Building and mapping a small area deprivation index for health needs assessment - Essay Example

. Pg 6 REFERENCES…………………………………………………………….. Pg 6 INTRODUCTION: Deprivation Indices are produce to estimate the socio-economic crises in small areas which in other terms are affecting, health of the population living in rare areas. It gives a collective detail of the situation of economic environment which ultimately reflects the health environment. It is observed generally that low income families, have high ratio of health or other medical illnesses.

It is hard to bring each individual on paper but proper estimation can also serve the purpose well. These indices can clear up the issue, whether deprivation is linked with Coronary Heart Diseases, because it is suspected that low income families cannot afford the an appropriate amount of fruits and vegetable which leads them to high blood pressure, diabetes, and other problems. Smoking can also be a factor but it is also because of the poor economic and health conditions. Carstairs index was first build in 1980 to use it in keeping health records and calculate deprivation in small areas in United Kingdom about material disadvantages, which was somehow affecting people’s health. . One of such index was build and mapped by carstairs (carstairs and Morris 1991) which was later analyzed by Morgan and Baker.

Carstairs index was build accordingly, which was previously used to manipulate different geographical area of deprived majorities. There were certain reasons why carstairs index was selected by Morgan and Baker, though a lot of different indices were introduced like Townsend Index and Indices of Multiple Deprivation(IMD) which covers other aspects like crime, education, income etc. Carstairs index covers four major censuses which are: Low Social Class: A head in household, who is economically active in social class IV and V.

Unemployment: Males 16 or above are unemployed Overcrowding: Residents in household with one or more persons in one room. Lack of car ownership: Residents in households with no car. All these censuses were measured as per set proportion and Carstairs index is based on census’s result to achieve an objective result for an entire population. Carstairs index was chosen by Oliver Morgan and Allan Baker to analyze the situation of growing deprivation because Carstairs index was previously used in ONS studies for analysis.

Carstairs index is preferred for another good reason that it precisely estimated with conceptual and practical demonstration. Whereas only conceptual study can lead to over estimations and can misguide different functional bodies. ADVANTAGES: There are advantages in covering small areas for censuses includes that it gives a more clear picture of deprivation and can classify issues separately. Carstairs index covers small areas which provide specific figures of material deprivation in relation with health assessment.

Large Areas would make