Englisch (English)

The "Data for action at kindergarten age (KitaGesund)" is funded by the Federal Ministry of Health (BMG). The Institute and Polyclinic of Occupational and Social Medicine (IPAS) at TU Dresden is the head of the study (director:  Prof. Dr. med. Andreas Seidler, MPH). The departments of health from the cities of Dresden, Potsdam and Berlin are participating in the study.

We want to develop needs-based health promotion offers for children. We need better information to do this. We therefore kindly ask you to participate in our parent survey. We are interested in:

• Your assessment of your child's health behaviours and well-being,
• Information about yourself – because you are your children's most important reference person,
• your everyday family life.

We link this information with the data collected as part of the paediatric and adolescent medical examinations in kindergarten (Kita) and prior to school admission. This gives us a comprehensive idea of children's health development. In our study, the names of the children are not mentioned in connection with the data (examination data, parent survey data) and all data is pseudonymised1.

All families whose children will be attending the medical school admission examination in Potsdam in 2022/23 are sent this letter asking them to participate in the study. The questionnaire will take about 20-25 minutes to complete.

If you participate in our study it will help to assess the health situation of children in Potsdam and across Germany. In order for the results to be meaningful, we need a high participation rate! There are no risks associated with taking part and there will be no costs for you.

Participation in this study is voluntary and does not affect the school admission examination.

Your data will be treated with strict confidentially and only evaluated for scientific purposes. All employees are bound to confidentiality.

You can revoke your consent to participation and data processing at any time without giving reason. You will not suffer any disadvantages as a result. Please address the declaration of revocation to the survey centre (Landeshauptstadt Potsdam, Fachbereich Öffentlicher Gesundheitsdienst; AG Kinder- und Jugendärztlicher Dienst, Friedrich-Ebert-Str. 79/81, 14469 Potsdam, email: ). All data collected from you will then be deleted. Data processing remains lawful until the time of revocation.

You have the right to complain to the supervisory authority if you believe that the processing of your personal data is not lawful (contact the competent supervisory authority: Ministerium für Soziales, Gesundheit, Integration und Verbraucherschutz des Landes Brandenburg, Referat 43, Henning-von-Tresckow-Straße 2-13, 14467 Potsdam; email: )

The study collects data by means of a written survey. If you would like to take part in the study:

• Please confirm your consent to participate by signing the enclosed declaration of consent.
• Complete the questionnaire, put it in the small envelope and seal it.
• Put the small envelope into the large envelope along with the signed declaration of consent.
• Please return this large (sealed) envelope on the date of your child's school admission examination.

Your personal data (name, address, etc.) will not be stored or reported on together with the research data (parent survey). To ensure this, two separate study centres will be set up:

• The survey centre at the Potsdam department of health (contact: Landeshauptstadt Potsdam, Fachbereich Öffentlicher Gesundheitsdienst; Fachstelle Gesunde Stadt, Friedrich-Ebert-Str. 79/81, 14469 Potsdam, email: Gesunde.Stadt@Rtahaus.Potsdam.de)
• Evaluation centre at TU Dresden (contact: Prof. Dr. med. Andreas Seidler, MPH; Medizinische Fakultät der TU Dresden, Institut für Arbeits- und Sozialmedizin, Fetscherstraße 74, 01307 Dresden).

Responsibilities of the Potsdam department of health (survey centre): In order to link your research data (survey) with your child's examination data (kindergarten and school admission examinations), we replace your child's name with a consecutive number (pseudonymisation). A list is created containing only the name of the participating children and the assigned number. This list (assignment list) is stored securely at the Potsdam department of health.

The assignment list is necessary to:

• evaluate the data from the questionnaire without knowing your name and address;
• to enable the linking of the data from the questionnaires with the data from the paediatric and adolescent medical examinations and
• to guarantee your right to revocation, as this requires the declaration of consent to be matched to the questionnaire.

The Potsdam department of health receives your completed study materials on the school admission examination or by post and will label the declaration of consent and the small sealed envelope containing the completed questionnaire with the number assigned to your child. The declarations of consent are stored securely at the Potsdam department of health (survey centre). The small envelope remains sealed and is forwarded to TU Dresden (evaluation centre). The Potsdam department of health (survey centre) does not have access to your questionnaire. The Potsdam department of health will also pass on your child's examination data (kindergarten centre examination and school admission examination) to TU Dresden (evaluation centre) for evaluation. Again, your child's name will have been replaced with the consecutive number. This means the employees of TU Dresden do not know which child the data is about.

Responsibilities of TU Dresden (evaluation centre): The employees of TU Dresden (evaluation centre) open the small envelope with the questionnaire. The questionnaire is entered into a database together with the consecutive number on the envelope. The questionnaire data is linked to your child's examination data (kindergarten examination and school admission examination) using the consecutive number, stored electronically and evaluated by the evaluation centre. The evaluation centre does not know the names of the participating children or their addresses.

All data collected as part of the study will only be used for research purposes and will not be passed on to third parties. Once the data has been collected and analysed, the data will be used in scientific publications. The data will be fully anonymised1, which means it is not possible to use it to identify individuals. Your questionnaires with the consecutive numbers (without names and addresses) will for 10 years be stored in accordance with Good Epidemiological Practice at the evaluation centre, after which it is destroyed. The data is protected against unauthorised access. Similarly, the assignment lists with the children's names and consecutive numbers are kept at the survey centre for 10 years and are then destroyed. All members of the study team are sworn to secrecy. The provisions of the Data Protection Act (DSG) as amended are complied with.

If you have any questions or would like more information, please feel free to contact the study coordinator: Dr Maria Girbig, postal address: Institut und Poliklinik für Arbeits- und Sozialmedizin, Medizinische Fakultät der TU Dresden, Fetscherstr. 74, 01307 Dresden; telephone: 0351 3177-441; e-mail: (office: Ina Voigt).