Scottish Health Survey 2018: questionnaire changes report

Report summarising changes that will be made to the content of the Scottish Health Survey from January 2018 onwards.


3. Summary of Questionnaire Changes

Summaries for individual topic areas are included in the following chapters, with Table 1 summarising all changes.

Overall, steps were required to shorten the survey length as interviews were running over time. In light of this we have removed the following topics with little evidence of support or use received through the consultation process:

  • Contraception
  • Cosmetic procedures
  • Urine sample (this may be re-introduced in future years, pending investigation into its effectiveness)

Additionally, some sets of questions have been made less frequent, moving from annual collection to biennial (with the exception of the gambling questions, which have now moved to every four years):

  • Gambling
  • Parental History
  • CPR and use of health services
  • Certain alcohol questions (the AUDIT questionnaire on problem drinking, and questions regarding where and with whom most of the respondent's drinking occurs).

In contrast, additions to the survey have tended to be individual questions rather than sets of questions on a new topic. This has again been influenced by time constraints.

The following questions have been added:

  • A gender identity question in the self-completion booklet.

This is in order to allow expression of non-binary gender identities.

  • A question establishing whether respondent experienced loneliness during the past week will be added to the social capital module which will next be included in 2019.

This in line with a consultation suggestion from NHS Health Scotland and will also be included in the Scottish Household Survey.

  • A question for those who have used a form of Nicotine Replacement Therapy ( NRT) or similar, to establish whether that specific NRT helped them quit for over a month.

This stemmed from interest from the relevant policy team in establishing success rates for different types of NRT and received support in discussions at the survey's Project Board.

  • Two questions relating to asthma: 1) how many days children had been absent from school due to asthma and 2) which health providers/ professionals had provided any treatment received for asthma or wheezing.

These additions stem from consultation responses including that of Asthma UK.

  • A question for those with diabetes to establish whether they suffer from Type 1 or Type 2.

This is in line with a request from NHS Health Scotland.

A number of alterations have been made to existing survey questions. These are fairly minor for the most part. Examples include removing less-popular alcoholic drinks from the questions regarding drinking, and including phones and tablets as examples of screen use.

The most notable alterations are to the questions regarding Discrimination and Harassment, and Dental Health. The Discrimination and Harassment questions have seen only slight changes to their wording. However, they are now consistent with the questions used in the Scottish Household Survey. This provides the possibility of combining the responses to produce a larger sample. This could be of particular benefit for these questions, as the groups of most interest are likely to be minority groups with potentially small samples in the individual surveys.

Within the Dental Health topic, two questions regarding the appearance of the respondent's teeth and problems they had experienced biting or chewing food have been replaced with one question focusing on wider impacts of problems with the mouth, teeth or dentures. This was in response to consultation feedback and provides information on a wider range of problems that can be experienced.

In addition, the Scottish Health Survey includes a number of questions which form the Scottish Surveys Core Questions ( SSCQ). These are a limited set of questions included in all three major population surveys (Scottish Health Survey, Scottish Crime and Justice Survey, and Scottish Household Survey) in order to provide a large sample for these key questions. New questions on perceptions of local services have been added to SSCQ for 2018 and pre-existing questions relating to confidence in the police have been removed. These changes are reflected in the 2018 Scottish Health Survey questionnaire.

The consultation process has identified a number of worthwhile topics with potential for inclusion in future, should space become available.

Table 1: Summary of changes to the 2018 Scottish Health Survey Questionnaire

Removals

Question(s)

Wider theme

Frequency 1

Contraception (all qs)

Contraception

Core Annual

Cosmetic Procedures (all qs)

Cosmetic Procedures

Core Annual

How respondent feels about visiting dentist [DentFeel]

Dental Health Services

Core Annual

Dietary Salt Intake (urine sample) (all qs/sample)

Dietary Salt Intake (urine sample)

Core Annual

SSCQ - Police Confidence [PrevCrim] [ActQuick] [DealInc] [Investig] [SolvCrim] [CatchCri]

SSCQ

Core Annual

Additions

Question(s)

Wider theme

Frequency 1

Gender identity question [self-completion]

Demographics

Core annual

Loneliness [unspec]

Social Capital

Version A every 2 years

Next in 2019

Smoking - did specific NRT help you quit for over a month [ ScQtNRT]

Smoking

Core Annual

Asthma - child absence from school due to asthma [SchAb]

Respiratory

Core Annual

Asthma - who provided any asthma treatment recieved [TrtWh]

Respiratory

Core Annual

Whether Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes [TypeD]

CVD and Use of Services

Core Annual

SSCQ - Satisfaction with Local Services [LocHealth] [RefColl] [LocSchol] [SocWork] [Transprt] [StrtCln] [SportLei] [Librar]

SSCQ

Core Annual

Question alterations

Question(s)

Wider theme

Frequency 1

Alteration

Household relationship matrix

Demographics

Core Annual

Non-binary gender identities incorporated

Qualifications [TopQua]

Demographics

Core Annual

New qualifications added

Sources of income [SrcInc]

Demographics

Core Annual

Additional benefits added

Discrimination and Harrassment

Discrimination and Harrassment

Version A every 2 years

Slight wording changes to harmonise with SHS

Dental Health [MthIssue] replaces [TthProb] [TthApp]

Dental Health

Core Annual

Two questions (teeth appearance and problems chewing) replaced by one question on wider impacts/problems with teeth

Screen time qs [TVWeek] [TVWkEnd ]

Physical Activity

Core Annual

Added tablets and phones as examples of 'screens'

Places used for physical activity [PAwhereX] [PAofteX]

Physical Activity

Version A every 2 years

Schedule of inclusion changed. These questions will continue to be asked every second year. However, they will no longer be asked in the same year as the questions relating to reasons/barriers for/to sports participation.

Reasons for/ barriers to taking part in sport [REASSPRT] [Barsprt]

Physical Activity

Version A every 2 years

Response options updated. These changes include the addition of options which relate to the mental benefits of doing physical activity in an outdoor setting.

Time spent sitting qs eg [WkSit2H] [WESit2H]

Physical Activity

Core Annual

Now includes napping for all adults (not just over 65s)

Alcohol questions relating to spirits eg [spirit]

Drinking

Core Annual

Removed Advocaat as example of drink-type

Alcohol questions relating to sherry eg [sherry]

Drinking

Core Annual

Removed Dubonnet as example of drink-type

Sugary drink and diet drink quantities [SoftDr] [DietDr]

Diet

Core Annual

Revised wording to define the types of drinks more clearly

Made less frequent

Question(s)

Wider theme

Previous Frequency 1

Revised Frequency 1

Gambling (all qs)

Gambling

Core Annual

Core every 4 years

Parental history (all qs)

Parental history

Core Annual

Core every 2 years

CPR (all qs)

CVD and Use of Services

Core Annual

Core every 2 years

Use of Services (all qs)

CVD and Use of Services

Core Annual

Core every 2 years

Alcohol - where respondent drinks most often [DrWher1] [DrWher1E]

Drinking

Core Annual

Core every 2 years

Alcohol - who respondent drinks with most often [DrWith1] [DrWithE]

Drinking

Core Annual

Core every 2 years

Alcohol - AUDIT questionnaire (within self-completion)

Drinking Experiences

Core Annual

Core every 2 years

1. Frequency is either described as 'Core' meaning it is asked of all respondents in a given year or 'Version A' meaning it is only asked of around 60% of respondents in a given year.

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