Scottish Health Survey
Organisation responsible: The Scottish Health Survey (SHeS) is commissioned by the Scottish Government Population Health Directorate and is carried out by the Scottish Centre for Social Research (ScotCen). The 2018-2023 surveys were conducted by ScotCen Social Research in collaboration with the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the Social and Public Health Sciences Unit (MRC/CSO SPHSU) at the University of Glasgow, the Centre for Population Health Sciences at the University of Edinburgh and the Public Health Nutrition Research Group at the University of Aberdeen.
Background and purpose: The SHeS was introduced in 1995 to provide a detailed picture of the health of the Scottish population in private households and is designed to make a major contribution to the monitoring of health in Scotland. This information is essential for the Scottish Government's forward planning, for identifying gaps in health service provision and for identifying which groups are at particular risk of future ill-health. Specifically the SHeS aims to:
- estimate the prevalence of particular health conditions in Scotland;
- estimate the prevalence of certain risk factors associated with these health conditions and to document the pattern of related health behaviours;
- look at differences between regions and between subgroups of the population in the extent of their having these particular health conditions or risk factors, and to make comparisons with other national statistics for Scotland and England;
- monitor trends in the population's health over time;
- make a major contribution to monitoring progress towards health targets.
Survey years / frequency: One-off surveys were carried out in 1995, 1998 and 2003. Following redesign in 2007, the survey moved to a continuous format with annual reporting. The first continuous survey cycle ran from 2008-2011.
Survey content:
The main topics included in the survey in 2023 were: general health, long-term conditions & chronic pain; mental wellbeing, loneliness and stress at work; cardiovascular disease and use of services; asthma, respiratory & COVID-19 (since 2020); diet, vitamin supplements & food insecurity; alcohol, smoking, drugs & gambling; physical activity; dental health and services; biological measurements (including Body Mass Index) and prescribed medicines; accidents and CPR training; Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) and parental history; and unpaid caring.
The survey moved to a core and modular structure from 2008. Core questions are asked every year and go to the whole sample. A rotating (biennial) module goes to a proportion of the sample - most of these questions are asked every second year although some are asked annually.
The content of the survey is reviewed periodically with users and the public (e.g., SHeS 2018). The latest review was conducted in 2022 to inform changes to the survey from 2024 onwards. A report outlining the changes agreed from 2024 is available from the Scottish Health Survey website.
Target population: The target population is people living in private households in Scotland. The age range has widened over the survey series: 16-64 years in 1995, 2-74 years in 1998, individuals of all ages from 2003.
Sample size: In 2023, the achieved national sample were 4,949 adult interviews and 2,184 child interviews were achieved, from 4,089 households. . For individual health boards, minimum sample size has been reduced from 784 to 500 adults over the four-year period (2012-15) and then changed to 125 per local authority. As in previous years, health boards and local authorities continue to have the option to boost their target sample.
Response rate: The response rate for the 2023 Scottish Health Survey was 41.6% of eligible households. This is lower than previous years.
Method of data collection: Data collection involves a main computer assisted personal (CAPI) or telephone interview (CATI), and online or paper self-completion questionnaire for questions which are more sensitive in nature.
Standardised interviewer-administered height and weight measurements were reintroduced as part of in-home interviews in 2022 and continued throughout 2023. For interviews conducted by telephone, no height and weight measurements or biological measures could be taken. Participants were asked to estimate their own height and weight during these interviews.
Smallest geographical unit reported: The one-off surveys were designed to provide data at national and regional levels, with regional results reported for seven 'health regions' based on amalgamations of the 15 health boards which existed at the time. Since 2008, the SHeS sample has been designed to be representative of adults at Health Board level (for all Health Boards) following four years of data collection and in 2018 the sample size was increased to allow analysis by local authority.
Availability of results and further information: National results from the 2013 survey were published in November 2024. The Scottish Health Survey dashboard summarises key indicators for Scotland (2008-2023) and NHS health board and local authority areas for combined years 2012-2015, 2013-2016, 2014-2017, 2015-2018, 2016-2019, 2017-2021, 2018-2022 and 2019-2023. Further information about the survey and all previous reports are available from the Scottish Health Survey website. The SHeS datasets are available from the UK Data Service. For further SHeS queries, email the SHeS team at ScottishHealthSurvey@scotland.gsi.gov.uk.
