4327.0 - National Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing: Users' Guide, 2007
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 11/02/2009
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PHYSICAL HEALTH
CHRONIC CONDITIONS This module of the survey contains a standard physical chronic conditions checklist to obtain information on the prevalence, age of onset, and recency of commonly occurring physical (eg cancer, heart disease) and potentially psycho-physiological (eg irritable bowel syndrome, chronic fatigue syndrome) disorders. This module is based on the WMH-CIDI chronic conditions module, but the commonly occurring conditions have been updated to reflect the Australian National Health Priority Area (NHPA) conditions. The information provided is self-reported by the respondent and is not verified by a medical practitioner. People were asked about the presence of any of the following NHPA physical conditions:
If a person had ever been told by a doctor or nurse that they had one (or more) of these conditions, they were then asked:
Information was also collected about the presence of the following physical conditions only if they had lasted for six months or more:
If a person had ever had one (or more) of these conditions, they were then asked whether they had received any treatment for the condition/s in the 12 months prior to interview. COMPARISON WITH THE 1997 SURVEY In 2007, an additional question was added to separate the NHPA conditions from other chronic conditions. Extra conditions were added to the 2007 survey, which were not included in the 1997 survey (eg epilepsy, sinusitis). The 2007 survey focusses on conditions that had lasted, or were expected to last, for six months or more. Whereas, the 1997 survey asked whether a person had experienced any of a list of medical conditions which usually lasted for 'some time'. In 1997, people were asked only about treatment received in the four weeks prior to interview, with an emphasis on reporting the number of times they had seen a doctor or health professional. DISABILITY The survey included a standard set of ABS questions on role impairment using the ABS Short Disability Module. People were asked about the presence of the following conditions that had lasted, or were expected to last, for six months or more:
People were then asked if any of these conditions restricted their everyday activities in the following ways:
The Disability module also assessed the nature and severity of specific activity limitations or restrictions to 'core activities' due to the reported condition/s. People were asked if they ever needed help or supervision, or if they ever had difficulty, with any of the following tasks: Self-care:
Mobility:
Communication:
If a person reported never having needed help or supervision, or that they never had difficulty with self-care, mobility or communication tasks they were asked whether they used any aids to assist with such tasks. Additionally, people aged 16-64 years were asked if the reported condition/s caused any difficulties with education or employment. Examples of difficulties with education included:
Examples of difficulties with employment included:
COMPARISON WITH THE 1997 SURVEY The 1997 survey collected information on disability using the Brief Disability Questionnaire. The questions asked about activities which may have been limited by health problems. The listed activities were similar to the 2007 survey, however the response categories were different. The 1997 survey had three response categories for each question:
Whereas, the 2007 survey simply had 'yes' or 'no' response categories. FUNCTIONING A series of measures were used to determine the extent to which health problems interfered with the person's life and activities during the 30 days prior to the survey. This module included questions from the:
WHO DISABILITY ASSESSMENT SCHEDULE (WHODAS) The WHODAS was developed to operationalise the criteria of the revised International Classification of Impairments, Disabilities, and Handicaps. The WHODAS assesses criteria for the 30 days prior to interview and without regard to specific causal conditions. People were asked to report on the extent to which all of their health problems had affected various sorts of functioning in the 30 days prior to interview. All people were asked these questions, whether or not they reported health problems. The WHODAS assessments can be used for multivariate analyses to evaluate the relative effects of different mental and physical disorders on role functioning and the non-additive effects of commonly occurring comorbidities among disorders on role functioning. The WHODAS incorporates a scale to assess the difficulties people have because of their health conditions. The scale includes:
The WHODAS scale is used to assess how much difficulty a person experienced over the 30 days prior to interview for the following situations:
Comparison with the 1997 survey The 1997 survey did not collect information through the WHODAS. It used the Short-Form 12, which assessed a person's health and the impact of their health on usual home, work and social activities in the four weeks prior to interview. In 1997, a combination of response categories were given, including:
