Some members of the SOPHIE project team presented their work on the debate session "Gender inequalities in health: evidence and policies in Europe" organised by the Agència de Salut Pública de Barcelona (ASPB). The session was moderated by the researcher Lucía Artazcoz, and the researchers Glòria Pérez and Laia Palència presented some results and conclusions of their studies on family policies and health of lone mothers in Spain, and the gender inequalities in health according to the family policy models in Europe, respectively. Finally, Marta Cruells, from the Institut de Govern i Polítiques Públiques de la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, discussed about the evolution of gender equality policies in Spain and worldwide since the 1995 UN Women conference.

If you missed out the session, you can have a look to our new Storify that summarizes it through the tweets produced during the session.

We are glad to share with all of you the launch of our second video "Gender equality and health". This new short video shows how more or less equality-oriented family policy models are related with lower or higher gender inequalities in health.

It is based on our studies "The influence of gender equality policies on gender inequalities in health in Europe" and "Contemporary employment arrangements and mental well-being in men and women across Europe: a cross-sectional study".

We invite you to watch and share the video, which is also available in Spanish and Catalan.

We hope you find it interesting!

We are happy to announce the launch of the third number of the SOPHIE newsletter. Look at our two new infographics "Immigrants' health and integration policies in Europe" and "Gender inequalities in health: a matter of policies". Find two new open presentations on "The Method" and "Results" sections, and the analysis of "The Picture" and "The Number". Meet two SOPHIE researchers on "People" or keep up-to-date of our news and recommended readings.

If you do not want to miss our updates, you can subscribe to our RSS channel or to receive by e-mail our periodical updates (max. 6 per year).

We hope you enjoy!

We would like to congratulate our colleague Daniëlle Kramer for obtaining her PhD degree. She defended her PhD dissertation on "Promoting physical activity: the role of neighbourhood safety and renewal of deprived areas" on November 12nd at the Universiteit van Amsterdam, in Amsterdam. The dissertation builds on studies that Daniëlle performed in the projects URBAN40 and SOPHIE. Her doctoral thesis supervisors have been Dr. Karien Stronks and Dr. Anton Kunst. A summary of her dissertation is available here.

We have created two Storify stories with all the tweets generated during the pre-conference "How to tackle health inequalities? Results from four EU-funded projects" and the plenary session "Inequalities in the population: large scale interventions" both with participation from SOPHIE.

Also, you can find here all our presentations and posters during the conference.

We would like to invite you to have a look to our (first) infographic and policy brief based on the article "Immigrants' health and health inequality by type of integration policies in European countries" by Davide Malmusi, recently published in the European Journal of Public Health.

