Since 2002 the NSW Ministry of Health has conducted the New South Wales Secondary Schools Health Behaviours (SSHB) Survey every three years. The SSHB survey includes the Australian School Students Alcohol and Drugs (ASSAD) questionnaire, which has been collected since 1984.
The target population is all students in Years 7-12 enrolled during the study period in New South Wales however schools with fewer than 100 students and language schools are not included in the survey.
The survey instrument is a written self-completion questionnaire administered within schools, which includes questions on alcohol, demographics, height and weight, injury, nutrition, physical activity, psychological distress, sedentary behaviour, substance use, sun protection and tobacco. The questionnaire and survey procedures are approved by the Human Research Ethics Committees of the Cancer Council Victoria, the NSW Population and Health Research Ethics Committee, and the NSW Department of Education and Communities. The survey was also endorsed by the Catholic Education Commission and the Association of Independent Schools of New South Wales.
Only school students aged 12-17 years are included in the analysis. To ensure that disproportionate sampling of any school type, age level, and gender grouping, did not bias the prevalence estimates, data were weighted to bring the achieved sample into line with the population distribution.
Further information on specific aspects of the survey