Click on the links below to access technical information about the Scottish Health Survey including details about what has changed since the review:
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Survey Design
There is a two stage interview process to the survey: a personal interview is carried out by a trained interviewer and this is then followed by a nurse visit. The interview covers self-assessed health and disability, health service use, cardiovascular and respiratory disease, smoking, drinking, common mental health problems, eating patterns and physical activity. The nurse asks some further questions, for example on use of prescribed medicines, takes a series of anthropometric and biomedical measurements, including blood pressure, waist and hip circumference and lung function and collects blood, urine and saliva samples.
This is the only national survey which adopts this two-stage approach and the combination of interviewer based questionnaire with the clinical information collected by the nurse results in a potentially powerful source of information. For example, it is possible to look at the link between lifestyle characteristics, health status and physiological function.
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Current Survey Design 2008-2011
The 2008 survey has a two stage process - a personal interview followed by a nurse visit - but the nurse visit will only be offered to around one sixth of the sample whereas it was previously offered to the whole sample. The survey now has a core and modular structure with a core set of questions going to the whole sample and two modules of questions which go to a proportion of the sample. Module A contains a range of questions on cardiovascular disease, asthma, eating habits, physical activity, mental health, dental health and accidents. Most of these questions will be asked every second year although some will be asked annually. Module B contains questions on knowledge, attitudes and motivations to health and is a replacement for the Health Education Population Survey (HEPS) which was previously run by NHS Health Scotland.
You can view a pictorial representation of the new survey design structure.
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Sample Size
The main achieved sample size is expected to be around 6,400 adults and around 2,000 children each year. With the three Health Board boosts (see below) this gives a total of 7,000 adults and 2,000 children in the 2008 sample. Module A will be asked of around 2,500 adults and 1,100 children and Module B will be asked of around 2,200 adults (one per sampled household).
Health Boards were given the option to boost their samples beyond the level which is being funded centrally at the outset of the survey. In 2008 and 2009, three Health Boards took this opportunity - Borders, Fife and Grampian. Each has boosted their sample by an additional 200 adults. Boosted interviews only comprise core questions, no module questions are asked.
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Survey Content
Most of the questions are asked by an interviewer using Computer-Assisted Personal Interviewing (CAPI), i.e. via a laptop computer. Questions which are more sensitive in nature are asked via a self-completion booklet (see below for details) or a Computer Assisted Self-Interview (CASI) via a laptop computer.
Each Scottish Health Survey questionnaire consists of core questions which are asked every year (see topics below) and also questions in a rotating (biennial) module (see topics below). Please check both the core content and the module content for 2008 and 2009 when you are looking for a particular topic.
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Core Content
The core content of the Scottish Health Survey 2008 (and the 2009 survey) is listed below:
- Household composition
- General health
- Cardiovascular disease (CVD) and use of services
- Diabetes
- Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
- Physical activity
- Fruit and vegetable consumption
- Eating habits (children)
- Smoking
- Drinking
- Dental health
- Socio-economic core (including economic activity, education, ethnicity and religion)
- mental health
- contraception
- Height and weight
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Rotating (biennial) Module
2008
In 2008, the module content was as follows (these are more detailed questions and are in addition to those asked in the core survey) :
- Respiratory and CVD symptoms
- Asthma
- Dental health
- TV viewing and outdoor physical activity - adults and children
- Eating habits - adults (eating habits questions asked of children in the core part of the survey)
These questions will be asked again in 2010.
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2009
In 2009, the module content is (these are more detailed questions and are in addition to those which will be asked in the core survey) :
- Accidents
- Dental services
- Social capital
- Discrimination and harassment
- Stress at work
These questions will be asked again in 2011.
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Knowledge, Attitudes and Motivations to Health (KAM) Module (previously HEPS)
This annual Scottish Health Survey Module contains questions concerning health related knowledge, attitudes and behavioural motivations. It is a replacement for the Health Education Population Survey (HEPS) which was previously run by NHS Health Scotland.
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Nurse Module
Following the personal interview the second stage in the interview process is a nurse visit. Here further questions are asked and a series of anthropometric and biomedical measurements are taken - the content of the nurse visit is summarised below:
- details of prescribed drugs
- vitamin supplements
- food poisoning
- depresssion
- anxiety
- self-harm
- nicotine replacement products
- blood pressure
- waist and hip circumferences
- demi-span
- lung function
- blood sample
- saliva sample (for cotinine)
- urine sample (for dietary sodium)
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Self-Completion Booklets
In addition to the interviewer and nurse visit, a self-completion booklet is completed during the interview. This enables the respondent to provide answers to questions which are more sensitive in nature.
The topics covered are (depending on the age/gender of the respondent) :
- mental health
- drinking experiences
- contraception
- smoking and drinking (for young adults only)
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Links to Questions - 2008
Below are the links to the questions in the survey. Please refer to the relevant User Guide and Data Documents
Scottish Health Survey 2008 - household interview (pg 5-16)
Scottish Health Survey 2008 - individual questionnaire (pg 17-125)
Scottish Health Survey 2008 - nurse questionnaire (pg 131-174)
Scottish Health Survey 2008 Module (questions prefixed with 'Version A' alone; topics listed on page 3)
Knowledge, Attitudes and Motivations to Health (KAM) Modules (previously HEPS) CAPI - 2008 (pg 112-124)
Knowledge, Attitudes and Motivations to Health (KAM) computer assisted self-interview - 2008
Scottish Health Survey 2008 - self-completion booklet - adults
Scottish Health Survey 2008 - self-completion booklet - young adults
Scottish Health Survey 2008 - self-completion booklet - for 13-15 year olds
Scottish Health Survey 2008 - self-completion booklet - for parents of 4-12 year olds
Scottish Health Survey 2008 - showcards
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Links to Questions - 2009
Scottish Health Survey 2009 - household interview (pg 5-16)
Scottish Health Survey 2009 - individual questionnaire (pg 17-25)
Scottish Health Survey 2009 - nurse questionnaire (pg 131-174)
Scottish Health Survey 2009 Module (questions prefixed with 'Version A' alone; topics listed on page 4)
Knowledge, Attitudes and Motivations to Health (KAM) Modules (previously HEPS) CAPI - 2009 (pg 106-118)
Knowledge, Attitudes and Motivations to Health (KAM) computer assisted self-interview - 2009
Scottish Health Survey 2009 - self-completion booklet - adults
Scottish Health Survey 2009 - self-completion booklet - young adults
Scottish Health Survey 2009 - self-completion booklet - for 13-15 year olds
Scottish Health Survey 2009 - self-completion booklet - for parents of 4-12 year olds
Scottish Health Survey 2009 - showcards
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Links to Questions - previous years
To access the questions and documentation from the previous Scottish Health Surveys click on the relevant links below. Please ensure you also refer to the relevant user guides and data documents provided.
Scottish Health Survey 2003
Questionnaires and documentation relating to the 2003 survey
Scottish Health Survey - 1998
Questionnaires and documentation relating to the 1998 survey.
Scottish Health Survey - 1995
Questionnaires and documentation relating to the 1995 survey.
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