In 2007, the questions related to the 30 days prior to interview. Responses were standardised to the aforementioned scale and related to a greater number of day-to-day situations. ASSESSMENT OF QUALITY OF LIFE (AQoL) INSTRUMENT This Australian-developed assessment of quality of life instrument is used to measure the burden of disease. It uses functioning scales to measure the interference that health problems had on various activities and experiences in the week prior to interview. There were 12 sets of questions used to measure how a person's health impacted on the following activities and experiences:
Each set of questions had different response statements. Generally responses were designed to determine the level of impairment ranging from none, a little, some or a lot. For example, the response statements for personal care were:
Comparison with the 1997 survey Information for the Assessment of Quality of Life was not collected in 1997. DAYS OUT OF ROLE People were asked two questions about their health in the 30 days prior to the interview. These questions were also part of the 1997 survey. People were asked to nominate how many days they were totally unable to work or carry out their normal activities because of their health and if less than 30 days, the number of days they had to cut down on what was done or did not get as much done as usual because of their health. Comparison with the 1997 survey The 1997 survey asked how many days in the one month prior to interview the person was unable to carry out their usual daily activities. This wording difference is considered minor and is therefore comparable to the 2007 survey. HYPOCHONDRIASIS Hypochondria or hypochondriasis (sometimes referred to as health anxiety or health phobia) is a somatoform disorder in which the person has the unfounded belief that they are suffering from a serious illness. Hypochondria is often characterised by:
Hypochondriacs often require constant reassurance, sometimes from multiple doctors, family and friends. Hypochondria is often associated with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and anxiety, and can also be brought on by stress. The symptoms cannot be feigned or deliberately induced, in which an individual intentionally fakes, exaggerates, or induces mental or physical illnesses. Hypochondria can cause one or more of the following effects:
Information was collected for hypochondriasis by asking people if they ever worried a lot about serious illness, despite reassurance from a doctor. If endorsed, the person was asked whether a period of worry had continued for six months or more, and if so, whether a period like this had occurred in the 12 months prior to interview. If both of these criteria were present, the person was then asked if the worry was still going on at the time of interview. COMPARISON WITH THE 1997 SURVEY Information relating to hypochondriasis was not collected in 1997. SOMATISATION Somatisation is a type of mental illness in which a psychiatric condition manifests as a physical complaint. Somatisation disorder (or Briquet's disorder) is characterised by repeated complaints of physical illness over an extended period of time, that are not related to an organic illness or injury. Often the symptoms begin in early adulthood. The symptoms cannot be feigned or deliberately induced symptoms. Information was collected on somatisation by asking if the person had ever been bothered by many different symptoms, or aches and pains, which a doctor was unable to diagnose. COMPARISON WITH THE 1997 SURVEY Information relating to somatisation was not collected in 1997. However, questions to determine Somatic Syndrome were included with Depressive Episodes in the 1997 survey. HEALTH RISK FACTORS People were asked a series of questions relating to health risk factors, specifically those related to lifestyle behaviours. The survey collected information on:
SMOKER STATUS Information was collected on smoking habits and the extent to which a person was smoking at the time of interview. Smoking refers to regular smoking of tobacco products, which includes:
Chewing tobacco and smoking of non-tobacco products were excluded. Based on self-reported information, at the time of the interview, people were characterised as:
If a person was a current smoker (daily or other) or an ex-smoker they were also asked:
Comparison with the 1997 survey The 1997 survey asked people three questions on smoking habits:
Comparisons can be made with the 2007 survey for current daily smokers, but there is no comparable information on the duration or number of cigarettes consumed. LEVEL OF EXERCISE Exercise is considered to have benefits for both mental and physical health. This survey collected information on a person's level of exercise based on activities undertaken in the week prior to interview and their:
Household chores, gardening and yardwork were excluded. From the above components, a level of exercise was determined and then output in the following categories:
Comparison with the 1997 survey Information on level of exercise was not collected in the 1997 survey. BODY MASS INDEX (BMI) A persons' BMI was calculated using self-reported height and weight measurements. The same questions were also used to assess body mass in the ABS National Health Survey. The BMI formula is: weight (kg) divided by the square of height (m). BMI values have been grouped according to the list in the following table, which enables reporting against guidelines from the:
People who did not provide their height or weight measurements were not allocated a BMI. Comparison with the 1997 survey Information on Body Mass Index was not collected in the 1997 survey. Document Selection These documents will be presented in a new window.
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