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Person—marital status, code N

Identifying and definitional attributes

Metadata item type:Help on this termData Element
Short name:Help on this termMarital status
METEOR identifier:Help on this term291045
Registration status:Help on this term
  • Community Services (retired), Standard 25/08/2005
  • Disability, Standard 13/08/2015
  • Health, Superseded 09/12/2022
  • Housing assistance, Standard 10/02/2006 [Non DictionaryHelp on this term]
  • Independent Hospital Pricing Authority, Qualified 23/11/2015
Definition:Help on this term

A person's current relationship status in terms of a couple relationship or, for those not in a couple relationship, the existence of a current or previous registered marriage, as represented by a code.

Data Element Concept:Person—marital status

Value domain attributes

Representational attributes

Representation class:Help on this termCode
Data type:Help on this termNumber
Format:Help on this termN
Maximum character length:Help on this term1
Permissible values:Help on this term
ValueMeaning
1Never married
2Widowed
3Divorced
4Separated
5Married (registered and de facto)
Supplementary values:Help on this term
ValueMeaning
6Not stated/inadequately described

Collection and usage attributes

Guide for use:Help on this term

Refers to the current marital status of a person.

CODE 2     Widowed

This code usually refers to registered marriages but when self-reported may also refer to de facto marriages.

CODE 4     Separated

This code refers to registered marriages but when self-reported may also refer to de facto marriages.

CODE 5     Married (registered and de facto)

Includes people who have been divorced or widowed but have since re-married, and should be generally accepted as applicable to all de facto couples, including of the same sex.

CODE 6     Not stated/inadequately described

This code is not for use on primary collection forms. It is primarily for use in administrative collections when transferring data from data sets where the item has not been collected.

Source and reference attributes

Origin:Help on this term

The ABS standards for the collection of Social and Registered marital status appear on the ABS Website. Australian Bureau of Statistics. Family, household and income unit variables. Cat. no. 1286.0. Canberra: ABS.

Data element attributes

Collection and usage attributes

Collection methods:Help on this term

This metadata item collects information on social marital status. The recommended question module is:

Do you/Does the person usually live with a partner in a registered or de facto marriage?

Yes, in a registered marriage

Yes, in a de facto marriage

No, never married

No, separated

No, divorced

No, widowed

It should be noted that information on marital status is collected differently by the ABS, using a set of questions. However, the question outlined above is suitable and mostly sufficient for use within the health and community services fields. See Source document for information on how to access the ABS standards.

While agencies are encouraged to use the recommended question described above, it is acknowledged that this is not always possible in practice. For example, where the data collection is a by-product of the provision of a health or community service, the information may be ascertained using different means. However, the recommended question should be used wherever practically possible.

Comments:Help on this term

The ABS standards identify two concepts of marital status:

  • Registered marital status - defined as whether a person has, or has had, a registered marriage;
  • Social marital status - based on a person's living arrangement (including de facto marriages), as reported by the person.

It is recommended that the social marital status concept be collected when information on social support/home arrangements is sought, whereas the registered marital status concept need only be collected where it is specifically required for the purposes of the collection.

While marital status is an important factor in assessing the type and extent of support needs, such as for the elderly living in the home environment, marital status does not adequately address the need for information about social support and living arrangement and other data elements need to be formulated to capture this information.

Source and reference attributes

Submitting organisation:Help on this termAustralian Institute of Health and Welfare
Origin:Help on this term

National Health Data Standards Committee

National Community Services Data Committee

Relational attributes

Related metadata references:Help on this term
Supersedes Person—marital status, code N
  • Community Services (retired), Superseded 25/08/2005
  • Health, Superseded 04/05/2005
Supersedes Person—marital status, housing assistance code N
  • Housing assistance, Superseded 10/02/2006
Has been superseded by Person—marital status, code N
  • Health, Standard 09/12/2022
See also Person—marital status end date, DDMMYYYY
  • Community Services (retired), Recorded 11/07/2011
See also Person—marital status start date, DDMMYYYY
  • Community Services (retired), Recorded 11/07/2011
Implementation in Data Set Specifications:Help on this term
All attributes +

Activity based funding: Mental health care DSS 2016-17
Independent Hospital Pricing Authority, Superseded 28/02/2017

DSS specific attributes +

Implementation start date: 01/07/2016

Implementation end date: 30/06/2017


Activity based funding: Mental health care NBEDS 2017-18
Health, Superseded 25/01/2018

DSS specific attributes +

Implementation start date: 01/07/2017

Implementation end date: 30/06/2018


Activity based funding: Mental health care NBEDS 2018-19
Health, Superseded 12/12/2018

DSS specific attributes +

Implementation start date: 01/07/2018

Implementation end date: 30/06/2019


Activity based funding: Mental health care NBEDS 2019-20
Health, Superseded 17/01/2020

DSS specific attributes +

Implementation start date: 01/07/2019

Implementation end date: 30/06/2020

DSS specific information:

As marital status can change over time, episodes from the ambulatory setting should include the latest/most recently reported marital status.