Fri, 26 Sep 2014 14:00:00 +0200 http://www.sophie-project.eu/news.htm#21 Registration has opened for the 7th European Public Health Conference: "Mind the gap: Reducing inequalities in health and health care" that will be held in Glasgow, Scotland, UK, from 20th to 22nd November 2014. We will present some of our results at the pre-conference: "How to tackle health inequalities? Results from four EU-funded projects" on Thursday 20 November 2014, 08:30-12:00. The pre-conference will show the results of four large projects founded by the European Union. These projects aiming to generate new evidence on what works to tackle health inequalities are DEMETRIQ, DRIVERS, SILNE, and SOPHIE. You can register to the pre-conference when registering to the full conference: there are 100 places available for a fee of 20 euros including buffet lunch and refreshments. Mon, 7 Jul 2014 14:00:00 +0200 http://www.sophie-project.eu/news.htm#20 We are happy to announce the launch of the second number of the SOPHIE newsletter. From our previous newsletter, one year ago, SOPHIE has not stopped growing! Watch our new video "Urban renewal and health" or discover how SOPHIE project is expanding its presence in different social media. Find two new open presentations on "The Method" and "Results" sections, and the analysis of "The Picture" and "The Number". Meet two SOPHIE researchers on "People" or keep up-to-date of our news and recommended readings. Mon, 2 Jun 2014 15:00:00 +0200 http://www.sophie-project.eu/news.htm#19 We would like to congratulate our colleague Roshanak Mehdipanah for obtaining her PhD degree. She defended her PhD dissertation on "Urban renewal and health: effects of the Neighbourhoods Law on health and health inequalities in Barcelona" on May 23rd at the Department of Experimental and Health Sciences of the Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF), in Barcelona. The dissertation is based on the studies performed within SOPHIE and evaluating the Llei de Barris and inspired our last video. Wed, 28 May 2014 15:00:00 +0200 http://www.sophie-project.eu/news.htm#18 We are glad to share our article The effects of an urban renewal project on health and health inequalities: A quasi-experimental study in Barcelona published today in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health. Also, we invite you to watch a short film we have prepared on the Neighbourhoods Law and its effects on health and health inequalities in Barcelona, Spain. Wed, 7 May 2014 19:00:00 +0200 http://www.sophie-project.eu/news.htm#17 Last week some members of the SOPHIE project team presented their work on "Housing and health" in the last open scientific debate "Les sessions de l'Agencia" in Barcelona. If you missed out the session, you can have a look to our new Storify that summarizes it through the tweets produced during the session. Wed, 7 May 2014 19:00:00 +0200 http://www.sophie-project.eu/news.htm#16 Last week we held the mid-project meeting of all SOPHIE partners in Barcelona. A total of 34 researchers participated in the sessions. Besides reporting on general advances, partners presented and discussed 23 working papers, which will certainly make up the bulk of the final project publications. A nice strategy to improve interaction has been to have all participants peer-reviewing one of the working papers sent before the meeting. It has been a very fruitful exchange! Tue, 4 Feb 2014 16:00:00 +0200 http://www.sophie-project.eu/news.htm#15 In the SOPHIE in the news section you can find a selection of the coverage that our two January press releases have received in some of the most read Spanish newspapers. Tue, 4 Feb 2014 16:00:00 +0200 http://www.sophie-project.eu/news.htm#14 This week, Caritas Barcelona has published a report on housing conditions and health of people served by this NGO, prepared together with Agencia de Salut Publica de Barcelona as part of a SOPHIE case study on housing. Results were presented in a press conference extensively covered by the press. The housing and health study (including an executive summary in English) can be downloaded here. Thu, 19 Dec 2013 16:00:00 +0200 http://www.sophie-project.eu/news.htm#13 At the end of this month, we will reach two years since the start of SOPHIE, that is, the half of the project. Mon, 28 Oct 2013 14:00:00 +0200 http://www.sophie-project.eu/news.htm#12 From October 1 to 3, 22 researchers from seven project partners and five countries met in Barcelona to participate in an advanced training on two of the innovative methods inspired in the realist philosophy of science that we are applying in SOPHIE: realist review - especially realist synthesis - and explanatory case studies. Fri, 04 Oct 2013 014:00:00 +0200 http://www.sophie-project.eu/news.htm#11 Here beside you can find some photos from our May 29 meeting with our Advisory Board. Wed, 31 Jul 2013 08:00:00 +0200 http://www.sophie-project.eu/news.htm#10 We have updated the Themes pages with more information on the specific studies that we are carrying out. The lists of accepted or published articles and conference communications have also been updated. Wed, 17 Jul 2013 17:00:00 +0200 http://www.sophie-project.eu/news.htm#9 We are happy to announce the launch of the first number of the SOPHIE newsletter. Watch our welcome video and discover all its sections: the Method, the Results, the People, the Picture, the Number, News and Readings. Fri, 24 May 2013 11:00:00 +0200 http://www.sophie-project.eu/news.htm#8 A new SOPHIE publication is available: an article published in the journal Health and Place, using one of our innovative methods to understand how an urban renewal program can improve the wellbeing of residents. We also uploaded a presentation to explain its main results. Wed, 22 May 2013 21:00:00 +0200 http://www.sophie-project.eu/news.htm#7 On May 29-31 we will meet in Amsterdam to discuss our advances. The first day, we will have the opportunity to discuss our project with the members of our Advisory Board, each one specifically expert in the nine thematic areas of SOPHIE, but also with a global vision on the issue of health inequalities and how they can be influenced through policy. Mon, 06 May 2013 21:00:00 +0200 http://www.sophie-project.eu/news.htm#6 On January 21-22, we participated in the periodic meeting of the Expert Group on Social Determinants hosted by the European Commission DG Health and Consumers. We presented the SOPHIE project, giving some examples of the policies that we are evaluating and of the methods that we are using. You can watch and download our slides here. Thu, 28 Feb 2013 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.sophie-project.eu/news.htm#5 While working on the first project publications, recently we started on our Twitter account a new article of the week section on recommended papers on social policy and health inequalities. These articles will bring already published examples of how living conditions influence people's health and how structural social and economic policies can make a difference to health inequalities. You can start following us there and each Wednesday morning you will find a new suggested reading. Wed, 27 Feb 2013 14:00:00 +0200 http://www.sophie-project.eu/news.htm#1 During this spring and summer we have been advancing in the definition of the specific studies that will finally make up SOPHIE. On September 27-28, work package leaders meet in Barcelona to debate and coordinate their respective research protocols. Taking the opportunity of this important meeting, we have prepared, with the collaboration of the CommHERE project, our first press release to present the project that you can read and download here. We have also produced and printed a SOPHIE leaflet that you can see online here. Reading these documents, you will find new details about some methods that we are going to use and some specific policies whose health effects will be evaluated. Wed, 26 Sep 2012 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.sophie-project.eu/news.htm#2 http://www.sophie-project.eu, the website for our SOPHIE project, is now online! SOPHIE aims to generate new evidence on the impact of structural policies on health inequalities, and to develop innovative methodologies for the evaluation of these policies in Europe, putting particular attention in increasing the involvement of stakeholders affected by health inequity. In the website you'll find basic information about project themes, partners and main objectives. The project started in November 2011. We are now preparing the protocols of all studies, and have started the fieldwork in some of them. By the end of the year, more information will be available on the scope, methods and when possible preliminary results of these concrete studies. Fri, 27 Apr 2012 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.sophie-project.eu/news.htm#3 On February 6 to 8, in a frozen Brussels (-10ºC to -5ºC), 29 researchers from the 12 partners of the project met for the first SOPHIE consortium meeting. The preliminary plans of all Work Packages were presented and discussed. We had discussions on how to make the link between social and economic policies, social determinants of health, and health inequalities, and on how to apply realist methodologies for the review and evaluation of policy impacts on health equity. The next venue will be Barcelona, September, for a meeting of Work Package leaders. Fri, 27 Apr 2012 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.sophie-project.eu/news.htm#4 On November 2011, 7 to 9, 15 researchers from 6 partners of the project met in Barcelona to attend a training in Concept Mapping, a participatory, semi-quantitative method to involve stakeholders and gather their views on an issue of interest. Our partners from the Centre of Research in Inner City Health (CRICH) in Toronto, Mairi Omand from CRICH Survey Research Unit and Pat O'Campo, CRICH Director, prepared the training and shared with us their large experience with this methodology. Last month we started using it in Barcelona in a study on the health impacts of a neighbourhood renewal program, and we hope to be able to apply it soon in other countries! Fri, 27 Apr 2012 00:00:00 +0200