COMPASS seminars 2020

Dr Stephanie D'Souza

Tuesday 11 August @ 12 Grafton Road, 12PM

Global trends have shown an increase in antidepressant exposure during pregnancy, particularly with the use of selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors (SSRIs). This project examines whether increased dispensing of antidepressants has also been observed in
New Zealand’s pregnant population.

We investigated antidepressant dispensing in all resident New Zealanders with at least one successful pregnancy, over the period 2007/08 to 2017/18. We further explored dispensing by medication type, trimester, ethnicity, age, and area-level deprivation.

This all indicated increased use of antidepressants among pregnant New Zealanders, paralleling global trends, although demographic differences were apparent. Differences may reflect barriers to access for certain groups relative to others.

Stephanie D’Souza is a Research Fellow with COMPASS Research Centre. She completed her PhD in Psychology at the University of Auckland, using data from the Growing Up in New Zealand study to investigate behavioural difficulties in early childhood. Her research interests include child development, life course research, and working with large longitudinal and administrative data sets.

Natalia Boven & Associate Professor Barry Milne

Tuesday 4 August @ 12 Grafton Road, 12PM

The New Zealand Socioeconomic Index (NZSEI) is a socioeconomic scale which assigns scores based on occupation. The theoretical basis for the NZSEI is the ‘returns to human capital’ model, which views occupation as the means by which one’s education is converted into income.

Occupation-based socioeconomic scales like the NZSEI, and prior to that, the Elley-Irving scale, have been computed using New Zealand Census data since the 1966 Census.

Here we describe the development of the NZSEI using 2018 Census data, and report on tests to assess the performance of the scale, especially in light of the high use of imputed data and other data sources for the 2018 Census.

Natalia Boven is a PhD student at the University of Auckland. Her PhD research examines methods of constructing family level socioeconomic position in the New Zealand context, using the Integrated Data Infrastructure.

Barry Milne is the Director of COMPASS Research Centre. He has a Masters degree in psychology from the University of Otago and a PhD in Psychiatric Epidemiology from Kings College London. His main interests are in lifecourse research, survey research, and the use of large administrative data sets to answer policy and research questions.

Professor Joseph Bulbulia

Tuesday 28 July @ 12 Grafton Road, 12PM

New Zealand’s COVID-19 lockdown in March and April 2020 was among the world’s most stringent. Similar to other countries', New Zealand’s lockdown occurred amidst pervasive health and economic uncertainties. However, New Zealanders experienced comparatively less psychological distress.

To test theories of pandemic distress mitigation, we use national longitudinal responses with pre-COVID-19 baselines and systematically quantify psychological distress trajectories within the same individuals during the lockdown (pre-COVID-19 = 2018/2019; stringent-lockdown = March/April 2020; N = 940).

Most distress indicators were minimally elevated. However, there was a three-fold increase in feelings of worthlessness. Neither satisfaction with the government, nor business satisfaction, nor a sense of neighbourhood community were effective distress defences. Perceived social-belonging and health-satisfaction mitigated feelings of worthlessness.
A silver lining was a relief from feelings of effort, which social-belonging fostered.

That social-belonging and health satisfaction could quell serious distress among those low in government confidence, low in business satisfaction, and low in neighbourhood community, proves that distress mitigation is possible without shifting a population’s general political, economic, and civic attitudes. Protection of income and containment of infectious disease threat reduce mental health burdens. Though feelings of worthlessness surge during a stringent lockdown, such feelings attenuate from interpersonal belonging with people one already knows.

Dr Anna Howe, School of Population Health

Tuesday 17 March @ 12 Grafton Road, 12PM

There is a well-established and widely used method for calculating an Estimated Resident Population (ERP) from IDI data. However, this method cannot be used for years prior to 2008 due to data limitations.

The original algorithm for creating an ERP retains individuals with recent activity in one of the following IDI data sets: accident claims, tax, health, or education; or for those under five years of age, birth or visa approval. However, some of these data sets are unreliable before 2008 and therefore cannot be used in constructing pre-2008 ERPs.

Population counts for 2008–2018 with these data sets removed were compared with the 2008–2018 ERP based on the full data sets, in order to gauge the likely effect on estimated population counts for years earlier than 2008. I will describe a modification that can be used for years prior to 2008, and illustrate the impact of this modification on population counts.

Anna Howe is a Research Fellow with the School of Population Health, and is interested in maternal and child health.

Associate Professor Barry Milne

Tuesday 3 March @ 12 Grafton Road, 12PM

One in six New Zealanders did not complete the 2018 New Zealand Census, and completion in some areas of the country was less than fifty percent. The low – and patchy – completion rate, and use of alternative data sources when census data were not available, have raised concerns about the quality of data produced from the 2018 census.

I will present work undertaken to evaluate various aspects of the quality of the 2018 Census data set, highlight the topic areas – and populations subgroups – that have been most impacted, and provide some tips and cautions for data users. This work was undertaken while I was a member of the 2018 Census External Data Quality Panel.

Barry Milne is the Director of COMPASS Research Centre. He has a Masters degree in psychology from the University of Otago and a PhD in Psychiatric Epidemiology from Kings College London. His main interests are in lifecourse research, survey research, and the use of large administrative data sets to answer policy and research questions.

Read the external reports of the 2018 Census External Data Quality Panel