Activity based funding: Mental health care NBEDS 2020–21
Health, Superseded 23/12/2020

DSS specific attributes +

Implementation start date: 01/07/2020

Implementation end date: 30/06/2021

DSS specific information:

As marital status can change over time, episodes from the ambulatory setting should include the latest/most recently reported marital status.


Activity based funding: Mental health care NBEDS 2021–22
Health, Superseded 17/12/2021

DSS specific attributes +

Implementation start date: 01/07/2021

Implementation end date: 30/06/2022

DSS specific information:

As marital status can change over time, episodes from the ambulatory setting should include the latest/most recently reported marital status.


Activity based funding: Mental health care NBEDS 2022–23
Health, Superseded 20/12/2022

DSS specific attributes +

Implementation start date: 01/07/2022

Implementation end date: 30/06/2023

DSS specific information:

As marital status can change over time, episodes from the ambulatory setting should include the latest/most recently reported marital status.


Admitted patient care NMDS 2016-17
Health, Superseded 05/10/2016

DSS specific attributes +

Implementation start date: 01/07/2016

Implementation end date: 30/06/2017

Conditional obligation:

Only supplied for specialised mental health care patients.


Admitted patient care NMDS 2017-18
Health, Superseded 25/01/2018

DSS specific attributes +

Implementation start date: 01/07/2017

Implementation end date: 30/06/2018

Conditional obligation:

Only supplied for specialised mental health care patients.


Admitted patient care NMDS 2018-19
ACT Health (retired), Candidate 09/08/2018
Health, Superseded 12/12/2018

DSS specific attributes +

Implementation start date: 01/07/2018

Implementation end date: 30/06/2019

Conditional obligation:

Only supplied for specialised mental health care patients.


Admitted patient care NMDS 2019-20
Health, Superseded 18/12/2019

DSS specific attributes +

Implementation start date: 01/07/2019

Implementation end date: 30/06/2020

Conditional obligation:

Only supplied for specialised mental health care patients.


Admitted patient care NMDS 2020–21
Health, Superseded 05/02/2021

DSS specific attributes +

Implementation start date: 01/07/2020

Implementation end date: 30/06/2021

Conditional obligation:

Only supplied for specialised mental health care patients.


Admitted patient care NMDS 2021–22
Health, Superseded 20/10/2021

DSS specific attributes +

Implementation start date: 01/07/2021

Implementation end date: 30/06/2022

Conditional obligation:

Only supplied for specialised mental health care patients.


Admitted patient care NMDS 2022–23
Health, Superseded 20/12/2022

DSS specific attributes +

Implementation start date: 01/07/2022

Implementation end date: 30/06/2023

Conditional obligation:

Only required to be reported for episodes of admitted patient care with Hospital service—care type, code N[N] recorded as: Code 11: Mental health care.


