Global School-based Student Health Survey 2003

Each student completed a self administered questionnaire using a generic anonymous answer sheet. For the 2003 Uganda GSHS, a total of 3215 questionnaires were completed in 45 schools, of which 1878 were completed by students aged 13 to 15 years.

The Uganda GSHS questionnaire contained 93 questions addressing the following topics: Demographics, Alcohol and other drug use, Dietary behaviours, Hygiene, Mental health, Physical activity, Protective factors, Sexual behaviours that contribute to HIV infection, other STI, and unintended pregnancy, Tobacco use, Violence and unintentional injury.

The questionnaire was developed by officials drawn from Ministry of Health, Ministry of Education, and WHO. The final questionnaire had 54 core questions provided by WHO/CDC, 36 questions selected from the expanded core questions, and 3 country specific questions. The process was done through meetings and consultation with WHO/CDC. The questionnaire and methodology were pre-tested in one of the districts. The core questions were developed by a team of experts drawn from WHO, CDC, UNICEF, UNESCO, UNAIDS and others. For national and international comparisons the core questions must be used as they are without modification. Core-expanded questions collect some more additional information on selected module topics. They are also used without modification. On the other hand each country is free to add questions about topics of unique interest and importance. The country specific questions should have characteristics consistent with the characteristics of the core questions namely: the question requests only one response, the question and response options match, the question must have no more than 8 response options, the question must be written as a question not as a statement, the question must have a specific time frame, response options within each question share consistent format and structure, the "0" or "most negative" response option is listed first, and the question must include an appropriate response option for every student.

Once the questionnaire of 93 questions had been assembled it was pilot tested in one of the districts. Meanings of some words and phrases which were found hard to understand were simplified without changing the original meaning of the question. Both questions and generic answer sheets were finally printed by CDC and shipped to the survey coordinator in Uganda. After collecting the data and verifying consistence of the answer sheets the response sheets were shipped back to CDC for analysis. Once analysis had been done, the data was sent back to the survey coordinator to further analyze, interpret the findings and write a report.