Publication
Indicators for health education in Scotland; summary of findings from the 1996 Health Education Population Survey (HEPS)
Disease prevention
One of HEBS’s strategic aims is to ensure that people know about major health issues and about the means to achieve good health. Among the causes of premature death in Scotland for which there are behavioural risk factors are CHD, stroke, certain types of cancer and HIV/AIDS. CHD and stroke are currently among the top priorities for the NHS in Scotland.
Six indicators are used to assess people’s knowledge in relation to these diseases. For the first two surveys, skin cancer and stroke were selected in order to ascertain awareness levels regarding preventive measures.
Knowledge indicator: The proportion of people aged 16-74 who correctly identify either CHD, stroke or cancer as the main cause of death for people in Scotland today. |
Respondents were asked what they thought was the main cause of death in Scotland. The cause mentioned most often was CHD (72%), with cancer (20%) and stroke (1%) being mentioned by much smaller proportions.
Knowledge indicator: The proportion of people aged 16-74 who regard CHD, stroke, cancer or HIV/AIDS as a possible risk to their own health. |
Similar proportions of respondents felt that they were at risk from CHD and cancer (61% and 66% respectively), and somewhat fewer (41%) thought they were at risk from stroke. Only 5% regarded themselves as at risk from HIV/AIDS
Knowledge indicator: The proportion of people aged 16-74 who think they can do something to reduce the risk of getting CHD, stroke, cancer or HIV/AIDS. |
Relatively high proportions of respondents felt that they could do something to reduce the risk of getting cancer (91%), HIV/AIDS (81%), and CHD (80%). The percentage for those who thought they could reduce the risk of having a stroke was much lower (40%).
Knowledge indicator: Knowledge levels of people aged 16-74 regarding the three main behaviours which reduce the risk of CHD:
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Respondents were asked how important they thought various actions were in reducing the risk of CHD. Each action was classified as very important, fairly important or not very important and scored on a scale from 0 to 100 with very important scoring 100 and not very important scoring 0. Respondents showed high awareness of the importance of not smoking, taking regular exercise and having a healthy diet. The mean scores are shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1: Importance of actions to reduce the risk of CHD
Action |
Mean score |
Giving up/cutting down smoking |
88 |
Taking regular exercise |
81 |
Having a healthy diet |
76 |
Controlling weight |
75 |
Reducing stress levels |
72 |
Knowledge indicator: The proportion of people aged 16-74 who correctly identify the main ways of reducing the risk of developing skin cancer. |
The main preventive action mentioned by 68% of respondents involved avoiding exposure to the sun to some extent, including not sunbathing (13%) or getting sunburnt (2%), and avoiding the midday sun (3%). Using sunscreen was mentioned by a much smaller proportion (30%).
Knowledge indicator: The proportion of people aged 16-74 who correctly identify the main ways of reducing the risk of stroke. |
As high blood pressure is the most important risk factor for stroke, respondents were asked what were the main ways of keeping blood pressure down in order to reduce the risk of stroke. Figure 2 shows the main ways mentioned, with avoiding stress being cited most often. Exercise, healthy diet and not smoking were mentioned much less frequently.
Figure 2: Main ways of keeping down blood pressure cited by respondents
Action |
% |
Avoiding stress |
60 |
Exercise |
35 |
Eating healthily |
28 |
Cutting down or stopping smoking |
20 |
Reducing salt intake |
16 |
Losing weight |
16 |