Centre for Coastal Communities - July 2024 newsletter

Welcome!

Welcome to the inaugural edition of the Centre for Coastal Communities newsletter. Over the past eight months, I have had the immense privilege of leading the creation of the Centre. It has been a busy, but enjoyable time getting to know the coastal research expertise at the University of Essex and meeting with as many local stakeholders as possible across a broad spectrum of organisations.

What I have discovered is that the University of Essex has a large contingent of researchers who are already doing fantastic coastal community themed research. These researchers come from across the University, from health and social care, social science, life sciences, business, literature, film and theatre studies, sport, and exercise sciences, and many more. Which is amazing, because we need this broad spectrum of expertise to address our core research aim of the Centre to ‘better understand the life, social and health related factors impacting health, well-being and life chances in our coastal communities.’

I was delighted to get to share a small sampling of the coastal research being conducted at the University at the virtual launch of the Centre in June. I want to thank everyone who attended the virtual launch of the Centre. I received many messages after the event saying how much people enjoyed the launch. If you missed the launch, short summaries of the talks are below. You can also download a recording of the event and presentations slides.

I also want to thank the many people who have given their time to meet with me to discuss the challenges and strengths of coastal communities. It has been a pleasant surprise to discover that many staff and students at the University either currently live in a coastal community themselves, they grew up in a coastal community, or their family members live there now. My take-away from meeting with them, and many people working in local government, charities, the NHS, and local business, is that there are so many people passionate about making their local communities a great place to live.

There are many coastal community challenges, but I believe we have a better chance of tackling them together. If you are interested in working together, please do contact us at coastal@essex.ac.uk.

Emily Murray - Director, Centre for Coastal Communities

Highlights from the launch

Coastal excess in the youth mental health crisis

Dr Emily Murray, Director of the Centre for Coastal Communities, shared findings from her recently published paper on a coastal excess in the youth mental health crisis. The research used the Understanding Society dataset to show that adolescents who lived in deprived coastal areas had worse health up to eleven years later than equally deprived communities inland. This included health outcomes of mental functioning, psychological distress and presence of a long-term illness, impairment, or disability.

Understanding the mental health needs of coastal communities

Alix Power-Mason from the School of Health and Social Care introduced her research on the mental health needs of England’s coastal communities. Alix’s mixed methods study involves both qualitative and quantitative studies. The quantitative element uses Understanding Society (the UK Household Longitudinal Study) to analyse coastal geographies, age, housing, and multiple indices of deprivation, along with responses to the General Health Questionnaire. The qualitative element involves interviewing coastal residents in both rural and urban coastal economies, asking about coastal place-based identity, mental health challenges, wellbeing and mental health benefits, and the relevance of the coast to these issues.

Social determinants of mental health and inequalities

Professor Anuj Kapilashrami, Director of the Centre for Global Health and Intersectional Equity Research, introduced her research on the social determinants of mental health and inequalities, as part of the Innovate (Intersectional Network of Integrated Mental Health) programme. This research explores mental health inequalities and their determinants, and is co-producing community-based solutions for closing the gap in Essex coastal areas. The research highlights the vulnerable groups who carry a greater burden of poor mental health, and the barriers to service provision and stakeholder engagement.

Inequality for stroke care

Professor Reza Majdzadeh introduced his research on inequality in stroke care in coastal East Suffolk and North Essex. This research explores challenges and inequalities based around geography and infrastructure in coastal areas, barriers for vulnerable and marginalised groups, lack of public awareness, and inadequate support for cognitive impairment. The study includes an assessment of stroke systems, a qualitative study of the demand side of stroke care, a quantitative study of inequalities in the supply side of stroke care, and a realist review leading to impact for communities.

Community supermarkets and food security

Dr Kostis Roussos presented findings from a collective research project  on community supermarkets and food security in an Essex coastal community. This research is a critical exploration of community-based interventions to improve food security, in particular understanding the dimensions, characteristics, and limitations of community supermarkets as middle-range (community level) social welfare interventions.

Results from the research showed that not only did shoppers using the community supermarket say that their health and wellbeing have been improved, but they also experienced positive change in their nutrition and felt an increased sense of agency and autonomy. A key consideration identified regarding the community supermarket strategy was that if it aspires to be more than  a crisis response it should be framed within a broader community-led sustainable food agenda seeking to  tackle the root causes of inequality and food security.

Eastern Arc Coastal Data Network

The Centre also hosted the Eastern Arc Coastal Data (‘Coda’) Network in May for a coastal data health workshop. The one-day workshop was to develop opportunities to work together to address key coastal health data issues identified by the Chief Medical Officer for England’s report in 2021 and a previous Coda workshop in 2022. There were excellent presentations from NHS Norfolk and Waveney ICB, Suffolk County Council, the University of Plymouth, and the University of Essex. The meeting ended with discussions on how the Network should develop and work together. Please contact us if you would like more information about our work with the Network.

Please email coastal@essex.ac.uk if you have any queries.