Trend analyses in the health behaviour in school-aged children study: methodological considerations and recommendations

TY - JOUR

T1 - Trend analyses in the health behaviour in school-aged children study

T2 - methodological considerations and recommendations

AU - Schnohr, Christina W

AU - Molcho, Michal

AU - Rasmussen, Mette

AU - Samdal, Oddrun

AU - de Looze, Margreet

AU - Levin, Kate

AU - Roberts, Chris J

AU - Ehlinger, Virginie

AU - Krølner, Rikke

AU - Dalmasso, Paola

AU - Torsheim, Torbjørn

N1 - © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Public Health Association. All rights reserved.

PY - 2015/4/1

Y1 - 2015/4/1

N2 - BACKGROUND: This article presents the scope and development of the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study, reviews trend papers published on international HBSC data up to 2012 and discusses the efforts made to produce reliable trend analyses.METHODS: The major goal of this article is to present the statistical procedures and analytical strategies for upholding high data quality, as well as reflections from the authors of this article on how to produce reliable trends based on an international study of the magnitude of the HBSC study. HBSC is an international cross-sectional study collecting data from adolescents aged 11-15 years, on a broad variety of health determinants and health behaviours.RESULTS: A number of methodological challenges have stemmed from the growth of the HBSC-study, in particular given that the study has a focus on monitoring trends. Some of those challenges are considered. When analysing trends, researchers must be able to assess whether a change in prevalence is an expression of an actual change in the observed outcome, whether it is a result of methodological artefacts, or whether it is due to changes in the conceptualization of the outcome by the respondents.CONCLUSION: The article present recommendations to take a number of the considerations into account. The considerations imply methodological challenges, which are core issues in undertaking trend analyses.

AB - BACKGROUND: This article presents the scope and development of the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study, reviews trend papers published on international HBSC data up to 2012 and discusses the efforts made to produce reliable trend analyses.METHODS: The major goal of this article is to present the statistical procedures and analytical strategies for upholding high data quality, as well as reflections from the authors of this article on how to produce reliable trends based on an international study of the magnitude of the HBSC study. HBSC is an international cross-sectional study collecting data from adolescents aged 11-15 years, on a broad variety of health determinants and health behaviours.RESULTS: A number of methodological challenges have stemmed from the growth of the HBSC-study, in particular given that the study has a focus on monitoring trends. Some of those challenges are considered. When analysing trends, researchers must be able to assess whether a change in prevalence is an expression of an actual change in the observed outcome, whether it is a result of methodological artefacts, or whether it is due to changes in the conceptualization of the outcome by the respondents.CONCLUSION: The article present recommendations to take a number of the considerations into account. The considerations imply methodological challenges, which are core issues in undertaking trend analyses.

KW - Adolescent

KW - Adolescent Behavior

KW - Adolescent Health

KW - Child

KW - Europe

KW - Female

KW - Health Status

KW - Health Surveys

KW - Humans

KW - Male

KW - North America

KW - Research Design

U2 - 10.1093/eurpub/ckv010

DO - 10.1093/eurpub/ckv010

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 25805778

SN - 1101-1262

VL - 25

SP - 7

EP - 12

JO - European Journal of Public Health

JF - European Journal of Public Health

IS - Supplement 2

ER -