The Community Health Assessment Survey collected data on the county's health through telephone interviews in both English and Spanish with a representative sample of county residents -- over 1000 adults and 400 children. The questionnaire addressed important topics such as physical and mental health status, health insurance, nutrition and diet, injury prevention, the environment and other factors related to health within our county.

Survey Methodology
A random-digit dialing (RDD) telephone sampling approach was used which allowed non-listed numbers to be included in the sample. In order to collect accurate information for key population subgroups such as Latinos and farm workers, the sampling approach disproportionately oversampled residents in the Guadalupe area. Within each randomly selected household, one adult was randomly selected to be interviewed. About one-third of these households contained one or more children, birth through 17 years of age. In these households, health and risk factor information was collected on a randomly selected child through a proxy adult (the adult who is most knowledgeable about the health of the child -- most often the mother). The response rate was 65% which is considered quite good. The results presented in this report were weighted to account for differential probabilities of selection for households in the county, and for the probability of selected specific respondents within them. Weighting also included a post-stratification component to adjust the sample back to the gender, age, and education characteristics of the 1990 Census. This later step is used in virtually all state and federal surveys of this type, and allows more accurate comparisons of our Santa Barbara findings to these higher geographic levels. For a more detailed description of the survey methodology, see Appendix A.

Comparing the Survey Sample to the County Population
The following tables compare the weighted survey sample to 1990 census data for Santa Barbara County population. It is apparent how similar the survey and Census data are, which strongly suggests that the health and risk factor data collected should accurately reflect the "reality" of our county.