Ward P, Morton-Jones A J, Pringle M A, Chilvers C E
Department of Public Health Medicine and Epidemiology, University of Nottingham, Medical School, Queen's Medical Centre.
Public Health. 1994 Jul;108(4):279-87. doi: 10.1016/s0033-3506(94)80007-3.
The objective of this study was to compare three methods of collecting social class data in general practice. The setting was a rural dispensing practice on the Nottinghamshire/Lincolnshire border. The methods examined were: (a) a self-administered questionnaire to 200 patients to determine their social class based on the occupation of the head of household; (b) members of the practice staff were asked to assign a social class to these households based on their local knowledge; and (c) use of small area statistics from the 1991 census data using modal and weighted methods. It was found that the practice staff were unable reliably to assign a social class to the households. The modal method of using small area statistics to assign social class to households through their postcode and its link to the census data was also inaccurate. While a personal questionnaire will remain the only method for assigning a social class to individual patients for clinical care or most research, the weighted method of small area statistics is shown to be a cost-effective and sufficiently accurate method for health needs assessment in general practice.
本研究的目的是比较在全科医疗中收集社会阶层数据的三种方法。研究地点是位于诺丁汉郡/林肯郡边界的一家乡村配药诊所。所考察的方法包括：（a）向200名患者发放一份自填式问卷，根据户主职业确定其社会阶层；（b）要求诊所工作人员根据其当地知识为这些家庭确定社会阶层；（c）使用1991年人口普查数据中的小区域统计数据，采用众数法和加权法。结果发现，诊所工作人员无法可靠地为这些家庭确定社会阶层。通过邮政编码利用小区域统计数据的众数法为家庭确定社会阶层及其与人口普查数据的关联也不准确。虽然个人问卷仍将是为临床护理或大多数研究中的个体患者确定社会阶层的唯一方法，但小区域统计数据的加权法被证明是全科医疗中进行健康需求评估的一种经济高效且足够准确的方法。
