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Intraclass correlation values for adolescent health outcomes in secondary schools in 21 European countries

Shackleton, N; Hale, D; Bonell, C; Viner, RM; (2016) Intraclass correlation values for adolescent health outcomes in secondary schools in 21 European countries. SSM - Population Health , 2 (C) pp. 217-225. 10.1016/j.ssmph.2016.03.005. Green open access

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Abstract

Background Cluster randomised controlled trials (CRCTs) are increasingly used to evaluate the effectiveness of interventions for improving health. A key feature of CRCTs is that individuals in clusters are often more alike than individuals in different clusters, irrespective of treatment. This similarity within clusters needs to be taken into account when planning CRCTs to obtain adequate sample sizes, and when analysing clustered data to obtain correct estimates. Methods Nationally representative data from 15 to 16 year olds were analysed, from 21 of the 35 countries that participated in the 2007 European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs. Within country school level intra-class correlation coefficients (ICCs) were calculated for substance use (self-reported alcohol use, regular alcohol use, binge drinking, any smoking, regular smoking, and illicit drug use) and psychosocial health (depressive mood and self-esteem). Unadjusted and adjusted ICCs are presented. ICCs are adjusted for student sex and socioeconomic status. Results ICCs ranged from 0.01 to 0.21, with the highest (0.21) reported for regular smoking. Within country school level ICCs varied substantially across health outcomes, and among countries for the same health outcomes. Estimated ICCs were consistently higher for substance use (range 0.01–0.21), than for psychosocial health (range 0.01–0.07). Within country ICCs for health outcomes varied by changes in the measurement of particular health outcomes, for example the ICCs for regular smoking (range 0.06–0.21) were higher than those for having smoked at all in the last month (range 0.03–0.17). Conclusions For school level ICCs to be effectively utilised in informing sample size requirements for CRCTs and adjusting estimates from meta-analyses, the school level ICCs need to be both country and outcome specific.

Type: Article
Title: Intraclass correlation values for adolescent health outcomes in secondary schools in 21 European countries
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1016/j.ssmph.2016.03.005
Publisher version: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ssmph.2016.03.005
Language: English
Additional information: © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > UCL GOS Institute of Child Health
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > UCL GOS Institute of Child Health > Population, Policy and Practice Dept
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1501090
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