Life Study Scientific Protocol

Abstract

ForwardThe Life Study protocol was developed by the scientific leadership team together with experts from a wide range of disciplines drawn from the biomedical, clinical and social science research communities who formed part of a wider affiliated scientific network. The protocol sets out the key research themes of the study, chosen to capitalise on the unique opportunities afforded by the Study design, and to enable a wide range of research questions and policy issues relevant to children to be explored.The Life Study protocol was initially developed in response to the call specification for bids for a leadership team for a new birth cohort study issued by ESRC and MRC in 2009. This call specification was informed by preceding reviews commissioned from Longview by the ESRC between 2006 and 2009. Following international peer review and interviews by an international panel, ESRC awarded funding to the proposal from the leadership team led by Professor Dezateux. Funding was not released until 2011.The Life Study protocol was developed by members of the Scientific Protocol Development Group with input from Scientific Working Groups, each co-chaired by social and biomedical scientists. Ad hoc subgroups and external experts contributed on focussed aspects. A public consultation took place on the draft protocol in July 2012, followed by an independently conducted web survey with input from a wide range of disciplines. The Life Study Scientific Steering Committee (members listed below) is responsible for the content of this protocol, having approved its final content and any revisions needed in the light of experience following piloting. They, and key members of the Life Study team, are its authors. This document sets out the Life Study protocol, approved by the Research Ethics Committee in January 2015 when the first Life Study Centre opened and which was in operation at the time the decision to close Life Study was taken by the funders in July 2015. Members of the Scientific AcknowledgementsThe authors acknowledge with gratitude the contributions made by the chairs and members of the Life Study Scientific Advisory and Working Groups and by individual experts to the development of the Life Study protocol, sampling design, questionnaires, consent and record linkage strategies all of whom gave generously of their time, expertise and advice on specific questions, instruments and topics.Special thanks are extended to Professor Paul Burton -formerly a member of the Scientific Steering Committee -for his expert contributions to the initial proposal and the final protocol in respect of power and sample size calculations.The support of the Centre for Facilitation in using consensus methods to review and prioritise the questionnaire content is gratefully acknowledged.

Integrating area-based and national samples in birth cohort studies: the case of Life Study

“…A detailed description of the protocols for both components, including power calculations and sampling strategies, is given elsewhere (Dezateux et al, 2016b). Full documentation of the study questionnaires and materials can be found at https://www.lifestudy.ac.uk/resources, and these will be useful for readers who wish to gain a deeper understanding of the overall rationale and content of the study.…”

“…This sampling design was substantially the one recommended in two reports to the principal funder (Bynner et al, 2007(Bynner et al, , 2009, as set out in the protocol approved by the principal funder following a competitive process, international peer review and assessment by an independent international scientific panel (Dezateux, 2016b). The sampling design was subsequently discussed and refined by a methodology advisory group set up by and reporting to the Life Study Scientific Steering Committee.…”

An integrated and collaborative approach to developing and scripting questionnaires for longitudinal cohort studies and surveys: experience in Life Study

“…'Life Study' comprised an innovative design of two integrated samples -a 'Pregnancy Component', purposively sampled from a small number of areas, and a nationally representative 'Birth Component', with multiple respondents and contacts in each (Dezateux, Knowles, et al, 2016;Goldstein, Sera, Elias, & Dezateux, 2017) (Table 1). Questionnaires were developed with input from clinicians, population, social and biomedical scientists, relevant stakeholders and experts, and in consultation with UK research and policy communities.…”