Health interview surveys for child survival programs. A review of methods instruments and proposals for their improvement.

The Health Interview Survey (HIS) has been widely used as a method of data collection and analysis. However comparisons among surveys have not been made and therefore the need exists for a standardization of format concept measurement and other survey characteristics. The applications of the HIS are reviewed and analyzed. The design of the survey whether it is monopurpose or multipurpose and its effectiveness in relation to different purposes is discussed. 8 HIS surveys including examples of multi-phase and purpose and single content surveys are studied particularly for their quality of improving upon the shortcomings of previous HIS. These include: Community Acceptance of Oral Rehydration Therapy in Haiti Demographic and Health Surveys; Westinghouse Dietary Management of Diarrhea Study; Johns Hopkins University Health Communications for Child Survival Project Mass Media and Health Practices Project Evaluation; Applied Communication Technology Mortality and Use of Health Services; Combating Childhood Communicable Diseases Child Survival Project Health Information System Adventist Development and Relief Agency Malawi; PRITECH and the Sine Saloum Family Health Survey.