Recent evidence suggests that social approaches to the organisation and delivery of public health may have considerable potential for health improvement, particularly for those that suffer most disadvantage in society. The evidence base for moving forward in this field is however somewhat limited. The concept of social capital is a relatively new addition to the health field but has been put forward as one coherent construct which will contribute to the debate about the general importance of social approaches to public health.
The key indicators of social capital include social relationships, social support, formal and informal social networks, group membership, trust, reciprocity and community and civic engagement.
As part of a wide programme of work on social capital, the Health Development Agency (HDA, formerly the Health Education Authority) commissioned SSD in partnership with the University of Surrey (UniS) to develop a module of questions on social capital for inclusion in the 2000/1 GHS.
UniS carried out a programme of cognitive interviewing in August 1999 to explore respondents’ understanding of some of the key concepts underlying the dimensions of social capital and to test a set of questions drawn up jointly by the HDA, SSD and UniS. These were then piloted prior to inclusion in the 2000/01 survey.
The module, which takes 10-15 minutes to administer, was addressed to one randomly selected adult aged 16 or over in each responding household. It includes questions designed to measure the several dimensions of social capital, including respondents’ views of their neighbourhood, reciprocity and trust, civic engagement, social networks and social support. The results from this work are contained in a separate report to be published in early 2002. A user guide to the questions was published in 2001. A user guide to the analysis of the questions is due to be published at the end of 2001.
The GHS social capital question set and data form part of a cross-government review, conducted by ONS, of social capital research. The GHS is the first major government survey to collect such data and as such has achieved international recognition.