Table 4.
Brief description of topics covered in the LSIC survey
| Subject | Description |
|---|---|
| Household information | |
| Dwelling type and street type | RAO assesses housing type and traffic. |
| Household demographics | P1 and P2 report on who lives in the house with SC by age, Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander identity, and relationship to P1. |
| Child health | |
| Maternal health and care | P1 self-reports on health care when pregnant. |
| Alcohol, tobacco and substance use during pregnancy | P1 self-reports on use of alcohol, cigarettes and other substances while pregnant with SC. |
| Birth | P1 self-reports on factors surrounding birth of SC, including birthweight and gestational age, from memory or from Baby Book. |
| Early diet and feeding | P1 reports on SC’s breastfeeding and transition to solid foods. |
| Current nutrition | P1 recalls foods consumed by SC in the past 24 h (selected from a list of food groups) and number and types of drinks consumed. P1 also reports on SC’s consumption of bush tucker, breakfast, takeaway meals. |
| Dental health | P1 reports on SC’s teeth cleaning, visits to dentist and problems with teeth or gums (selected from a list). |
| Health conditions | P1 rates SC’s general health (poor to excellent) and reports on health problems SC has experienced (selected from a list). |
| Injury | P1 reports on injuries SC has experienced since the previous survey (selected from a list), number of times injuries happened and the place injuries occurred. |
| Hospitalization | P1 reports the number of times SC has been hospitalized since the previous survey, the reason for hospitalization (selected from a list), length of stay in hospital and the use of other health services (including the Aboriginal Medical Service). |
| Sleeping patterns | P1 reports on SC’s sleeping routine and any trouble sleeping. |
| Parental health | |
| Ongoing health conditions | P1 and P2 rate their own general health (poor to excellent) and report on health problems experienced (RAOs select from a list including diabetes, disability and kidney disease). |
| Social and emotional well-being and resilience | Strong Souls questionnaire: P1 and P2 respond to questions about ‘what helps get you through hard times’ and ‘big worries, stress and sadness’ (including experiencing discrimination). |
| Smoking habits and exposure; alcohol use | P1 and P2 self-report on tobacco use, smoking inside the house, methods of quitting smoking, and alcohol use. |
| Gambling | P1 reports on frequency of gambling, types of gambling activities, reasons for gambling, gambling problems. |
| Parent relationships | P1 reports on relationship with partner, including questions about domestic violence. |
| Childhood and parenting | P1 and P2 respond to questions about the relationship with their partner, parents living separately, contact with SC, and the stolen generations. |
| Child and family functioning | |
| Strengths and difficulties | P1 reports on SC’s behaviour and relationships with others, using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire.39 |
| Child’s physical ability | P1 reports on SC’s physical abilities including holding a pencil, dressing and undressing, using buttons, walking up stairs, hopping and catching. |
| Child’s temperament | P1 responds to a questionnaire about the SC’s personality, adapted from the Short Temperament Scale for Children. |
| Brief Infant-Toddler Social and Emotional Assessment (BITSEA) | P1 responds to a questionnaire about SC’s personality, using the BITSEA, a screening tool designed to assess social-emotional and behavioural development. |
| Parent concerns about child’s language and development | P1 reports on worries about SC’s development (talking, speaking, understanding, use of hands, behaviour, learning and development).a |
| Parental warmth, monitoring and consistency | P1 and P2 respond to questions about interaction with SC. |
| Major life events | P1 and P2 report whether any close family member has experienced a series of major life events. |
| Socio-demographics | |
| Participant language, culture and religion | P1 and P2 respond to questions about languages spoken by family members, including Creoles, culture, identity and religion. |
| Parental education | P1 and P2 self-report on highest level of education completed. |
| Work | P1 and P2 self-report on employment. |
| Financial stress and income | P1 and P2 report family’s money situation and experience with income management. |
| Child support and maintenance | P1 and P2 respond to questions about the SC’s living arrangements and child support. |
| Housing and mobility | P1 and P2 describe the current home and neighbourhood, the length of time residing at the current home and the number of other homes SC has lived in. Includes number of bedrooms and repairs needed. |
| Community | P1 describes community places for children, safety, homelessness experiences, whether facilities such as toilets and washing machines are working and levels of trust in doctors, hospitals, police and schools. |
| Child care and early education | P1 and P2 report on SC’s school and care arrangements. |
| Child’s school | P1 and P2 respond to questions about SC’s school experience, including bullying and racism. |
| Activities with the study child | P1 and P2 respond to questions about activities that SC does with particular family members, and the language used when participating in these activities. |
| Child direct measures | |
| Vocabulary | Older SCs complete the Renfrew Word Finding Vocabulary Test, identifying names of pictured objects (measuring expressive vocabulary). Younger SCs complete the MacArthur Bates Communicative Development Inventory: P1 reports if SC knows words read aloud from a list (measuring early language skills).17. |
| Who Am I? | SCs are asked to write their name, copy a circle, cross, square, triangle and diamond, and draw a picture of themselves; the Australian Council for Educational Research score the booklets and RAOs evaluate their focus.40 |
| Favourite things | SCs respond to questions about their favourite things. |
| School | Older SCs respond to questions about their experience of preschool or school. |
| Height and weight | RAOs measure the SC’s height and weight. If parents are not comfortable with measurements being taken by the RAOs, they can take the child’s measurements themselves or report the most recent height and weight recorded in the child’s health book. RAOs also measure the height and weight of P1.17 |
| MATRIX reasoning | SCs complete the MATRIX Reasoning segment of the Weschler Intelligence scale for children; this provides a general measure of abstract reasoning ability (not based on reading or writing skills).17. |
| Progressive Achievement Tests in Reading | Older SCs complete the LSIC version of Progressive Achievement Tests in Reading, providing diagnostic information about reading comprehension abilities. Scores are scaled by the Australian Council for Educational Research for release. |
SC, Study Child; P1, primary carer; P2, secondary carer; RAO, Research Administration Officer.
aAdapted from Parent’s Evaluation of Developmental Status. Australian version Melbourne, VIC: Centre for Community Child Health, Royal Children’s Hospital, 2005. Adapted with permission from Frances Page Glascoe, Ellsworth and Vandermeer Press.