UNIVERSITY OF BRISTOL

Department of Social Medicine

RESEARCH ASSISTANT/ASSOCIATE
18 month appointment

Research & Analogous scale 1A £17570-£20107

The Department of Social Medicine wishes to appoint Research Assistant
/ Associate to work on a project investigating factors associated with
recent temporal changes in suicide rates and current patterns of
suicidal behaviour.  The post will suit a postgraduate with previous
experience of quantitative research and statistical modelling,
preferably with a higher degree in medical statistics. The post is
offered for an 18 month period in the first instance, commencing as
soon after 1st January 1999 as possible. The salary will be on the
Research & Analogous scale 1A, £17570-£20107, depending on experience.

Project Description

An investigation into recent temporal trends and geographic patterns of
suicide

Bristol has a national reputation in the field of suicide research.
Members of the Department of Social Medicine and other departments in
Bristol University are actively involved in a number of local and
national collaborative research projects into the epidemiology and
prevention of suicide and self harm.

Suicide is the third most frequent cause of life years lost before the
age of 65 in this country. In recognition of this, the Government's
1991 Health of the Nation white paper set targets for a 15% reduction
in overall suicide rates by the year 2000. Whilst some progress has
been made towards these targets, rates of suicide in young men continue
to rise. Explanations for these and other current secular trends in
suicidal behaviour remains limited.

This project, funded by the NHS Executive South and West, aims to
investigate the factors responsible for the temporal trends in age and
sex-specific suicide rates over the last 50 years in England and Wales.
In particular, we plan to determine whether potentially preventable
factors account for recent trends and the extent to which these factors
explain local variations in suicide rates in the South West of England.

The research will be based on routinely available data for two
population groups -   the South West Regional and UK national
populations 1948-1997. Regression analyses (including time-series
analysis) will be used to examine the influence of an array of health
related and sociodemographic factors on recent trends in suicide
mortality rates in males and females. The relative importance of period
and cohort effects will be assessed as well as the specific influences
of levels of alcohol consumption, the number of psychiatric in-patient
beds, antidepressant prescribing, and other factors.  Small area
analysis of suicide rates in the wards of the South West Region will
also be performed to examine factors associated with variations in
suicide rates and particularly the high rate of suicide experienced by
those living in rural areas.

Department of Social Medicine

The University of Bristol Department of Social Medicine conducts
teaching and research in aetiological epidemiology, health services
research, and public health medicine. The skills of a variety of health
care researchers including statisticians, epidemiologists,
sociologists, psychologists, anthropologists, health economists, public
health physicians and nurses, are all available and contribute to the
excellent working environment in which to undertake interdisciplinary
research and teaching. The Department comprises some 80 staff. The
Department has its own library and excellent computer facilities.

The Department has been selected as the home for the main centre of the
Medical Research Council's Health Services Research Collaboration, and
there are extensive collaborations with many clinical and other
departments in the University of Bristol, throughout the UK and
internationally.

The Department has two research divisions - Aetiological Epidemiology
and Health Services Research. In the field of aetiological epidemiology
the Department's research programme is concerned with a number of long
term follow-up studies examining the ways in which exposures at
different stages of the life-course interact to produce patterns of
chronic disease. In addition members of the division are involved in a
number of studies into the epidemiology and prevention of suicide with
collaborators locally and elsewhere in the country. There are number of
experienced medical statisticians within the Department.

The Department runs regular research methods courses including
statistics, epidemiology, health economics, qualitative research
methods, and specialist courses to support postgraduate training, are
provided by the Department and the Faculty Graduate Studies Committee.

This project is being undertaken in collaboration with the School of
Geographical Sciences, University of Bristol. The School of
Geographical Sciences has a long history of research in medical
geography and currently hosts several research projects in inequalities
in health including work on the ESRC health inequalities program.



Responsibilities of the Post

The post-holder will be part of a team of investigators involved with
the conduct of this study. The principal investigators are Dr David
Gunnell, Senior Lecturer in Epidemiology and Public Health;  Professor
Stephen Frankel, Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health; Dr Danny
Dorling, Lecturer in Geography; Dr Elise Whitley, Lecturer in Medical
Statistics.

The post-holder will be based in the Department of Social Medicine and
will receive training as appropriate. They will be supervised by and
directly accountable to Dr David Gunnell.

The main duties will include the following:

1. Obtain and review relevant literature.
2. To obtain and collate the routinely available data for the proposed
analyses from a variety of published sources.
3. To analyse the data using appropriate regression models.
4. To help draft reports and prepare papers for publication arising
from the findings of this research.
5. To attend regular research team meetings.
6. To contribute to the development of the ongoing research programme


Requirements of the Post

The post-holder will be responsible for obtaining and analysing data
relevant to this study. They will be expected to have post-graduate
experience in medical statistics or a related quantitative discipline.
Previous experience of statistical modelling is essential.
Opportunities exist within the department for suitable candidates to
register for a higher degree.


Application:
Two copies of the application should be sent to the Personnel Office,
Senate House, Bristol University, Tyndall's Avenue, Bristol BS8 1TH
together with a curriculum vitae suitable for reproduction, with the
names and addresses of two referees.

Date of Appointment:
The successful candidate will be expected to take up the appointment as
soon as possible after 1 January 1999.

Salary:
The salary will be on the scale for University Research and Analogous
Staff Grade Basic  1A (£17,570 - £20,107 per annum).  Starting point
and grade will be dependent on age, qualifications and experience.

Further information:
For further information, potential candidates are encouraged to contact
either Dr David Gunnell (Tel 0117-928-7253; e-mail
[log in to unmask]) or Dr Daniel Dorling (0117 9288917 e-mail
[log in to unmask]). Informal visits to the Department are
encouraged.





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