Statistical Process

Control (SPC)
Freeware
Contact information:
Bjørnar Nyen, Stiftelsen GRUK
Nedre Hjellegt. 1
N-3724 SKIEN, Norway
e-mail: bnyen@gruk.no

Jens Lauritsen, EpiData Association

Enghavevej 34
DK-5230 ODENSE, Denmark
e-mail: info@epidata.dk

The EpiData Association

Flyer and posterdesign: www.straydog.no

Stiftelsen GRUK – Center for Health Care Improvement, Norway

The software can be downloaded from the EpiData Association`s webpage:

The Norwegian Medical Association
http://www.epidata.dk/
Statistical Process Control (SPC)
Freeware
The EpiData Analysis software performs basic statistical analysis,
graphs, and comprehensive data management. We present the SPC-
module in EpiData Analysis with Run-Chart, I-Chart and P-Chart.
More charts are under development (MR-chart, X-bar and S-chart,
X-bar and R-chart). The first version was released in September
2005. SPC is a well known tool in improvement work. However,
minor health organisations can hardly afford the expensive software
for SPC. Due to funding and voluntary work the EpiData software is
released as a free-ware.
EpiData Analysis comes in addition to EpiData Entry which is used
for simple or programmed data entry and data documentation.
Example from one of the Norwegian Medical
Association’s Breakthrough Projects:
An institution for Child and Adolescent Mental Health in Norway recognized
that information given to parents with children suffering from ADHD (Attention
Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) was unsatisfactory, and that the parents were
unsure of how to manage their parental role.
In order to meet this challenge they developed a ten-hour-long inter­
disciplinary information- and training programme for parents with children
recently been diagnosed. The effect was evaluated by a questionnaire to
measure parents’ contentment with the information received about ADHD and
their feeling of mastering their parental role. The main results are presented by
using an I-chart from the SPC module in EpiData Analysis.
Parents without training had an average score of 3.2 (scale 1 to 5), and parents
with training had an average score of 4.3; which is an improvement of 33 %.
By using an I-diagram we can show that the change is significant and that the
variation in the results is less among parents with systematic training.

The software can be downloaded from the EpiData Association`s

webpage: http://www.epidata.dk/ I-chart Average Score
Mean
Average Score of Questionnaire UCL
LCL
1-17: Parents without training, 18-33: Parents with training
Gjøvik Center for Child and Adolescent Mental Health, Norway

4,5
4
Score
3,5
(1 - 5)
3
2,5

2
1,5
The SPC module in EpiData Analysis is built upon the general principles for SPC and is 1

developed by the EpiData Association in Denmark in collaboration with Stiftelsen GRUK 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32

Respondent
in Norway, both non-profit organisations. The project has been funded by The Norwegian Mean: 3.19 UCL: 5.09 LCL: 1.30 | Mean: 4.25 UCL: 5.24 LCL: 3.26
Medical Association. EpiData Analysis Graph

Any economic contribution to the EpiData Association is welcome, as such contributions

support further development of the software.