Scottish Health Survey: content review outcomes report

Review Process

The changes and considerations summarised in this report are the result of a questionnaire review process, which entailed:

● A formal review on the content of the questionnaire

The review was launched on the 18 July 2022 and was live for 10 weeks. It was widely advertised via ScotStat, the SHeS website, internal newsletters, the SHeS Project Board, internal and external presentations and user networks. The review invited comments on the questionnaire and biological measurements, suggestions for changes and possible additional questions.  

A report summarising the review responses is available on the SHeS website.

● Discussion with ScotCen, the survey contractors, over survey timings and the feasibility of new or altered questions and topics.

● Follow-up discussions with individual SG policy teams and other stakeholders over proposed changes to specific topic areas.

● Discussions within the SHeS Project Board regarding possible and suggested changes.

● Testing of the revised questionnaire and final changes.

As was stated in the review documentation, the aims of the review were:

 -  To understand how existing data is being used by key stakeholders

 - To identify whether any existing data is no longer needed and can be removed from the survey

 - To identify whether there is a need to update the questions asked about specific topics

 - To identify whether there is a need for any new topics or physical measurements to potentially be included in SHeS

We also noted that, while the review provided an opportunity to make suggestions for new topics/additional questions to be included in SHeS in the future, space is very limited and it was unlikely that we would be able to accommodate all new requests for data.

The scoring sheet used to assess the need for different health topics, and included in the initial review document, is included in annex 1.

Please note that the 2025 survey is currently being piloted and there may be minor changes to question wording or question routing before the questionnaire is finalised.