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

尼古拉的研究将是北爱尔兰有史以来对老龄化进行的最详细的研究。NICOLA是由贝尔法斯特女王大学公共卫生中心的一组研究人员建立的。尼古拉的目的是了解北爱尔兰8,500人随着年龄增长的健康、生活方式和财务状况，并了解他们在10-15年内步入退休和退休后的情况是如何变化的。这项研究将涵盖一系列与全面了解老龄化过程相关的主题。研究结果将与英国和爱尔兰共和国的类似研究结果进行比较。这项研究很重要，因为50岁以上的人口是爱尔兰北部增长最快的群体。对人口老龄化的影响知之甚少。例如，到目前为止，还没有足够好的数据来研究这些问题，从而为政府的医疗、养老金或退休政策提供参考。这项研究旨在回答的关键问题是：健康和财富之间的关系是什么？是什么决定了退休的性质和时机？家庭和家庭结构对健康、财富和生活质量有多重要？为退休提供的财务拨备有多充足？政策可以如何帮助？政府应该如何优化医疗和社会护理服务的使用和质量？老年人的社交网络、支持和参与的性质和结构是什么？整个北爱尔兰随机选择了8500人作为这项研究的成员。研究成员和他们的伴侣将每两年接受一次计算机辅助个人面试(CAPI)，以建立一幅详细的图景，了解环境在以后的生活中是如何变化的。尼古拉研究包括以下三个阶段：采访、问卷和健康评估。在第一阶段，90分钟的计算机辅助个人面试(CAPI)是在参与者自己的家里进行的，时间适合他们。这些家庭访问是委托领先的研究公司益普索森友进行的，受访者收集有关生活安排、子女、教育、收入和资产、身心健康、就业、终身学习、退休规划、护理和社会支持等方面的信息。他们使用计算机记录这些信息。问题将涉及健康、饮食、工作、家庭和社会网络、收入和福利收入、生活质量、认知功能、日常活动、住房、退休和养老金。NICOLA的研究成员还被邀请参加每两年一次的家访和每四年一次的健康评估。所有参与者将在家庭访谈和健康评估之前获得详细的信息表，并将有机会直接联系研究小组，询问他们可能有任何问题。在这项研究期间收集的信息将用于为北爱尔兰未来的卫生和社会护理提供信息和计划，并设计其他针对老年人的政策。学术研究人员还将利用这些数据来帮助理解健康、经济和老龄化方面的重要问题。然后，他们的结果将被用来为政策制定者提供建议，建议他们如何最好地设计医疗和养老金政策，并将北爱尔兰人口与其他国家的类似人口进行比较。采访中捕捉到的一切都将严格保密。结果不会以任何与参与者或他们的地址相关联的方式使用。您提供的所有信息都将严格保密，仅用于研究目的。

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 countriesEverything 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.