Barometer surveys of Santé publique France

Background

For over 25 years, these repeated surveys have tracked the main behaviours, attitudes, and perceptions linked to risk-taking and the state of health of the population living in France: tobacco smoking, alcohol consumption, vaccination practices, sexual behaviour, cancer screening, physical activity, nutrition, quality of life, sleep, accidents, pain, healthcare use, mental health, etc. They help to define prevention policies and adapt national information campaigns.

In partnership with the OFDT, the Barometer surveys regularly include a section of questions on the use of illicit psychoactive substances and gambling.

Since 1992, when the first Barometer survey included a series of questions on drug use, seven other waves of the survey have included a part dedicated to illicit drug use (1993, 1995, 2000, 2005, 2010, 2014, and 2017). In 2021, a specific section on cannabis was included in the Barometer survey focusing on suicide and suicidal thoughts carried out in the wake of the health crisis caused by the Covid-19 epidemic.

Goals

The section on the use of psychoactive substances enables us to measure and monitor changes in levels of use of licit and illicit substances and gambling practices in the adult population.

Method

The Health Barometer is a telephone health survey of a representative random sample of the population. The survey method is based on the random generation of landline and mobile telephone numbers. Participants (aged between 18 and 85, living in mainland France and speaking French) are selected by means of a two-stage random landline survey (random selection of one eligible individual per household) and an interview with the person who picks up the phone on a mobile line. In 2024, the Barometer survey will adopt a new method to become a multi-mode survey, in order to improve the quality of the statistics produced.