Admitted patient mental health care NMDS
Health, Superseded 07/12/2005

DSS specific attributes +

Implementation start date: 01/07/2005

Implementation end date: 30/06/2006


Admitted patient mental health care NMDS
Health, Superseded 23/10/2006

DSS specific attributes +

Implementation start date: 01/07/2006

Implementation end date: 30/06/2007


Admitted patient mental health care NMDS 2007-08
Health, Superseded 05/02/2008

DSS specific attributes +

Implementation start date: 01/07/2007

Implementation end date: 30/06/2008


Admitted patient mental health care NMDS 2008-09
Health, Superseded 04/02/2009

DSS specific attributes +

Implementation start date: 01/07/2008

Implementation end date: 30/06/2009


Admitted patient mental health care NMDS 2009-10
Health, Superseded 05/01/2010

DSS specific attributes +

Implementation start date: 01/07/2009

Implementation end date: 30/06/2010


Admitted patient mental health care NMDS 2010-11
Health, Superseded 18/01/2011

DSS specific attributes +

Implementation start date: 01/07/2010

Implementation end date: 30/06/2011


Admitted patient mental health care NMDS 2011-12
Health, Superseded 07/12/2011

DSS specific attributes +

Implementation start date: 01/07/2011

Implementation end date: 30/06/2012


Admitted patient mental health care NMDS 2012-13
Health, Superseded 02/05/2013

DSS specific attributes +

Implementation start date: 01/07/2012

Implementation end date: 30/06/2013


Admitted patient mental health care NMDS 2013-14
Health, Superseded 15/10/2014

DSS specific attributes +

Implementation start date: 01/07/2013

Implementation end date: 30/06/2014


Admitted patient mental health care NMDS 2014-15
Health, Superseded 04/02/2015

DSS specific attributes +

Implementation start date: 01/07/2014

Implementation end date: 30/06/2015


Admitted patient mental health care NMDS 2015-16
Health, Superseded 19/11/2015

DSS specific attributes +

Implementation start date: 01/07/2015

Implementation end date: 30/06/2016


Community mental health care NMDS 2004-05
Health, Superseded 08/12/2004

DSS specific attributes +

Implementation start date: 01/07/2004

Implementation end date: 30/06/2005


Community mental health care NMDS 2005-06
Health, Superseded 07/12/2005

DSS specific attributes +

Implementation start date: 01/07/2005

Implementation end date: 30/06/2006


Community mental health care NMDS 2006-07
Health, Superseded 23/10/2006

DSS specific attributes +

Implementation start date: 01/07/2006

Implementation end date: 30/06/2007


Community mental health care NMDS 2007-08
Health, Superseded 05/02/2008

DSS specific attributes +

Implementation start date: 01/07/2007

Implementation end date: 30/06/2008


Community mental health care NMDS 2008-09
Health, Superseded 04/02/2009

DSS specific attributes +

Implementation start date: 01/07/2008

Implementation end date: 30/06/2009


Community mental health care NMDS 2009-10
Health, Superseded 05/01/2010

DSS specific attributes +

Implementation start date: 01/07/2009

Implementation end date: 30/06/2010


Community mental health care NMDS 2010-11
Health, Superseded 01/12/2010

DSS specific attributes +

Implementation start date: 01/07/2010

Implementation end date: 30/06/2011


Community mental health care NMDS 2011-12
Health, Superseded 07/03/2012

DSS specific attributes +

Implementation start date: 01/07/2011

Implementation end date: 30/06/2012


Community mental health care NMDS 2012-13
Health, Superseded 07/02/2013

DSS specific attributes +

Implementation start date: 01/07/2012

Implementation end date: 30/06/2013


Community mental health care NMDS 2013-14
Health, Superseded 07/03/2014

DSS specific attributes +

Implementation start date: 01/07/2013

Implementation end date: 30/06/2014


Community mental health care NMDS 2014-15
Health, Superseded 13/11/2014

DSS specific attributes +

Implementation start date: 01/07/2014

Implementation end date: 30/06/2015


Community mental health care NMDS 2015-16
Health, Superseded 04/09/2015

DSS specific attributes +

Implementation start date: 01/07/2015

Implementation end date: 30/06/2016


Community mental health care NMDS 2016-17
Health, Superseded 17/08/2017

DSS specific attributes +

Implementation start date: 01/07/2016

Implementation end date: 30/06/2017


Community mental health care NMDS 2017–18
Health, Superseded 25/01/2018

DSS specific attributes +

Implementation start date: 01/07/2017

Implementation end date: 30/06/2018


Community mental health care NMDS 2018–19
Health, Superseded 12/12/2018
ACT Health (retired), Candidate 09/08/2018

DSS specific attributes +

Implementation start date: 01/07/2018

Implementation end date: 30/06/2019


Community mental health care NMDS 2019–20
Health, Superseded 16/01/2020

DSS specific attributes +

Implementation start date: 01/07/2019

Implementation end date: 30/06/2020


Community mental health care NMDS 2020–21
Health, Superseded 20/01/2021

DSS specific attributes +

Implementation start date: 01/07/2020

Implementation end date: 30/06/2021


Community mental health care NMDS 2021–22
Health, Superseded 17/12/2021

DSS specific attributes +

Implementation start date: 01/07/2021

Implementation end date: 30/06/2022


Community mental health care NMDS 2022–23
Health, Superseded 09/12/2022

DSS specific attributes +

Implementation start date: 01/07/2022

Implementation end date: 30/06/2023


Computer Assisted Telephone Interview demographic module DSS
Health, Superseded 03/12/2008

DSS specific attributes +

DSS specific information:

For data collection using Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI) the recommended question is:

Which of the following best describes your current marital status?

