A quality review of the questions in Sweden’s national public health survey “Health on equal terms”

2011-07-15

Summary of a working report in Swedish.

This report presents a quality review of the questions in Sweden’s national public health survey “Health on equal terms”. The questions in the national public health survey cover physical and mental health, consumption of pharmaceuticals, contact with healthcare services, dental health, living habits, financial conditions, work and occupation, work environment, safety and social relationships. The questionnaire includes some 80 questions on a total of 17 pages. The survey has been conducted every year since 2004.

Many questions in the national public health survey originally come from surveys previously conducted by county councils. The questions were chosen and revised in the method group(2) and tested in a pilot study (November 2003).

In the report, the validation of the questions primarily comprises construct validity, the question's metric capacity to differentiate, previous use of the question and the inherent dropout ratio of the question. The objective of a construct validation is to illustrate whether the measure really measures what is intended to be measured. This was done in part through a theoretical review of what is intended to be measured and in part through analyses of whether the question generates expected or meaningful correlations to health status, gender, socio-economic classes and/or ages.

The construct validity of each individual question was also tested at Statistics Sweden’s measurements laboratory. Test subjects completed the questionnaire and were asked to explain how they perceived the questions and their thought process when they answered each respective question. These tests then resulted in the modification of some questions. The questions regarding eating habits and physical activity were prepared in a validation study conducted by the National Food Administration.

This report will be revised regularly.

2) The method group is the workgroup that actively contributed its expertise to formulate this survey in the best possible way. The method group comprises people from the county councils’ public health units and researchers tied to these units. Representatives from Statistics Sweden and the National Board of Health and Welfare are also in the group. The group is led by the Swedish National Institute of Public Health.