Household Impacts of COVID-19 Survey methodology

This publication presents results from the Household Impacts of COVID-19 Survey. This is the fourth monthly survey, conducted throughout Australia between 13 and 23 November 2020.

This series is designed to provide insight into how the social and economic situation is changing for Australian households, with focus placed on how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted on lifestyle and wellbeing. It follows on from the previous series of eight fortnightly surveys between 1 April to 10 July 2020 which captured the experiences of Australian households during the first four months of the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia.

The results for all past publications can be accessed by selecting "View all releases' in the header of this publication.

This publication forms part of a suite of additional products that the ABS produced to measure the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Australian economy and society.

For more information refer to the Measuring the impacts of COVID-19 update.

For the first monthly survey in August 2020, a sample of over 4,900 private dwellings was selected to obtain responses from 1,561 fully responding dwellings. This defined the longitudinal panel for the subsequent surveys up until the October 2020 cycle.

In the November 2020 cycle, the sample was increased, with over 8,400 private dwellings selected to obtain responses from 3,400 fully responding dwellings. The fully responding count consists of 1,369 dwellings continuing on from the first cycle in August 2020, and 2,031 dwellings from the increased November 2020 sample. The increased sample of 3,400 will define the longitudinal panel for the subsequent surveys.

The person (aged 18 years or over) who completed household details became the person selected for the panel. Their participation in the survey is voluntary and respondents can opt out at any point.

The panel selection methodology was a random sample. The coverage of selections included all Australian geographies (excluding very remote locations) to ensure national estimates could be produced.

The panel data was weight adjusted using the ABS Estimated Residential Population (ERP) projections as at August 2020. Benchmarks comprised of Age, Sex, and Geographic variables. In addition, adjustments were made based on the number of persons living in the household and the education level of the selected person.

Due to the anticipated changes in non-responding households across the survey cycles, each survey sample will be re-weighted in order to maintain consistent full population estimates across the surveys.

Information was gathered via online forms or telephone interviews. Interviews were conducted with any responsible person aged 18 years and over who was a usual resident of the selected household.

Some topics have been repeated in both the fortnightly and monthly surveys. The monthly iterations of the survey gathered information via online forms and telephone interviews. Previous fortnightly iterations of the survey were collected via the telephone only. Where relevant, comparisons are made based on the weighted representative data for both surveys. The change in survey methodology means that comparison of results for the topics repeated across the survey iterations should be treated with caution.

The topics in the November 2020 survey include:

• comfort with shopping in person
• feelings of emotional and mental wellbeing
• use of Telehealth services
• health precautions
• care and assistance provided to vulnerable people inside and outside the household
• use of stimulus payments
• job status and absences from work
• perceptions of the future after the COVID-19 pandemic.

The scope of the survey was persons aged 18 years and over in private dwellings across Australia (excluding very remote areas).

The survey collected information from respondents about the household living arrangements of all people within the household. The categories are not comparable to those found in classifications related to Family or Household composition.

For the purpose of this survey, people who live in the household full-time or part-time, whether they are related or not, are included. Dependants who are 18 years or older are regarded as adults, and visitors to the household are excluded.

Each category refers to private dwellings containing:

• Lone person - A person 18 years or older who lives in the household on their own.
• Family with children - A household with one or more children (under the age of 18 years) usually resident in the same household. The family may include any number of other related or unrelated individuals usually resident in the household.
• Family without children - A family based on two persons who are spouses or partners, who are usually resident in the same household and have no children under 18 years usually resident in the same household. The family may include any number of other related or unrelated individuals usually resident in the household.

There were households consisting of two or more unrelated people where all persons are aged 18 years or over, however the numbers for some topics were too small to publish.

The survey collected information from respondents about their Country of birth and Year of arrival.

• Country of birth identifies the country in which a person was born. It can be used to indicate whether or not a person is an immigrant and the country group to which they belong. It may be used with a range of other variables to measure the cultural and ethnic composition of the Australian population.
• Year of Arrival in Australia collects the year in which a person, born in another country, first arrived in Australia with the intention of living here for one year or more. Data related to Year of Arrival in Australia can be used in conjunction with variables such as Country of Birth to analyse settlement patterns for various migrant groups.

For the purpose of this survey, Country of birth and Year of arrival information have been used in conjunction to create the following categories:

• Born in Australia
• Born overseas
  • Born overseas (arrived within last ten years)
  • Born overseas (arrived more than ten years ago)

For more information see the Country of Birth Standard, 2016 (cat. no. 1200.0.55.004) and the Year of Arrival Standard, 2014, Version 1.5 (cat. no. 1200.0.55.007).

Whether a person has a disability has been derived from a subset of questions from the ABSs Short Disability Module. People were asked about a number of different impairments and whether these had an impact on their ability to do everyday activities. These questions are not designed to estimate prevalence but rather allow for the broad comparison of the social, health and economic characteristics of people with and without disability.

Care should be taken when interpreting data relating to disability in this survey as results showed that those people who were interviewed by telephone were more likely to have a disability than those who completed the survey online. This may be due to a mode effect.

The survey asked if respondents had been told by a doctor or nurse if they had one or more of a selected list of long-term health conditions. Conditions included:

• Arthritis
• Asthma
• Cancer (including remission)
• Dementia (including Alzheimer’s)
• Diabetes (excluding gestational diabetes)
• Heart disease (including heart attack or angina)
• Kidney disease
• Lung condition (including COPD or emphysema)
• Mental health condition (including depression or anxiety)
• Stroke
• Any other long-term health condition(s)

Health conditions were those that had lasted, or were expected to last, six months of more. Respondents were asked to include conditions that may recur from time to time, are controlled by medication, or are in remission.

