Health and Social Wellbeing Survey

Content

The questionnaire comprises a number of core modules as well as additional modules that may recur on a regular cycle.

All the surveys begin with a household section that includes the following:-

Household grid
Relationship grid
Tenure
Car and Telephone access

All adults aged 16 and over in each household are then asked individual sections relating to:-

Health and ill-Health

This section covers General health, long standing illness, detection of high blood pressure, circulatory illness, asthma and diabetes, back pain and musculoskeletal conditions.

Mental Health and wellbeing

This section asks about stressful life events, possible mental health problems, stress and evels of social support. Possible mental health problems were identified using the GHQ12, which is a widely used short series of questions designed to identify potential psychiatric morbidity. In 1997 the SF36 questions were also asked. Most of this section was covered by self-completion method on the computer.

Cigarette smoking and drinking

This section was covered in 1997 and a subset of questions was used in 2001. The questions cover current cigarette smokers and drinkers, non/ ex-smokers and drinkers, health and smoking/ drinking, levels of cigarette smoking and alcohol consumption and the type of alcoholic drink consumed. This section is completed by self-completion for adults aged 16 to 17.

Physical Activity (2001, 2005/06)

Questions asked in this section cover walking, current physical activity levels, motivations to take regular physical activity, barriers to regular physical activity and intentions regarding physical activity.

Sexual Health (2001)

This section was covered by self-completion on the computer. The questions focus on the respondent´s knowledge of sexual matters, first experience of sexual intercourse, contraception use, change in sexual lifestyle, last occasion of sexual intercourse, pregnancy and infertility.

Carers section (1997)

This section covers informal care and the lifestyles of carers as well as the characteristics of the people carers are looking after.

Physical measures (1997, 2005/06)

In the 2005/06 survey, height and weight was measured to determine body mass index (BMI). This was collected by trained interviewers following a strict protocol. Height and weight measures were sought of both adults and children (aged 2 and over).

The 1997 study contained a physical measures element asked of one randomly selected adult aged 16 and over in each household. This was conducted by qualified nurses who measured height and weight to determine body mass index (BMI). In addition Blood pressure was measured and a blood sample was collected to measure cholesterol.

All the Health and Social Wellbeing Surveys includes questions relating to respondent´s educational attainment, employment status and income and benefits details.