The Implementation of a Computerized Event History Calendar Questionnaire for Research in Life Course Epidemiology

BackgroundLife course epidemiology is now an established field in social epidemiology; in sociodemography, the quantitative analysis of biographies recently experienced significant trend from event history analysis to sequence analysis. The purpose of this article is to introduce and adapt this methodology to a social epidemiology question, taking the example of the impact of HIV diagnosis on Sub-Saharan migrants’ residential trajectories in the Paris region.MethodsThe sample consists of 640 migrants born in Sub-Saharan Africa receiving HIV care. They were interviewed in healthcare facilities in the Paris region within the PARCOURS project, conducted from 2012 to 2013, using life event history calendars, which recorded year by year their health, family and residential histories. We introduce a two-step methodological approach consisting of (1) sequence analysis by optimal matching to build a typology of migrants’ residential pathways before and after diagnosis, and (2) a Cox model of the probability to experience changes in the residential situation.ResultsThe seven-clusters typology shows that for a majority, the HIV diagnosis did not entail changes in residential situation. However 30% of the migrants experienced a change in their residential situation at time of diagnosis. The Cox model analysis reveals that this residential change was in fact moving in with one’s partner (HR 2.99, P<0.000) rather than network rejection.ConclusionThis original combination of sequence analysis and Cox models is a powerful process that could be applied to other themes and constitutes a new approach in the life course epidemiology toolbox.Trial registration numberNCT02566148.

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Commentary: The value of life course epidemiology in low- and middle-income countries: an ageing perspective

International Journal of Epidemiology ◽

10.1093/ije/dyw109 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 45 (4) ◽

pp. 997-999 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Stephen M Tollman ◽

Shane A Norris ◽

Lisa F Berkman

Keyword(s):

Life Course ◽

Value Of Life ◽

Middle Income ◽

Life Course Epidemiology ◽

Middle Income Countries ◽

Low And Middle Income

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Grieving experiences amongst adolescents orphaned by AIDS: Analysis from event history calendars

Curationis ◽

10.4102/curationis.v35i1.71 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 35 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Gloria Thupayagale-Tshweneagae

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Health Status ◽

Mental Health Problems ◽

Assessment Tool ◽

Mental Health Status ◽

Event History ◽

Mental Health Practitioners ◽

Health Practitioners ◽

Event History Calendar ◽

Coping Patterns

Mental health is an essential component of adolescent health and wellbeing. Mental health practitioners assess adolescents’ mental health status to identify possible issues that may lead to mental health problems. However, very few of the tools used to assess the mental health status of adolescents include assessment for grieving and coping patterns. The current tools used for assessing an individual’s mental health are lengthy and not comprehensive. The purpose of this study was to assess grieving patterns of adolescents orphaned by AIDS and to appraise the sefulness of an event history calendar as an assessment tool for identifying grieving experiences, in order to guide and support these adolescents through the grieving process. One hundred and two adolescents aged 14–18 years, who had been orphaned by AIDS, completed an event history calendar, reviewed it with the researcher and reported their perceptions of it. Thematic analysis of the event history calendar content revealed that it is an effective, time-efficient, adolescent-friendly tool that facilitated identification and discussion of the orphaned adolescents’ grieving patterns. Crying, isolation, silence and violent outbursts were the main grieving patterns reported by adolescents orphaned by AIDS. The researcher recommends use of the event history calendar for identification of orphaned adolescents’ grieving experiences. Early identification would enable mental health practitioners to support them in order to prevent the occurrence of mental illness due to maladaptive grieving.

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The Transition From Cohabitation to Marriage

Journal of Family Issues ◽

10.1177/019251399020005007 ◽

1999 ◽

Vol 20 (5) ◽

pp. 698-717 ◽

Cited By ~ 53

Author(s):

ANN-ZOFIE E. DUVANDER

Keyword(s):

Life Course ◽

Event History Analysis ◽

Register Data ◽

Event History ◽

Family Socialization ◽

Marriage And Family ◽

History Analysis ◽

Swedish Family ◽

Self Administered Questionnaire

In Sweden, cohabitation is the norm before marriage and is in many ways equal to marriage. By investigating the transition from cohabitation to marriage, this study seeks to clarify how those who marry differ from those who do not. The study uses the Swedish Family Survey of 1992 together with register data of marriages and births for the following 2 years. Information on partner's attitudes and marriage plans is obtained from a self-administered questionnaire. The risk of marriage for women who were cohabiting at the time of interview is analyzed with event history analysis. The results show that life course stage, economic gains in marriage, and family socialization predict whether cohabiting women will turn their unions into marriages. In addition, attitudes toward leisure and parenthood influence marriage propensities. Marriage plans explain some, but not all, of those effects.

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Sources of confounding in life course epidemiology

Journal of Developmental Origins of Health and Disease ◽

10.1017/s2040174418000582 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 10 (3) ◽

pp. 299-305 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

S. Santos ◽

D. Zugna ◽

C. Pizzi ◽

L. Richiardi

Keyword(s):

Life Course ◽

Meta Analysis ◽

Internal Validity ◽

Observational Research ◽

Individual Participant Data ◽

Confounding By Indication ◽

Life Course Epidemiology ◽

Combining Data ◽

Individual Participant ◽

Different Populations

AbstractIn epidemiologic analytical studies, the primary goal is to obtain a valid and precise estimate of the effect of the exposure of interest on a given outcome in the population under study. A crucial source of violation of the internal validity of a study involves bias arising from confounding, which is always a challenge in observational research, including life course epidemiology. The increasingly popular approach of meta-analyzing individual participant data from several observational studies also brings up to discussion the problem of confounding when combining data from different populations. In this study, we review and discuss the most common sources of confounding in life course epidemiology: (i) confounding by indication, (ii) impact of baseline selection on confounding, (iii) time-varying confounding and (iv) mediator–outcome confounding. We also discuss the issue of addressing confounding in the context of an individual participant data meta-analysis.

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