Unique study into the health and wellbeing of seniors

Jun 11 2009

A unique Network studying the health and wellbeing of older people is bringing together health, social science and mathematics experts in a revolutionary project which will help shape the long-term provision of health and social care services across the UK and ultimately benefit older people.

The Collaborative Development Network is being pioneered by Northumbria University and will build on a 25 year study into the wellbeing of a group of pensioners from the North East - who are now in their 80s.

It has been awarded £50,000 by the Lifelong Health and Wellbeing Cross-Council initiative and is designed to build research capacity and capability by establishing multi-disciplinary partnerships focused on some of the major issues affecting older people.

Professor Charlotte Clarke, Associate Dean of the School of Health, Community and Education Studies at Northumbria says: "Society today is often guilty of focusing on older people as a problem - instead of concentrating on what people can offer to society and how to develop ways of managing.

"This exciting new Network is taking a completely different approach by identifying those aspects of the social, psychological and physical environment that enable an older person to use their own skills and abilities to the best effect."

Professor Clarke is working with a multi-disciplinary team on the project and believes that by taking a holistic approach to the research and drawing on experts, not usually associated with healthcare, the outcome will provide huge benefits to older people in the future.

She says: "There are important policy issues to be addressed through this Network - with the potential for health and social care resources to be directed in such a way that they really maximise what individuals have to offer. We believe the Network will both inform and support individuals, policy makers and healthcare professionals to ensure the UK is able to provide the very best support for older people in the future."

The Collaborative Development Network will involve health, social science, psychology and mathematics experts from Northumbria and academics from the Universities of Sheffield, Newcastle and Manchester, as well as international advisors from Australia and South Africa.

Professor Clarke says: "Research into ageing has traditionally been done in discreet areas, looking at either psychological issues, community influences or health related issues. We believe this is the first study of its type, drawing together social, health and economic factors, combining these with very individual and personal ability factors and then using mathematical modelling techniques to enable us to accurately plan for the future."

The Network will build on three key platforms including work by the British Academy International Research Network on risk and ageing, the UKCRC Centre for Translational Research in Public Health and comprehensive data collated by North East Age Research, from a cohort of older people - as part of a study which commenced over 25 years ago.

Dr Lynn McInnes is the co-ordinator of the 25 year study. She says: "The original research actually started back in the 1980s when we wanted to examine what happens to people's cognitive abilities as they get older. We discovered that age has little bearing on cognitive performance and there's great variability amongst older people. However, we also discovered that older people felt good cognitive performance helped enhance their quality of life and that having better cognitive abilities was intrinsically linked to better health in general.

"Now we have the opportunity to feed those findings into an important piece of research which will draw on a wide range of expertise to help shape the future provision of services for older people right across the country."

The Medical Research Council, who leads Lifelong health and Wellbeing on behalf of the Research Councils, says: "One of the key priorities for this Cross-Council initiative is to fund networks of multi-disciplinary researchers to come together to tackle major issues facing an ageing society. We are delighted to be supporting this team of researchers who are working towards making a difference to the health and wellbeing of the population in later life."