The Data Collection Day visit day runs from about 8:45am to about 4:30pm. Most of that is taken up with the assessments, with proper breaks for morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea built in. We don't rush. The schedule and timings might varying depending on you, what's happening with assessment equipment, and other such things. We'll be clear about the order and timing of what will happen in your day in the morning of your visit.

The full details about the Data Collection Day can be found on the 'On Your Data Collection Day' page. 

In short: you'll do some thinking and memory tasks in the morning, an interview about your life since we last spoke, a sit-down lunch, then physical health checks at the Nicholls Centre nearby (heart, eyes, blood, basic measurements), and finish with afternoon tea and a wrap-up conversation back at our offices.

You don't need to do anything to prepare for your visit. There's nothing to study, look up, or remember in advance.

Please get in touch with us. We know the schedule for the day is packed and that might not work for everyone. We can adapt and make changes to suit your needs, and we can chat about those needs, and what might work for you.  For example, there are some parts of the assessment we can offer remote options. Health, mobility, work, family commitments and personal preference are all valid reasons, you don't need to justify anything to us. 

We ask is that you let us know in advance, so we can arrange the schedule and any travel around what works for you.

We can offer you a koha, a thank-you gift from us. We will arrange getting this to you closer to your visit with us.

Some Study Members choose to waive the koha, there's no expectation to do this. 

If you live elsewhere in Aotearoa, we cover the cost of getting to Christchurch and back — flights, transport, and a night's accommodation if your visit means an early start or late finish. We book everything for you so you don't need to lay out money and claim it back.

If you live overseas, we'd still love to see you. We have Study Members living in Australia, the UK, the US, and further afield, and we work through the travel logistics with these Study Members one-on-one. We cover the cost of being part of the study; you cover the rest of your trip.

If getting to Christchurch genuinely isn't possible, talk to us. We have remote options for parts of the assessment and it will depend on how we can best support you. 

That's exactly why we have included the options to update your details with us. When Study Members change their details, like home address, email, contact numbers, - it is the most common reason we lose touch with Study Members. Updating your details takes about two minutes and doesn't commit you to anything else.

https://chds.co.nz/contact-us

It's never too late to get back in touch, however long it's been. We will always count you as a Study Member. 

Yes. The day has several distinct parts, the cognitive tasks, the interview, the physical checks, the blood sample, the urine sample, the eye imaging, the ECG, the bowel screening kit. You can say yes to any combination of these and no to any of them, and you can change your mind on the day.

We'll talk through the options during the consent kōrero in the morning, and you can revisit the conversation at any point.

No. You can skip any question without giving a reason. You can take a break whenever you need one. You can stop the Data Collection Day entirely, at any point, and pick up another part of the day if you'd like, or not.

None of those choices affect anything else about your day, your koha, or your relationship with the study. The interviewer's job is as much to support you as to ask the questions.

That's completely okay. 

• Taking part is voluntary, and choosing not to participate in this wave doesn't remove you from the study or affect future waves, we'll be in touch again next time.
• If you'd like to tell us why, we'd love to hear it (it helps us improve the study), but you don't have to. A simple "not this time" by email or phone is enough.
• If you'd like to leave the study altogether, you can do that too; get in touch and we'll walk you through what that means.

This is one of the things we plan for, because it happens, some of the topics we ask about are personal, and even questions that feel manageable in advance can land differently in the moment.

If you feel upset, tell us or just pause. The interviewer can stop, sit with you, get you a cup of tea, or change topic. We have a quiet space available if you'd like to be alone for a few minutes, and our team is trained to support you through difficult moments.

If anything has come up by the end of the day that's left you unsettled, we won't send you home with it. We'll talk it through, give you contact details for free support services in Aotearoa, and check in with you in the days after. You're never alone with what gets raised on a day like this.

Just tell us via email or phone - whatever's easiest. We'll find another date that works.
There's no need to explain, no penalty, and no expectation that you'll only reschedule once. Life happens.

Both our offices and the Nicholls Centre are wheelchair accessible. If you have other access needs, sensory, mobility, neurodivergence-related, anxiety about unfamiliar buildings, fatigue, chronic pain, anything — please tell us in advance and we'll plan the day around them.

