Vaccination assessments using the Demographic and Health Survey, 2005–2018: a scoping review

ObjectiveTo characterise studies which have used Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) datasets to evaluate vaccination status.DesignScoping review.Data sourcesElectronic databases including PubMed, EBSCOhost and POPLINE, from 2005 to 2018.Study selectionAll English studies with vaccination status as the outcome and the use of DHS data.Data extractionStudies were selected using a predetermined list of eligibility criteria and data were extracted independently by two authors. Data related to the study population, the outcome of interest (vaccination) and commonly seen predictors were extracted.ResultsA total of 125 articles were identified for inclusion in the review. The number of countries covered by individual studies varied widely (1–86), with the most published papers using data from India, Nigeria, Pakistan and Ethiopia. Many different definitions of full vaccination were used although the majority used a traditional schedule recommended in the WHO’s Expanded Programme on Immunisation. We found studies analysed a wide variety of predictors, but the most common were maternal education, wealth, urbanicity and child’s sex. Most commonly reported predictors had consistent relationships with the vaccination outcome, outside of sibling composition.ConclusionsResearchers make frequent use of the DHS dataset to describe vaccination patterns within one or more countries. A clearer idea of past use of DHS can inform the development of more rigorous studies in the future. Researchers should carefully consider whether a variable needs to be included in the multivariable model, or if there are mediating relationships across predictor variables.

Finding Maternal Siblings in Birth Registration Data to form a Pregnancy Spine – Data Linkage & Graph Based Methods for Unknown Cluster Sizes

We have developed an innovative methodology to link maternal siblings within 2000-2005 England and Wales Birth Registration data, to form a Pregnancy Spine, a unification of all births to each unique mother. Key challenges were Blocking & Cluster resolution. To optimise geographic blocking, Internal Migration data was incorporated to map likely geographic movement of mothers between births. Following probabilistic linkage, sibling clusters were modelled as a graph and their structure optimised using community detection methods. Childhood statistics data relating to child DOB were incorporated to evaluate accuracy and remove false links. Our development has resulted in a new blocking and cluster resolution method. We developed new ways to assess sibling group accuracy, beyond traditional classifier metrics, and infer error rates.We applied our method to Registration Data used in earlier studies for QA of our methods. Using this, and other maternal sibling composition statistics, we present results showing that a high degree of accuracy was obtained for standard and new evaluation metrics. These methods will improve other linkage projects linking unknown clusters sizes/multiple datasets, or longer time period longitudinal linkage. To this Spine, researchers can append and link other data sources to answer questions about maternal and child health outcomes.

Correlates of parental mediation of pre-schooler’s advertising exposure

Purpose This paper aims to explore the correlates of parental mediation of pre-schoolers’ television advertising exposure, focusing on the influence of other siblings in the home. Design/methodology/approach Participants included 486 parents of pre-schoolers. A cross-sectional design involving a quantitative online survey measured the number and age of children in the home, parents’ mediation styles and advertising attitudes, parents’ levels of education and pre-schoolers’ television exposure. Findings Co-viewing was the most frequent viewing experience followed by instructive and restrictive mediation. A univariate analysis revealed that parental education and negative attitudes towards advertising were associated with less viewing time for pre-schoolers, although the presence of other siblings mediated this relationship. Logistic regression revealed mediation styles were associated with parental education, attitudes towards advertising, viewing time and the presence of other siblings. Pre-schoolers with an older sibling were less likely to experience co-viewing and more likely to experience instructive mediation. Research limitations/implications The findings revealed that parents of pre-schoolers are concerned about advertising to children and actively mediate their child’s exposure. Parental attitudes and education, and sibling composition influence pre-schoolers’ television consumption, and pre-schoolers with an older sibling might be most vulnerable to negative media effects. The sample was limited to primarily higher educated parents and might not generalize. Originality/value The study extends the field by focusing on pre-schoolers and provides novel insights into the influence of sibling composition on television consumption.

Family Complexity among Children in the United States

Researchers largely have relied on a measure of family structure to describe children’s living arrangements, but this approach captures only the child’s relationship to the parent(s), ignoring the presence and composition of siblings. We develop a measure of family complexity that merges family structure and sibling composition to distinguish between simple two-biological-parent families, families with complex-sibling (half or stepsiblings) arrangements, and complex-parent (stepparent, single-parent) families. Using the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP), we provide a descriptive profile of changes in children’s living arrangements over a 13-year span (1996–2009). SIPP sample sizes are sufficiently large to permit an evaluation of changes in the distribution of children in various (married, cohabiting, and single-parent) simple and complex families according to race/ethnicity and parental education. The article concludes by showing that we have reached a plateau in family complexity and that complexity is concentrated among the most disadvantaged families.