Health survey research on children with physical disabilities in Canada

Knowledge about health behaviours of children with physical disabilities is important in health promotion efforts to prevent the development of second ary conditions. To this end, we discuss the feasibility of including childr en with physical disabilities e.g. spina bifida and cerebral palsy, in main stream children's health behaviour surveys, e.g. the international Health B ehaviour of School-aged Children: A WHO Cross-national Survey (HBSC). Our f indings showed that the survey questions about lifestyles, peers, family an d schools were relevant to these children. However, recruitment of a repres entative sample and survey administration required considerable adaptation to recommended protocol We propose that for children with moderate or sever e disabilities, who have low reading skills or motor problems special subst udies linked to national health behaviour surveys should be carried out. Ho wever, for a more population-based approach, the utility of routinely inclu ding questions about physical disabilities and other health problems in nat ional and international health behaviour surveys should be investigated.