Common adjustments we can make: a quiet room available throughout the day, longer breaks, a slower pace, dimmer lighting in some sessions, a familiar support person on hand, advance photos of the building so you know what to expect, and breaking the visit across two days. None of these are unusual requests, and you don't need to justify them.

Tell us in advance and we'll plan around it. Conditions affecting mobility, fatigue, pain, hearing, vision, mental health, or sensitivity to medical environments are all things we work with regularly, and we'll adjust the day to suit you.

For some checks (for example, the blood sample), there are situations where we'd want to know about a relevant condition — if you're on blood-thinning medication, for instance — and we'll talk you through any adjustments before we do them.

This is one of the most common things Study Members tell us, and it's completely understandable — a long day, personal questions, and physical health checks are a lot to think about, especially if it's been a while since you last visited.

A few things that help. First, you can phone or email us to talk it through before you commit to a date. We'll answer questions, walk you through anything you're unsure about, and we won't push. Second, you can split the day into two shorter visits if that's easier. 

Third, you can bring a support person along to be on site even if they're not in the room. And fourth, you stay in control of every part of the day — including stopping if it isn't working.

Most Study Members tell us afterwards that the day was easier and warmer than they'd expected. But we know that doesn't help in advance. If anxiety is what's holding you back, please get in touch.

Honestly, this is the thing we'd most want you to understand: the value of CHDS comes from the cohort staying together over time.

The reason this study has been able to teach us what it has — about how childhoods shape adult lives, about what helps people thrive, about mental health and substance use and resilience — is because most of you have stayed with us across decades.

When even a small number of Study Members miss a wave, it weakens what the study can tell us. Your data isn't just one data point; it's a thread running across nearly fifty years, and we can't replace it with anyone else's. You can't be replaced.

That said — we know that life doesn't always make participation possible, and "not this time" is a perfectly acceptable answer. We just want you to know what your participation means to the study, so you can decide with the full picture.

Anyone on the team, but the easiest starting point is our main contact line.

📞 +64 3 372 6706
✉️ chds.uoc@otago.ac.nz

There's no question too small. We'd love to hear from you.

Everything you tell us, and every measurement we take, is stored securely on encrypted servers managed by the University of Otago. Your name and contact details are stored separately from your research data, researchers using the data work with a Study Member ID number, not your name.

We use the information for approved research purposes only. We don't sell data, we don't share it with companies, and we don't use it for marketing. Use of CHDS data is overseen by the CHDS Advisory Board, the CHDS Participant Advisory Board, the CHDS International Intellectual Advisory Board, and the relevant university research-governance and health and disability ethics bodies.

Nothing is shared with your GP, your employer, WINZ, Oranga Tamariki, ACC, the Police, or anyone else without your permission.

There's one exception we want to be upfront about: if any of the physical health checks turn up something we think your GP should know about for your wellbeing — for example, a result that needs follow-up, we'll let you know on the day, talk you through what it means, and ask whether you'd like us to share the result with your GP. Even then, nothing goes anywhere without your say-so, and you can decline.

For most checks, yes. We'll go through any straightforward results with you on the day where we can, your blood pressure, your basic measurements, and so on.

The more detailed results from blood, eye imaging, the ECG and the bowel screening kit take longer to process. If any of these turn up something we think your GP should know about, we'll be in touch with you afterwards to discuss it. If everything is in the expected range, we generally don't follow up individually, but you can ask for a summary of your results at any time.

The bowel screening kit, which you'll take home and post back, is processed through a lab, you'll receive your result by post in the weeks afterwards.

In the first instance, the CHDS team based in Christchurch (see the page about Our Team). 

Beyond that, researchers from other universities and institutions can apply to use CHDS data for specific research questions, but they don't get raw data. Their access is governed by the boards listed in our Governance page, every project requires approval, and researchers commit in writing to use the data only for the approved purpose, store it securely, never try to identify any individual, and destroy or return the dataset when they're done.

If you'd like more detail about how researchers access and use CHDS data, we're happy to walk you through it. We can the protection and security of your data very seriously.