Survey of Health & Well-Being of Adults

Why was the survey carried out?

The main purposes of the survey were to find out:

• how many people throughout the country experience mental, nervous or emotional problems as a result of the stresses and strains of everyday life
• what things make people nervous, anxious or depressed
• what people do for help or support when they need it.

The Department of Health needs a clear up to date picture of the health and well-being of the nation. The information obtained from this survey can help in the development of policies aimed at providing services, help and support to those in need of them.

As well as the main survey which was carried out in 2000, there is a follow-up survey which was carried out in 2001. The main aims of this follow-up survey are to find out:

• whether peoples mental health and well-being has changed over 18 months and what factors are related to any changes
• what types of treatment people have received since the first survey and whether or not it was appropriate and effective.

The survey has been commissioned by the Department of Health, the Scottish Executive and the Office of the National Assembly for Wales. It is part of a programme of research on the health and well-being of the nation which started in 1993.

How was the main survey done?

The sample for the survey was drawn randomly from the Postcode Address File (a comprehensive list of all delivery points - postal addresses - in Great Britain). One person at each household was then randomly selected and asked to take part in the survey.

There were two elements to the survey:

• a face to face interview carried out using Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing (CAPI). The interview took, on average, one and a half hours. It included some self completion sections which were entered into the computer by the respondent themselves using Computer Assisted Self Interviewing (CASI).; and
• a small sub-group of respondents were asked to take part in a second interview which covered one or two topics in more detail. These interviews were carried out by specially trained interviewers working for one of our partners on this project, the University of Leicester.

The interviews covered a range of mental health problems, such as anxiety and depression, alcohol and drug dependence, psychosis and personality disorder. Questions were also asked about general health problems, use of health services and the social support people had available to them. There were also questions gathering background information such as educational qualifications, income, housing conditions and key life events.

The main survey fieldwork took place between March and September 2000.

How was the follow-up survey done?

The sample was selected from all people who had completed a full or partial interview for the 2000 survey of psychiatric morbidity among adults. In order to meet the aims of the survey we included people who had reported a mental or emotional problem at the time of the original survey (to see what had happened to them) and people with no problems at that time (to compare their experiences with that of those with a mental or emotional problem and to see if they remained free of problems).

There were two parts to the follow-up survey:

• a face to face interview carried out using Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing (CAPI). The interview was similar to that carried out in the main survey but had been shortened and took, on average, one hour. In addition, at the end of the interview people were asked to complete one of three short paper questionnaires (the General Health Questionnaire, the CORE or the FACE How are you?) which DH are considering using for routine outcome measurement in primary care settings; and
• a small sub-group of respondents were asked to take part in a second telephone interview to collect more information about the help and treatment they had received. This is being carried out by interviewers from University College London.

The initial interviews for the follow-up survey took place between September and December 2001. The telephone interviews are being carried out between December 2001 and March 2002.

Where can the results be found?

A First Release of the results from the main survey was published in July 2001.

The main report of the survey and a summary report were published on 18th December 2001. These are available in PDF format on this website. A hard copy of the main report can be purchased (price £35.00) from The Stationery Office (Tel: +44 (0)870 600 5522; Fax: +44 (0)870 600 6396; or click here to order online).

A Technical Report giving details of the survey methodology and the questionnaire used will be available on this site in January 2002.

For more information about the Survey of Health and Well-Being of Adults or other surveys we carry out contact:

SSD Project Support Branch
Tel: 020 7533 5500 or e-mail: ssdpsb@ons.gov.uk

This page last revised: Tuesday, 18 December 2001