To understand health and health behaviours at a local level, in 2024 we carried out the West Sussex Your Health Matters (YHM) survey. Survey topics included general health, health behaviours and the wider determinants of health. We also included a small number of free-text questions, which included asking respondents to list up to three main concerns and worries. Free-text responses were analysed thematically by members of the Public Health and Social Research Unit. In total, 4,986 respondents provided at least one worry or concern, with 13,096 free text-responses included in the analyses. Worries were grouped into 15 themes, most of which contained subthemes (65 subthemes in total). Across all respondents the most common themes were:
- Health and care related worries (n=4260, 33% of all worries)
- Financial worries (n=2492, 19% of all worries)
- Worries about family, relationships and social connections (n=1806, 14% of all worries)
We have produced a narrative document which comprehensively describes responses to each theme and sub-theme, a document describing our methodological approach and a quantitative summary of the number of respondents who provided at least one concern or worry and their demographic characteristics.