Scottish Social Attitudes: Public Attitudes to Alcohol and Tobacco Use and Weight

The Scottish Health Survey gives us an accurate picture of the health of the Scottish population.
It provides information about how healthy people are, what health services people use and examines the health and health-related behaviour of different groups in society.
The data we collect also informs the Scottish Government National Performance Framework and feeds into nationwide health strategy.
The latest report is from 2021. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, interviews were undertaken remotely using a telephone approach. Doorstep interviewer visits to recruit participants and arrange interviews were permitted for the final three months of fieldwork. You can read the full report on the Scottish Government website.
The Scottish Health Survey was first conducted in 1995 and then again in 1998 and 2003 and has been carried out annually since 2008.
There were two phases of fieldwork for SHeS 2021. During Phase 1, potential participants were contacted by letter and asked to opt-in to taking part in an interview conducted over the phone. In phase 2 involved new sample being issued for the final three months. Potential respondents were again contacted by letter, but then recruited to participate by interviewers knocking on their door, in what is termed a ‘knock-to-nudge’ methodology. Interviews were still conducted by telephone. Participants aged 16 and above were also invited to complete two online recalls using Intake24 (https://intake24.org/) to get a more complete picture of people’s diet.
Participants from the child boost sample were invited to opt in via letter for the entire fieldwork period.
In the 2021 report comparisons are made with data collected earlier in the series (1998-2019 for children and 2003-2019 for adults). However, it should be noted that, due to the difference in method for 2021, caution should be applied when comparing results from this survey year to those for previous years. Further details can be found in volume 1 of the 2021 report.
Since 2008 there has been a core set of questions and topics that are included every year and a series of topics that are rotated and included biennially. The questionnaire is published as part of the Technical Report which for the 2020 survey can be found here.
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