Scottish Schools Adolescent Lifestyle and Substance Use Survey (SALSUS): Technical Report 2015

Questionnaire design

In line with the surveys since 2002, the 2015 survey looked at substance misuse in relation to a series of lifestyle and social factors. The topics included in 2015 were very similar to 2013, although some amendments were made following consultation with users and review by the SALSUS Advisory Group and cognitive question testing with young people (see Appendix A). The differences between the 2013 and the 2015 questionnaires are detailed below. The full 2015 Questionnaire can be found at: http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Research/by-topic/health-community-care/social-research/SALSUS

Smoking Questions

In 2015, one smoking question was removed from the questionnaire after cognitive testing confirmed concerns around question understanding and interpretation (see Appendix A):

• 'Some tobacco is MUCH CHEAPER than the kind normally found in shops because it is fake, smuggled into the country to avoid tax, or brought back from holiday then sold on to others, sometimes these are called 'fake fags'. Of the cigarettes that you smoke, how much of it is what we have described as 'MUCH CHEAPER tobacco' or 'fake fags'?'

No new questions were added.

Two of the smoking questions were amended:

• The instruction PLEASE RECORD A MAXIMUM OF 4 was removed from the question 'Please write in the space below the names of as many makes or brands of cigarettes that you have either seen or heard of.'
• 'Which (if any) of the following people smoke?' was changed to 'How often do the following people smoke?'. In addition:
• the instruction was changed from
  PLEASE CROSS ONE BOX ON EACH LINE
  to
  PLEASE CROSS ONE BOX ON EACH LINE. IF YOU DON'T HAVE OR DON'T SEE A PERSON, CROSS THE BOX AT THE END OF THE LINE.
• the order of response options was reversed from 'Smokes daily', 'Smokes occasionally', 'Does not smoke', 'Don't know' and 'Don't have or don't see this person'
• the response categories were altered to include the word 'Your' before each option.

Drinking Questions

Eighteen drinking questions were removed from the survey in 2015. These mainly related to quantifying intake of different types of alcohol:

• 'During the last 7 days, how much NORMAL strength BEER, LAGER and CIDER have you drunk? By normal strength we mean beer/lager/cider which is less than 6% alcohol.'
• 'Write in the boxes below the number of pints, half pints, large cans, small cans and bottles of NORMAL strength BEER, LAGER and CIDER drunk in the last 7 days.'
• 'During the last 7 days, how much STRONG strength BEER, LAGER and CIDER have you drunk? By strong we mean beer/lager/cider which is more than 6% alcohol.'
• 'Write in the boxes below the number of pints, half pints, large cans, small cans and bottles of STRONG strength BEER, LAGER and CIDER drunk in the last 7 days.'
• 'During the last 7 days how much SHANDY have you drunk? Please do NOT include non-alcoholic shandy.'
• 'Write in the boxes below the number of pints, half pints, large cans and small cans of SHANDY drunk in the last 7 days.'
• 'During the last 7 days, how much WINE have you drunk?'
• 'Write in the box below the number of glasses of WINE drunk in the last 7 days.'
• 'During the last 7 days, how much FORTIFIED/DESSERT or TONIC WINE have you drunk? This includes drinks such as: Buckfast; Thunderbird; Port. This type of wine is stronger and sweeter than ordinary wine. Please do not include Sherry here.'
• 'Write in the box below the number of glasses of FORTIFIED/DESSERT/TONIC WINE drunk in the last 7 days.'
• 'During the last 7 days, how much MARTINI and SHERRY have you drunk?'
• 'Write in the box below, the number of glasses of MARTINI and SHERRY drunk in the last 7 days.'
• 'During the last 7 days, how much SPIRITS and liqueurs have you drunk?'
• 'Write in the box below, the number of glasses of SPIRITS and liqueurs drunk in the last 7 days.'
• 'During the last 7 days, how many ALCOPOPS or PRE-MIXED ALCOHOLIC DRINKS have you drunk?'
• 'Write in the boxes below the number of cans and bottles of ALCOPOPS or PRE-MIXED ALCOHOLIC DRINKS have you drunk in the last 7 days.'
• 'What is the main reason you buy/get someone to buy you a certain type of alcohol?'
• 'Does how much money you have available influence what type of alcohol you drink?'

No new questions were added and no questions were amended.

Drugs Questions

No drug questions were removed.

