HBSC Ireland Factsheet Information

Rationale

As part of a wider project in "Translating the HBSC 2002 survey into practice" funded by the Health Research Board, factsheets have been developed to serve as research briefings for the dissemination of HBSC information and to inform various target groups/stakeholders (e.g. children, parents, teachers,  practitioners, policy makers, parents). The factsheets are designed to be meaningful for different interest groups, while reflecting current child health concerns.

The objectives in disseminating the factsheets include the following:

• To contribute to public knowledge around the health and well-being of school children in Ireland.
• To support and empower parents and children in relation to child health and well-being.
• To guide priority setting and practice among practitioners working with children (including health professionals and educators).
• To inform the policy development process in relation to health and well-being of school children in Ireland.

Health Predictors & Outcomes

For each of the factsheet topics, a statistical analysis was conducted to investigate if there was an association with a selection of other variables from the list below. The items that were chosen for the analysis depended on whether the topic was considered a possible predictor or health outcome. Only those analyses that were statistically significant were considered to represent an association or relationship between the variable and the factsheet topic. A brief description of the variables used is provided below. These variables and cut-off points may change in the future.

• Social class: This is in the form of a Registrar-general's Social Code, which is derived from the reported occupational status of the head of household.
• Living with both parents: Refers to whether or not children report living with both parents.
• Ease of talking to mother: Refers to the ease (easy or very easy) in which a child feels in talking to his/her mother about things that really bother him/her.
• Ease of talking to father: Refers to the ease (easy or very easy) in which a child feels in talking to his/her father about things that really bother him/her.
• Ease of talking to best friend: Refers to the ease (easy or very easy) in which a child feels in talking to his/her best friend about things that really bother him/her.
• Spending four or more evenings a week with friends: Refers to whether or not children report spending four or more evenings a week with friends.
• Liking school: Refers to whether or not children report liking school a bit or a lot at present.
• Pressured by school work: Refers to whether or not children report feeling pressured by school-work a lot or some.
• Excellent health: Refers to whether or not children report their health is excellent.
• Very happy: Refers to whether or not children report feeling very happy about their life at present.
• Emotional symptoms: Refers to whether or not children report having any of the following symptoms: felt low, nervous, irritable or bad tempered.
• Physical symptoms: Refers to whether or not children report having any of the following symptoms: headache, stomach-ache, back ache, difficulties in getting to sleep and dizziness.
• Drunkenness: Refers to whether or not children report having had so much alcohol that they were really drunk once or more in their lifetime.
• Current smoker: Refers to whether or not children report currently being a smoker (smoke at least monthly).
• Injured: Refers to whether or not children report having been injured, so that they had to be treated by a doctor or nurse, in the past 12 months.
• Bullied others: Refers to whether or not children report taking part in bullying another student(s) at school once or more in the past couple of months.
• Exercise: Refers to whether or not children report exercising four or more times a week in their free time, so much that they get out of breath or sweat.

Factsheet Acknowledgements

The HBSC Ireland Research Factsheets have been developed with research grant funding from the Health Research Board. HBSC Ireland would like to thank Robert Smyth, who assisted in designing and formatting the factsheets. We would also like to thank our collaborators: Prof Candace Currie (University of Edinburgh), Dr William Boyce (University of Kingston, Ontario), Mr Chris Roberts (Health Promotion Wales), Dr Sinead Hanafin (Office of the Minister for Children) and Dr Celia Keenaghan (Programme of Action for Children), Dr Sharon Friel (National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, Australian National University) and Dr Diarmuid O’Donovan (NUI Galway and HSE West).