Joint USCanada Survey of Health JCUSH Project Inception

Joint US/Canada Survey of Health (JCUSH)

Project Inception NCHS/Statistics Canada Interchange Two-day Fall meetings Interchange 1999 - Hyattsville Interchange 2000 - Ottawa Interchange 2001 – Hyattsville

Interchange 2000 Session concerned with making our data more comparable and more integrated Joint STC-NCHS survey

Joint STC-NCHS Health Survey (Staff) NCHS: Project Officer (NHIS) Cognitive Testing Team Leader (ORM) Questionnaire Designer (NHIS) Subject Matter Expert (NHIS) Translation Team leaders—Spanish (NHIS) Data Collection/Training Coordinator (NHIS) Study and Sample Designer (ORM) Editing Consultant (NHIS)

Joint STC-NCHS Health Survey (Staff) Stat. Can: 2 Team Leaders 2 Staff Assistants Cognitive Testing Consultant Questionnaire Designer Subject Matter Expert 2 Sample Designers Instrument programmers and testers Telephone Data Collection Unit

Joint STC/NCHS Health Survey (Objectives) Developing measures other than mortality rates to make international health comparisons Selecting relevant topic areas for study • Keeping in mind WHO’s goal of a common health survey instrument

Joint STC/NCHS Health Survey (Objectives continued) Developing and testing identical questions to be fielded in both countries Conducting methodological studies

Joint STC/NCHS Health Survey (Questionnaire Topics) Disability/Restriction of Activity Chronic Conditions (asthma, diabetes, heart conditions, depression, etc. ) Smoking Height/Weight Patient Satisfaction Insurance Physical Activity Health Care Utilization Medication Use General Health

Joint STC/NCHS Health Survey (Methods) Survey is one-time event Telephone survey (CATI) 20 minutes

Joint STC/NCHS Health Survey (Methods continued) Common sampling methodology Common collection methodology Telephone calls made from Canada to both countries

Joint STC/NCHS Health Survey (Methods continued) Sample: 5, 000 adults in U. S. 3, 000 adults in Canada Target field date: • November 4, 2002

Methodological Studies Focus group vs. narrative interviewing Performance of 4 different measures of disability/restriction of activity

Challenges of Joint Survey Different measurement units: 10 pounds or 4. 54 kilograms 5 kilograms or 11. 02 pounds Different languages English and French in Canada English and Spanish in U. S.

Challenges of Joint Survey Different coverage of the populations: Rates of institutionalization are different Rates of telephone coverage are different Different release policies Statistics Canada sells data files NCHS data files are free

Challenges of Joint Survey Legal questions—data collected under different laws Funding – splitting costs

Phases Phase I: Cognitive Testing Phase II: Data Collection Phase III: Data release and analysis