Eight new drugs questions were added to the 2015 survey:

• 'Have you ever been offered powders or pills that are sold as legal highs?'
• 'If you know the name of the legal high that you were offered, write it in the box below. If you don't know the name, cross the 'Don't know' box.'
• 'Apart from things asked about at Q49, Q50 and Q51, have you ever been offered any other drugs?'
• 'If you know the name of the drug that you were offered, write it in the box below. If you don't know the name, cross the 'Don't know' box.'
• 'When was the last time you ever used or took powders or pills that are sold as legal highs?'
• 'If you know the name of the legal high that you took, write it in the box below. If you don't know the name, cross the 'Don't know' box.'
• 'Apart from things asked about above at Q55, Q56 and Q57, when was the last time you ever took any other drugs?'
• 'If you know the name of the other drug that you took, write it in the box below. If you don't know the name, cross the 'Don't know' box.'

Three drug questions were amended:

• The response options were adjusted for two questions: 'Have you ever been offered any of the following drugs?' and 'When was the last time you ever used or took any of the following?'
• 'Powders or pills sold as legal highs' and 'Other drugs that would not be given to you by a doctor or chemist' were removed
• The following options were added
• 'MDAI, 6-APB (Benzo Fury), methylone (or other synthetic empathogen)'
• 'MXE, MXP (or other synthetic dissociative)'
• 'Ethylphenidate, MPA or branded packets such as Ching, Snow White, Blue stuff, Pink Panthers (or other synthetic stimulant)'
• 'AMT, NBOMe, 2Cs (or other synthetic psychedelic)'.
• The question 'If you felt that you needed to get help because you were using drugs, who/where would you go to?' was changed to 'If you wanted information about drugs, who/where would you go to?'

Health and Wellbeing Questions

No health and wellbeing questions were removed or added and only one health and wellbeing question was amended in 2015:

• The question 'Do you look after, or give any regular help or support to family members, friends, neighbours or others because they have long-term physical/mental ill health/disability or problems relating to old age?' was changed to 'Do you care for or look after someone in your home because, for example, they have a long-term illness or disability? In other words, are you a young carer?'

Contextual Questions

Two contextual questions were removed in 2015:

• 'How well off would you say your family/the people you live with are?'
• 'Do you get free school meals or vouchers for free school meals?'

Four new contextual questions were added:

• 'If you were really worried about something, how likely would you be to talk to the following people about it?'
• 'Your mother/carer' - 'Very likely', 'Fairly likely', 'Not very likely', 'Not at all likely', 'Don't know', 'Don't have or don't see this person'
• 'Your father/carer' - response options as above
• 'Someone else in your family' - response options as above
• 'In the last twelve months have you had any lessons, videos/DVDs or discussion in class on the following topics?'
• 'Smoking' - 'Yes', 'No', 'Don't know'
• 'Alcohol' - response options as above
• 'Drugs' - response options as above
• 'In school, how much have you learned about the following?' (for full details see Appendix B)
• 'Thinking about the future, how confident do you feel about...?' (for full details see Appendix B)

Two contextual questions were amended in 2015:

• The wording of the second half of the question 'To what extent do you agree or disagree with the following statements? My school provides me with the advice and support I need to take important decisions about…?' was changed slightly to 'My school provides me with enough advice and support about…?'
• The response options for the question 'What is your ethnic group?' were changed from:

A White
Scottish
English
Welsh
Northern Irish
British
Irish
Gypsy/Traveller
Polish
Any other white ethnic group

B Mixed or multiple ethnic groups
Any mixed or multiple ethnic groups

C Asian, Asian Scottish, Asian British
Pakistani,
Pakistani Scottish,
Pakistani British
Indian,
Indian Scottish,
Indian British
Bangladeshi,
Bangladeshi Scottish,
Bangladeshi British
Chinese,
Chinese Scottish,
Chinese British
Other

D African, Caribbean or Black
Caribbean,
Caribbean Scottish Caribbean British African,
African Scottish,
African British Black,
Black Scottish,
Black British
Other

E Other ethnic background
Arab
Other
Don't know

• To the following:

White - Scottish
White - other British
White - Irish
White - Gypsy/Traveller
White - Polish
White - other (Please cross and write in)
Mixed or multiple ethnic group (Please cross and write in)
Pakistani
Indian
Bangladeshi
Chinese
African
Caribbean or Black
Arab
Other (Please cross and write in)