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.