National psychological wellbeing and distress survey: Baseline results. HRB research series 2

Author(s):

Mark Ward, Donna Tedstone, Yulia Kartalova O' Doherty, Rosalyn Moran

Publication date:

8 November 2007

Download:

Download Full PDF (1.0 Mb)

Abstract:

The NPWDS was a telephone survey of a nationally representative random sample of 2,711 adults aged 18 years and over and living in private households. The data were collected by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) between the period December 2005 and April 2006 over three two-week intervals. Telephone numbers were drawn on a random, probability basis. In order to ensure geographical coverage, an initial set of sampling areas was selected from the GeoDirectory. This initial sample of areas was then employed to generate a random telephone sample using random digit dialling. The survey received ethical approval from the HRB Research Ethics Committee. In line with best practice the completed sample was re-weighted to ensure that it was representative of the population from which it had been selected. Comparisons with relevant census data showed that the profile of the sample was comparable to that of the general population aged 18 years and over.

Of the 2,711 participants, 50% were female.  Two-thirds of the respondents were under the age of 50 and 14% were over the age of 65.  Almost half of the respondents were married (49%), 36% were never married, 4% were living with a partner, 7% were widowed and 3% were separated or divorced.  The majority of the respondents had received a secondary level of education (60%), while 20% had only received primary level education and 19% had completed a third level education.  Over one-quarter of the respondents reported non-manual occupations (26%), with 20% reporting professional / managerial occupation and 19% reporting manual skilled occupations.  Regarding weekly household income, the highest proportion of the respondents reported income of 500 - 749 Euro per week (17%) and over 1,249 Euro per week (15%).  Approximately 10% of the respondents fell into the other five household income categories.  A total of 23% of the respondents had access to free medical care, while 46% had private health insurance.  Almost a quarter of respondents had no free medical care or private insurance while 8% had access to free medical care and had private health insurance.      

The main aims of the present report are to:

• produce much-needed data in relation to mental health issues from a representative sample of the population

• determine the proportion of the Irish population who are experiencing psychological distress or had experienced psychological distress in the previous year

• determine the proportion of the sample who had experienced limitations in physical or social activities due to mental health problems

• describe the willingness of the respondents to discuss emotional distress with others

• describe the help-seeking behaviour of the Irish population when experiencing mental health problems, including use of primary care, use of secondary mental health services and use of other professionals / support persons

• investigate the perceived effectiveness of the support used in the previous year

• describe the willingness to use professionals / support persons for mental health problems in the future

• describe the use of the Internet as a source of information on health

• describe the extent of use of antidepressants and tranquillisers in the previous year and the perceived effectiveness of the medication.

Publisher:

Health Research Board

Place of publication:

Dublin

ISSN number:

20090242

HRB Series:

HRB Research Series