School Entrant Health Questionnaire
Staffing
P. Griffin and C. Nadebaum
Summary
Each year the parents of all children beginning primary school in Victoria are asked to complete the School Entrant Health Questionnaire (SEHQ). The questionnaire is designed to assist the School Nurse by providing detailed information on parental concerns about children’s health in areas including general health, speech, hearing, vision, development, behaviour, well-being and family stress. Approximately 370,000 parents completed the SEHQ from 1998 to 2004.
The Assessment Research Centre (ARC) was asked to analyse responses to the SEHQ and assess the item content of the questionnaire. Frequencies of responses to all questionnaire items will be tabulated and cross-checked against epidemiological data where available. Item Response Theory will be applied to calibrate subscales of the questionnaire and to assess test item performance. Patterns of responses for various demographic groups such as single parents, Aboriginal parents and rural parents will be analysed, and trends over time will be examined.
Funding Source