a well-developed welfare state like in Norway, severe sickness of a person can severely affect the situation of their family members. While this is well-known in the context of older family members with care needs, this project focuses on the situation in young families, where parents live together with their minor children.
When a child or parent falls sick, both family members of the other generation (i.e., parents or children) and those of the same generation (i.e., siblings or partners) might be affected. The short- and long-term consequences we study in this project include family members’ education (e.g., school performance and educational attainment of children), employment (e.g., labor force participation, changes in working hours and wages) and health (e.g., health care usage). Besides describing such associations, a major goal of the project is to find out to what extent these are causal. The consequences of having a family member that is sick are likely to depend on individual and family characteristics. Thus, identifying societal groups that are specifically prone to – or resilient against – the negative consequences from having a family member that becomes sick is the second goal of this project. The characteristics examined will include sociodemographic information (age and gender), socioeconomic resources (family income and education), family structures (e.g., single parenthood) and community level resources (access to timely and high-quality health services). A third goal of the project is to identify pathways through which the sickness of a family member affects a person’s own educational or employment outcomes. Examining changes in behaviors (e.g., drug use, sleeping, exercise), mental health, attitudes and preferences will be key here.
To shed light on the above issues, the project will heavily draw on a combination of different Norwegian population-based registers, as well as on large longitudinal surveys.
Project leader
Jonathan Wörn, Centre for Fertility and Health, Norwegian Institute of Public Health
Project participants
Bjørn-Atle Reme, Centre for Fertility and Health, Norwegian Institute of Public Health
Øystein Kravdal, Centre for Fertility and Health, Norwegian Institute of Public Health
Rannveig Kaldager Hart, Health and Inequality, Norwegian Institute of Public Health
Siri Eldevik Håberg, Centre for Fertility and Health, Norwegian Institute of Public Health
Fartein Ask Torvik, Centre for Fertility and Health, Norwegian Institute of Public Health
Jonas Minet Kinge, Centre for Fertility and Health, Norwegian Institute of Public Health
Kjersti Helene Hernæs, Health Services Research, Norwegian Institute of Public Health
Kjetil Elias Telle, Health Services, Norwegian Institute of Public Health
Henning Øien, Health Services Research, Norwegian Institute of Public Health
Espen Beer Prydz, Norwegian Institute of Public Health
Jo Thori Lind, Department of Economics, University of Oslo
Aline Bütikofer, Department of Economics, Norwegian School of Economics
Jon Hernes Fiva, Department of Economics, BI Norwegian Business School
Maya Rossin-Slater, Stanford University
Karsten Hank, University of Cologne
Nicoletta Balbo, University 'Luigi Bocconi', Milan
About the project
Start
01.08.2021
End
31.12.2025
Status
Active
Project owner/ Project manager
Norwegian Institute of Public Health