The survey collected information on psychological distress of persons aged 18 years and over during November 2020, using the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10). 

The K10 questionnaire administered in November 2020 to respondents asked 10 questions about people’s level of nervousness, agitation, fatigue and depression. Respondents were asked how often in the last four weeks they had felt: 

• tired out for no good reason
• nervous
• so nervous that nothing could calm you down
• hopeless
• restless or fidgety
• so restless you could not sit still
• depressed
• everything was an effort
• so sad that nothing could cheer you up
• worthless.

Using the K10 questionnaire administered to respondents in November 2020, a five-level response scale that corresponded to scores from 1 for ‘none of the time’ to 5 for ‘all the time’ were summed, with low scores indicating low levels of psychological distress and high scores indicating high levels of psychological distress.  

Results are presented by the categories ‘low or moderate’ psychological distress, or ‘high or very high’ psychological distress, using the cut-points scores below: 

• Low (scores of 10-15, indicating little or no psychological distress)
• Moderate (scores of 16-21)
• High (scores of 22-29)
• Very high (scores of 30-50).

A very high level of psychological distress shown by the K10 may indicate a need for professional help. For more information see the National Health Survey: Users’ Guide, 2017-18 (cat. no 4363.0). 

A subset of six of the K10 questions was asked in August 2020 using questions from the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale - 6 (K6). While the K6 questions can be used for comparison, they do not allow for reporting of levels of psychological distress.

The Commonwealth Government is providing eligible individuals with stimulus payments during this COVID-19 pandemic. The survey only asked about payments to individuals, not business owners, and money they are currently receiving, not what they may have received in the past or are still expecting to receive. This included the $250 Coronavirus Supplement and the $1,200 or $750 JobKeeper Payment.

The survey only asked about the Coronavirus Supplement and JobKeeper Payment received by eligible individuals aged 18 years and over.

Coronavirus Supplement: A supplement of $250 per fortnight paid to income support recipients. This has been payable from 25 September 2020 to recipients of:

• JobSeeker Payment (formerly known as Newstart Allowance)
• Youth Allowance
• Sickness Allowance
• ABSTUDY (Living Allowance)
• Austudy
• Parenting Payment
• Partner Allowance
• Widow Allowance
• Farm Household Allowance
• Special Benefit.

The Coronavirus Supplement amount was previously $550 and paid to eligible recipients from 27 April 2020 to 24 September 2020.

More information can be found at the Department of Social Services Coronavirus (COVID-19) information and support page.

JobKeeper Payment: Affected employers and sole traders are able to claim either $1,200 (tier 1) or $750 (tier 2) per fortnight per employee from 28 September 2020 if they meet eligibility requirements.

The JobKeeper Payment amount was previously $1,500 and paid to eligible recipients from 30 March 2020 to 27 September 2020.

Eligibility requirements to receive the JobKeeper Payment can be found at the Australian Taxation Office JobKeeper Payment – Your eligible employees page.

More information on the two tiers of the JobKeeper Payment can be found at the Australian Taxation Office JobKeeper Payment – Payments rates page.

More information can be found at the Australian Taxation Office JobKeeper Payment page.

The survey asked respondents if they had used a Telehealth service to access health professionals in the last four weeks.

A Telehealth service refers to any health service delivered via telephone, video conferencing, or other communication technology.

Examples of health professionals include a general practitioner (GP), nurse, psychiatrist, psychologist, physiotherapist, dietician, audiologist, and diabetes educator.

The data was designed to provide a snapshot of the changes being experienced by Australians due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The health service use questions are not comparable to the ABS 2018-19 Patient Experience Survey. For more information see the Patient Experiences in Australia: Summary of Findings, 2018–19 (cat. no.4839.0).

The survey collected information about the current job status of all respondents, and changes to their job situation since the last survey. The survey was designed to provide a snapshot of the changes being experienced by Australians due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Respondents were asked simple questions about changes to their job situation, rather than the full suite of employment-related questions included in the ABS' Labour Force Survey (see the Labour Force Survey questionnaire, available from the Collection method chapter in the Labour force, Australia methodology publication). The results of this survey are, therefore, not directly comparable to Australia’s official Labour Force measures.

For more information about measuring the labour market impacts of COVID-19 please see the educational piece Measuring the Labour Market impacts of COVID-19.

Margin of Error (MoE) describes the distance from the population value that the sample estimate is likely to be within, and is specified at a given level of confidence. MoEs presented in this publication are at the 95% confidence level. This means that there are 19 chances in 20 that the estimate will differ by less than the specified MoE from the population value (the figure obtained if all in-scope dwellings had been enumerated).

The Data Cubes, containing all tables for this publication in Excel spreadsheet format, are available with the Data downloads. The spreadsheets present tables of proportions and their corresponding MoE. Totals may vary in some tables as some respondents did not provide an answer to all of the questions.

The Census and Statistics Act 1905 provides the authority for the ABS to collect statistical information, and requires that statistical output shall not be published or disseminated in a manner that is likely to enable the identification of a particular person or organisation. This requirement means that the ABS must take care and make assurances that any statistical information about individual respondents cannot be derived from published data.

The ABS would like to thank all participants for their involvement in the survey. The information collected is critical to informing the government response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia.

ABS surveys draw extensively on information provided by individuals, businesses, governments and other organisations. Their continued cooperation is very much appreciated and without it, the wide range of statistics published by the ABS would not be available. Information received by the ABS is treated in strict confidence as required by the Census and Statistics Act 1905.

The ABS Privacy Policy outlines how the ABS will handle any personal information that you provide to the ABS.