18/01/2018
Many of you will recognise Susan - she's one of our most experienced fieldworkers, and has collected data and samples from all three generations of Children of the 90s participants. We caught up with Susan to find out more about life as a fieldworker in our series: http://bit.ly/2DriMvP
This week’s interviewee is Children of the Children of the 90s (COCO90s) fieldworker Susan Greer.
Susan’s been involved with Children of the 90s from the very beginning, and has collected data and samples from all three generations of participants. Here, she tells us how, with more than 700 babies and children now involved in COCO90s, the study continues to go from strength to strength.
***
What does being a COCO90s fieldworker involve?
I’m part of a small team of five, and we’re all actively involved in all areas of the study. We run clinics six days a week, and collect data from whole families – mothers, fathers and children – at various stages of pregnancy and childhood. On any given day, we might need to collect data from just one person or a family of six, so we have to be flexible and accommodating, while also ensuring that the data we collect is as accurate as possible.
Our clinics are extremely varied: we have core measures that we carry out at every visit, and then extra measures depending on the child’s age and the timeframe of the visit. We also liaise with research midwives and staff in nine different hospitals and birth centres who inform us when a COCO90s baby is born. We collect birth samples (placenta, cord blood and meconium) from the hospital and transport them safely to our laboratories, and carry out data abstraction from the mother's obstetric notes. We also visit participants at home between seven and 15 days post-delivery to collect biological samples (such as stool and breast milk), and deliver or collect equipment (such as continuous glucose monitors, activity monitors and head cameras).
As well as daily clinics, we carry out all the administration involved in recruiting, enrolling and looking after our participants. We contact them when their visits are due, book appointments, post questionnaires, manage travel expenses, and organise food and drink when they visit. We arrange taxis for those without transport, and hotel accommodation for those travelling from afar.
***
What does a typical day look like for you?
There’s no typical day for us as our work is so varied, but we generally start at 8 am and finish around 4.30 pm.
We begin the day by checking for messages about birth samples to be collected. After that, we work out what we will need for the day’s clinics: we check and calibrate equipment, prepare clinic rooms, and arrange food and drink in the café area. We prepare individual information packs containing consent forms, data sheets, travel reimbursement information, and vouchers, and start on other daily administrative tasks: texting participants to remind them about visits, sending email reminders to those keeping an online food diary, phoning participants to make appointments, printing letters and preparing questionnaires for posting.
Each clinic lasts between 90 minutes and three hours. We have a core set of measures that all participants do: height, weight, body circumference, skinfold measurements, blood pressure, physical capability measures, cognitive testing and developmental testing. Other measures are age and visit-specific, but can include blood, saliva, stool, urine, breast milk and birth samples, blood glucose monitors, activity monitors, dietary diaries, DXA scans, a speech and language assessment, an eczema assessment, a menstruation questionnaire or a fracture questionnaire. The sessions are constantly evolving, as and when funding for new data collection comes in, so we also have to find time for appropriate training and monitoring.
After each visit, we clean the clinic rooms, and enter all the data we’ve collected onto our database. We spend the end of the day making more appointments and preparing for the next day's visits.
***
When did you first get involved with Children of the 90s, and how has the study changed over the years?
I first started working with Children of the 90s 25 years ago, collecting data from the Children in Focus cohort (a group of about 1,400 children randomly selected from the wider cohort). When those children turned seven, Professor Jean Golding expanded the study to collect data from all 14,500 participants in clinic.
In those days, data was collected by various specialist teams. I managed the Phlebotomy team and we became quite skilled at getting blood samples from small veins. Over the years, genetic research became more important, and we collected a huge number of cell line samples for DNA analysis. All the children we saw were the same age so, in some ways, our job was easier: we only had to concentrate on one child and one data collection task!
In 2008, I worked as a fieldworker with the mothers of the original cohort, and in 2014, I moved to COCO90s. I feel very proud to have collected data from three generations of participants!
***
The participants in COCO90s are all different ages – what challenges does this present?
We work with, and collect data, from whole families, which is different to anything done before in Children of the 90s. Our aim is to make a COCO90s visit a positive experience for everyone – we are always guided by the child: the happier and more relaxed they are, the more they’ll take part. The children we see range from two weeks old to 11 years old, so we work extremely hard to keep everyone happy. That means always being flexible: taking a break halfway through if the child needs to, and accommodating feeds, naps and nappy changes!
As well as enrolling more parents, babies and children each week, COCO90s is also growing sideways, as we recruit new partners and step siblings to the study. We see our participants on a regular basis so get to know them really well – that’s a huge privilege, and we have to be very sensitive to changes in family set-ups.
We also undergo a lot of training – seeing children of varying ages means we have to be proficient in more and more varied measures.
***
What do you enjoy most about being part of COCO90s?
I really enjoy interacting with our amazing participants and their growing families: it’s lovely to see them return each year, and see the children growing up! Another huge plus is working with wonderful colleagues, and specifically, the amazing COCO90s team. I really enjoy having been part of such a fantastic study for so long, and feeling that I’ve contributed in a small way to all the research that’s been undertaken over the years.
***
What would you say to any participants wondering whether to enrol their children in COCO90s?
Please do! We want this study of third generation participants to grow and thrive, and the data we collect from you and your children will improve the health of future generations. Get in touch with us at coco90s@childrenofthe90s.ac.uk – we’d really love to hear from you.
