Life-Course, Development and Ageing
Leads: Helen McConachie & Louise Robinson
Lifecourse, Development and Ageing (LCDA) is a multidisciplinary theme which brings together a wide range of academics and clinicians to conduct applied health research across the lifespan. The group includes academic expertise in mixed methods research with representation from health psychology, medical sociology and social gerontology and clinical expertise from both primary and secondary care (including primary care, paediatrics, child psychology, geriatrics and old age psychiatry). Our research explores the whole spectrum of healthy ageing, from development in childhood and the consequences of disability, to the health and wellbeing of the oldest old, those aged 85 years and over. The LCDA theme incorporates six research strands:
- Ageing and Health
- Transitions in health and disability
- Understanding child disability
- Improving quality of life
- Technologies and the environment
- Cognitive impairment and dementia.
Aims:
- To develop and deliver internationally recognised multidisciplinary, empirical research that contributes to our understanding of development, ageing and health across the life course, from childhood into old age, and improves an individual’s quality of life and the quality of care they receive
- To conduct research into:
- Factors that influence health across the life course, from childhood through to old age, with a focus on promoting independence, enhancing function and reducing disability
- How new knowledge, technologies and interventions can improve individuals’ wellbeing, participation and quality of life across the lifespan, and the quality of healthcare they receive
- Understanding the experience of health, impairment and disability across the life course, and within the family, with a particular focus on childhood development/disability, cognitive impairment and dementia in later life and the health of the oldest old
Selected Projects
- A pragmatic randomised controlled trial to evaluate the effectiveness and cost effectiveness of Collaborative cARE for people with DEMentia in primary care (CARE-DEM trial).
Project Leader(s): Professor Louise Robinson - Advanced Care Planning in Dementia
Project Leader(s): Professor Louise Robinson - Communication development of children with motor disorders
Project Leader(s): Dr Lindsay Pennington - Embodied Selves in Transition: Disabled Young Bodies
Project Leader(s): Dr Janice McLaughlin, Professor Allan Colver, Professor Patrick Olivier - How can health services contribute most effectively to facilitating successful transition of young people with complex health needs from childhood to adulthood?
Project Leader(s): Professor Allan Colver - Is ageing changing? Health, healthy life and cognition across generations: Changing ageing across Generations, Epidemiology to policy
Project Leader(s): Professor Carol Brayne, Lead Investigator (University of Cambridge) - Newcastle 85+ study
Project Leader(s): Professor Tom Kirkwood - Pilot trial of a new parent group intervention to manage repetitive behaviours in young children with ASD
Project Leader(s): Professor Ann Le Couteur - Technology Strategy Board: Sustainable technologies for our Ageing Populations
Project Leader(s): Professor Feng Li, Dr Katie Brittain - The Better Communication Research Programme
Project Leader(s): Professor James Law
