Left to right: Grace Walker, Geri McLeod, Martin Kennedy, Bridget Kinnersley, John Horwood, Janet Spittlehouse, Joe Boden, Bhuban Dhakal, James Foulds.
Not pictured: Emeritus Professor David M Fergusson.
The Christchurch Health and Development Study (CHDS) has been in existence for over 40 years. During this time we have followed the health, education, and life progress of a group of 1,265 children born in the Christchurch (New Zealand) urban region in mid-1977.
The cohort has been studied from infancy into childhood, adolescence and adulthood. Data gathered over the course of the study now comprises some 50 million characters of information, with which the study has published over 500 scientific papers, reports, books and book chapters describing the life history of the CHDS cohort.
In 2019, we completed our participant interviews for their 40-year assessment.
Funding
Health Research Council of New Zealand
News
April 2022
- Good news! We have cleared the first hurdle for our funding to continue CHDS for the next five years. Next up is an interview with the Health Research Council in May, and a decision by June. Stay tuned!
March 2022
- We're in the news again, talking about the link between alcohol abuse and suicide, and how Government strategy could be improved:
Blind spot for alcohol and suicide link – Newsroom
UNITE study
New study! We’re working with some awesome colleagues on the UNITE (Understanding the Neurocognitive Impact of Trauma Exposure) Study – a 2-year, Christchurch-based project which will involve around 200 participants from our cohort.
So, why are we doing this? Well, as you probably know, the Canterbury earthquake sequence caused considerable stress to many who experienced it, and previous research has shown a significant amount of ‘earthquake brain’ (cognitive problems involving memory, attention, organisation, etc.) as a result. This is obviously not a great headspace to be in so we’re keen to understand ‘earthquake brain’ better so we can develop treatments and strategies to help psychological recovery from natural disasters.
Participants who are eligible for the study (based on responses to online questionnaires sent last year) will be asked to come in for a one-off assessment. This will be a questionnaire, interview, cognitive function tests – the usual stuff.
Thank you so much to everyone who's taken/taking part. Please get in touch if you have any questions: chds.uoc@otago.ac.nz
We're always researching and writing – check out our Publications pages to find out more.
Take a look at other items of CHDS News, and feel free to get in touch: chds.uoc@otago.ac.nz
