-Automatic translation
Responsible party: Directorate of Health
Processor: Directorate of Health
Purpose: The main objective of the study Health and Wellbeing in Iceland is to evaluate health, wellbeing, welfare and lifestyle of adult inhabitants on a regular basis. In addition to providing important information on health and wellbeing of adults every five years, the results allow for monitoring of changes that may occur over time. The results of the study can be used by the Directorate of Health, the government, the university community and others involved in important decision-making concerning health and wellbeing in Iceland.
Content: Data from questionnaires administered in 2007, 2009, 2012, 2017 and 2022.
Period: Dataset with responses from participants in 2007, 2009, 2012, 2017 and 2022.
Source of data: The questionnaire was administered in paper in 2007, 2009, 2012 and partly in 2017, and then the responses were scanned into a database. In 2017, a part of the sample answered the questionnaire online and in 2022 the questionnaire was administered online to all respondents in the sample.
Items to be recorded: Various factors regarding health, well-being, lifestyle, and diseases in Iceland.
List of variables: Health and Wellbeing in Iceland - list of variables (Icelandic) On the Directorate of Health’s website you find an overview of all questions administered throughout the years.
Processing and publication: The Directorate of Health analyzes the data and publishes the study's main results on its website. Results are also used in the Directorate's internal work and as a basis for strategic actions. The Directorate also publishes public health indicators by health districts annually, which are based in part on the results of the study. Data from the study Health and well-being in Iceland is also used as a material for final projects by students at universities in Iceland, most of them published in Skemman (skemman.is) and some as scientific articles in peer-reviewed journals. More about the study Health and well-being in Iceland.
Short overview of the course of the research: In the second half of 2007 the Public Health Centre (now the Directorate of Health) conducted a large questionnaire-survey on the health, well-being and welfare of Icelanders aged 18-79 years. Questionnaires were sent out to a random sample of nearly 10 thousand people and the response rate was 60.3%. The survey was conducted in collaboration with the Directorate of Health, the Administration of Occupational Safety and Health, the Icelandic Cancer Society and specialists from the Iceland University of Education (now School of Education at University of Iceland), the Agricultural University of Iceland, University of Iceland, Reykjavik University and University of Akureyri. Most of those who answered the survey agreed to participate in a follow-up study after 4-6 years with the aim of examining changes in the health and well-being of Icelanders.
However, considering the changed circumstances in Icelandic society, following the banking crisis in the autumn of 2008, it was decided to administer a follow-up study in late 2009, i.e. earlier than planned. The final sample consisted of nearly 5,300 adult Icelanders who had signed up for a follow-up study in the study in 2007 (response rate 77.3%).
The Directorate of Health, along with its partners, conducted the study for the third time in October 2012. Questionnaires were sent to approximately 3,700 individuals who had agreed to continue participating in the study three years earlier. The same questionnaire was also sent to a new random sample of 6,500 Icelandic citizens aged 18-79 years with a registered residence in Iceland (response rate 67.2%).
The Directorate of Health conducted the fourth round of data collection in October 2017. The study was submitted to approximately 6,000 individuals who agreed to continue participating in 2012, as well as a new random sample of 4,000 Icelandic citizens, 18 years and older, with a registered residence in Iceland. Up to that point in time, the questionnaire had only been submitted on paper, but in 2017 half of the participants had the option to answer the questionnaire online, while the other half answered the survey on paper (response rate 68.5%).
In 2022, the study Health and Wellbeing in Iceland was submitted for the fifth time and this time it was exclusively administered as an online questionnaire. In this round, foreign citizens with registered residence in Iceland were also invited to participate. The study was submitted to 6,246 people who had agreed to continue participating in 2017, a new random sample of 3,906 Icelandic citizens 18 years and older with residence in Iceland, as well as a random sample of 7,198 foreign citizens, 18 years and older with residence in Iceland. Overall, the response rate was 46.5%. More detailed information on the conduct of the study can be found in the reports on its administration.
