HALCyon brings together researchers who are specialists in ageing, cohort studies or research methods and non-academic partners who use research findings, so that the research is sound, comparable and shared with those who need it.  CLS undertook the ‘Life history and healthy ageing’ strand of this collaborative programme.

We interviewed a sample of study members from three of the cohorts to collect qualitative information. This information was then linked with the quantitative data using special software. We were then able to see if there are relationships between people’s life stories, their sense of wellbeing and the physical process of ageing.

Through in-depth interviews this research gave selected cohort members the opportunity to construct narratives about their own lives and identities. We used these narratives to:

• Make comparisons between cohorts about the meaning and experience of ageing
• Look for key individual, family and contextual influences on people’s sense of wellbeing
• Understand how experiences in early life may shape adult lifestyles
• Generate new hypotheses to test using quantitative methods

You can find out full details about this collaborative research programme on the main HALCyon website.