(Read options. Single response. Interviewer note: ‘De facto’ equals ‘Living with partner’)

Married

Living with partner

Widowed

Divorced

Separated

Never married

Not stated/inadequately described (this category is not read out by interviewer)


Computer Assisted Telephone Interview demographic module NBPDS
Health, Standard 03/12/2008

DSS specific attributes +

DSS specific information:

For data collection using Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI) the recommended question is:

Which of the following best describes your current marital status?

(Read options. Single response. Interviewer note: ‘De facto’ equals ‘Living with partner’)

Married

Living with partner

Widowed

Divorced

Separated

Never married

Not stated/inadequately described (this category is not read out by interviewer)


Disability services client details cluster
Community Services (retired), Standard 10/04/2013
Disability, Standard 13/08/2015

Person details data dictionary
Community Services (retired), Standard 06/02/2012
Disability, Standard 13/08/2015

Residential mental health care NMDS 2005-06
Health, Superseded 07/12/2005

DSS specific attributes +

Implementation start date: 01/07/2005

Implementation end date: 30/06/2006


Residential mental health care NMDS 2006-07
Health, Superseded 23/10/2006

DSS specific attributes +

Implementation start date: 01/07/2006

Implementation end date: 30/06/2007


Residential mental health care NMDS 2007-08
Health, Superseded 05/02/2008

DSS specific attributes +

Implementation start date: 01/07/2007

Implementation end date: 30/06/2008


Residential mental health care NMDS 2008-09
Health, Superseded 04/02/2009

DSS specific attributes +

Implementation start date: 01/07/2008

Implementation end date: 30/06/2009


Residential mental health care NMDS 2009-10
Health, Superseded 05/01/2010

DSS specific attributes +

Implementation start date: 01/07/2009

Implementation end date: 30/06/2010


Residential mental health care NMDS 2010-11
Health, Superseded 21/12/2010

DSS specific attributes +

Implementation start date: 01/07/2010

Implementation end date: 30/06/2011


Residential mental health care NMDS 2011-12
Health, Superseded 07/03/2012

DSS specific attributes +

Implementation start date: 01/07/2011

Implementation end date: 30/06/2012


Residential mental health care NMDS 2012-13
Health, Superseded 06/09/2013

DSS specific attributes +

Implementation start date: 01/07/2012

Implementation end date: 30/06/2013


Residential mental health care NMDS 2013-14
Health, Superseded 07/03/2014

DSS specific attributes +

Implementation start date: 01/07/2013

Implementation end date: 30/06/2014


Residential mental health care NMDS 2014-15
Health, Superseded 13/11/2014

DSS specific attributes +

Implementation start date: 01/07/2014

Implementation end date: 30/06/2015


Residential mental health care NMDS 2015-16
Health, Superseded 04/09/2015

DSS specific attributes +

Implementation start date: 01/07/2015

Implementation end date: 30/06/2016


Residential mental health care NMDS 2016-17
Health, Superseded 17/08/2017

DSS specific attributes +

Implementation start date: 01/07/2016

Implementation end date: 30/06/2017


Residential mental health care NMDS 2017–18
Health, Superseded 25/01/2018

DSS specific attributes +

Implementation start date: 01/07/2017

Implementation end date: 30/06/2018


Residential mental health care NMDS 2018–19
Health, Superseded 12/12/2018
ACT Health (retired), Candidate 09/08/2018

DSS specific attributes +

Implementation start date: 01/07/2018

Implementation end date: 30/06/2019


Residential mental health care NMDS 2019–20
Health, Superseded 16/01/2020

DSS specific attributes +

Implementation start date: 01/07/2019

Implementation end date: 30/06/2020


Residential mental health care NMDS 2020–21
Health, Superseded 20/01/2021

DSS specific attributes +

Implementation start date: 01/07/2020

Implementation end date: 30/06/2021


Residential mental health care NMDS 2021–22
Health, Superseded 17/12/2021

DSS specific attributes +

Implementation start date: 01/07/2021

Implementation end date: 30/06/2022


Residential mental health care NMDS 2022–23
Health, Superseded 09/12/2022

DSS specific attributes +

Implementation start date: 01/07/2022

Implementation end date: 30/06/2023


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© Australian Institute of Health and Welfare
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