Study title

The 10/66 Dementia Research Group INDEP study (The Economic and Social Effects of Care Dependence in Later Life) was funded by the ESRC/ DFID joint poverty alleviation programme. We planned to investigate the impact of care dependence upon social and economic functioning at the household level in China, Mexico, Peru and Nigeria (1). In a nested cohort study design, households were pre-selected as engaged in incident care, chronic care, or no care (control households) of older adults, on the basis of findings from our previous 10/66 DRG baseline and incidence wave population-based surveys in rural and urban sites in Mexico, Peru and China (2;3). All care households and an equivalent number of randomly selected control households (batch matched for the age of the oldest qualifying resident) were invited for the INDEP follow-up. Design (sampling) and response weights are provided, to weight back to the overall composition of the population-based sample for the 10/66 incidence wave surveys in these sites. This mixed methods project is nested within the baseline and incidence phases of the 10/66 Dementia Research Group population-based studies in Mexico, Peru, China and Nigeria. The objective is to study whether, and if so how, the onset of care-dependence in an older household member leads to household impoverishment and vulnerability. Households with an older person who has developed needs for care (incident care households) will be compared with those with older residents with long-standing needs for care (chronic dependence) and no needs for care (control households). Detailed household interviews will be used to assess consumption, income and assets, including changes that might be attributable to the onset or intensification of care-dependence. Detailed case studies of selected households will be used to elucidate the pathways involved. An additional focus is intra-household effects and wider social dynamics: (1) How is the care burden for dependent older...