The Northern Ireland Cohort for the Longitudinal Study of Ageing (NICOLA) - CAPI

The NICOLA study will be the most detailed study on ageing ever undertaken in Northern Ireland.
NICOLA has been set up by a group of researchers in the Centre for Public Health in Queen's University Belfast.
The purpose of NICOLA is to understand the health, lifestyles and financial situation of 8,500 people as they grow older in Northern Ireland, and to see how their circumstances change over a 10-15 year period as they move into and progress beyond retirement.
The study will cover a broad set of topics relevant to a full understanding of the ageing process.
The results will then be compared to those from similar studies in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland.

The study is important as the population aged over 50 is the most rapidly growing group in Northern Ireland.

Not enough is known about the implications of population ageing. Until now there has not been good enough data to study the issues and therefore inform government policy on health, pensions or retirement, for example.

Key questions that this study will be designed to answer are:

What is the relationship between health and wealth?
What determines the nature and timing of retirement?
How important are household and family structures to health, wealth and quality of life?
How adequate are financial provisions for retirement, and how can policy help?
How should the government optimise the use and quality of health and social care services?
What is the nature and structure of social networks, support and participation for older people?

8500 people throughout Northern Ireland have been randomly selected to become members of this study. Study members and their partners will be interviewed in a Computer Assisted Personal Interview (CAPI) every two years in order to build up a detailed picture of how circumstances change in later life.

The NICOLA study consists of the following 3 stages: an interview, a questionnaire and a health assessment.
In this first stage, a 90 minute Computer Assisted Personal Interview (CAPI) is conducted in the participants own home at a time that suits them.
IPSOS Mori, a leading research company, have been commissioned to carry out these home interviews.
The interviewers collect information on living arrangements, children, education, income and assets, physical and mental health, employment, lifelong learning, planning for retirement, care and social support. They record this information using a computer.
Questions will be asked about health, diet, work, family and social networks, income and benefit receipts, quality of life, cognitive functioning, daily activities, housing, retirement and pensions. The affect of 'the troubles' on the lives of people will also be explored.

NICOLA study members further invited to take part in a home interview every two years and a health assessment every four years.
All participants will be provided with detailed information sheets prior to the home interview and health assessment and will have the opportunity to contact the study team directly to ask any questions they may have.

Information gathered during this study will be used to inform and plan Northern Ireland Health and Social Care provision in the future, and to design other policies targeted towards older people.
Academic researchers will also use the data to help understand important questions in health, economics and ageing. Their results will then be used to advise policy makers on how best to design policies for health and pensions and to compare the Northern Ireland population to similar populations in other countries

Everything captured in the interview is treated in strict confidence. The results will not be used in any way in which they can be associated with participants or their addresses.
All information you give will be treated in the strictest confidence and used for research purposes only.

This project supports the Northern Ireland 'Ageing in an Inclusive Society Strategy' and the European Plan for Promotion of Active Ageing 2011.
WHO WILL BENEFIT: Older citizens of GB and Ireland; carers and commissioners; Policy makers across GB, Ireland and at EU Level; Third Sector advocates for older people; Health & Social Care practitioners; Junior researchers; the international academic community; participants of the study and their families.
HOW WILL THEY BENEFIT: The types of impact anticipated include advancing knowledge, building capacity, informing decision making, improved health and social welfare and increasing public engagement with research. Older citizens will benefit from information on best ways to: stay active, maintain physical and mental wellbeing and remain productive for longer. Policy makers need high quality information from a well characterised cohort to inform policies and incentives for example on saving, active living, economic productivity, welfare and pension planning. Practitioners and advocates need comparable information with which to better inform their lobbying activities, for example on targeting services for vulnerable older people. Information on physical and cognitive functioning and the determinants of retirement behaviour will be of benefit to the Welfare Reform Expert Advisory Group, in light of the removal of the Default Retirement Age and the associated need for updating or re-skilling of an older workforce. Junior researchers can use a long term cohort study to build up a credible body of work, for academic career progression, either to a nationally competitive Senior Research Fellowship or a tenured lectureship. Collaboration and knowledge co-production are part of the modus operandi of the UKCRC Centre of Excellence for Public Health, (itself an embedded partnership with policy makers, practitioners, the Third Sector and the public), and are essential to maximize the impact of the work. The representation of all key stakeholders within the management and governance structure of the study will ensure that user engagement, from the outset, guides the development and impact of the work and ensure that the voice of older people is heard and that the research questions and methods are relevant to older citizens and their families. Dissemination and Outreach activities will commence even before wave 1 recruitment and analysis is complete. This will be guided by a written strategy and plan that also addresses the needs of hard- to-reach groups, but will involve a broad range of media and methods of engagement including: the development of a study website, featuring news and study relatedevent updates and linked to social networking outlets.
Printed media will be of various types including: plain English lay summaries of the research in E-zines and Newssheets
(including large print versions) which all participants and Third Sector partners will automatically receive; Briefing papers written specifically for policy makers and practitioners; "highlight" pieces for the Press; academic papers for open access and high impact peer reviewed journals.
Outreach activities will include workshops to report progress and obtain feedback from different audiences including the Third Sector and older people as part of a regular Community Stakeholder Forum, policy makers and practitioners. Results will be presented at national and international conferences. Our Centre has a track record of delivering these activities and of working with the Science Shop, the External Affairs Office and the Knowledge Exploitation Unit of the University, and the Policy Innovation Unit of the Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister to identify opportunities to reach out to the wider community and business sectors.