Questions about needs of information and needs of support in a health questionnaire have an additional benefit
Do questions about needs of information and support give other results compared to questions about the prevalence of health problems? Is it advisable to include these need questions in a health questionnaire? The local health survey of Utrecht from 2003 contained questions about needs of information and needs of support with regard to disorders and lifestyle. These questions were used for the project “Demand-oriented prevention policy” of the Municipal Health Service Utrecht. One of the aims of this project was to explore the perceived needs of Utrecht citizens. A postal questionnaire was one of the methods used. In 2003 most needs were reported concerning overweight and mental problems among the citizens of Utrecht aged 16 to 54 years. Specific needs did not always correspond to the prevalence of related disorders and unhealthy lifestyle. The questions about needs and related prevalences were only weakly correlated. Of the Utrecht population, 34% were smokers and 20% excessive alcohol drinkers, while the needs related to these lifestyle topics were low. Furthermore, higher needs in certain subgroups did not always correspond to higher prevalences of related disorders or unhealthy lifestyle. These results show the importance of including questions about needs in a local health survey, because they provide additional and different information as compared to questions about prevalences of disorders and unhealthy lifestyle.
Keywords: health questionnaire, information needs, support needs, group differences
