PCCF+ and Socioeconomic Status Reference File

October 27, 2020

Question

I have a question from a Grad student using the PCCF+ and a file called the socioeconomic status reference file (.txt format) that should be available with the PCCF+ files.

The student found reference to this file in CIHI Measuring Health Inequalities. From the student’s email:

In the CIHI: Measuring Health Inequalities Toolkit, it says it is possible to avoid using SAS and just get this info from the PCCF. It says the following: To assign any income quintiles using PCCF, you would assign a DA to individuals in your dataset using the PCCF, and the socioeconomic status reference file (.txt format) available in the PCCF+ package to assign (the desired) income quintiles to DAs. This seems best for us because we already have a list of every DA and the stores assigned. 

I wasn’t able to find this file in the PCCF+ v7c files. Is this file available to us or is it something that only CIHI has access to?

Answer

I’ve spoken to the PCCF team and they’ve explained the following:

 

“I believe they may be naming it incorrectly – it’s not called a ‘socioeconomic status reference file’. We do provide area-based income quintiles as part of the standard output, if the user puts in their postal codes and uses the PCCF+ as suggested. There is information about that if they check the user guide.

 

They don’t need to first assign DAs to individuals. The PCCF+ will assign the DA and provide the income quintile at the same time.”