The Canadian Campus Wellbeing Survey is a Canadian assessment tool to help colleges and universities collect the data they need to support student health and wellbeing. Beginning in Fall 2021 institutions can also collect data using the CCWS for employees if they would like to take a whole campus approach.
The Canadian Campus Wellbeing Survey (CCWS) will help post-secondary institutions better assess health and wellbeing on campuses, identify priorities for intervention, and increase capacity to link research with policy and practice.
The student survey takes students 15-20 minutes to complete and covers nine core sections related to student health and wellbeing:
Mental health assets
Mental health deficits
Student experience
Health service utilization
Physical health/health behaviours
Academic achievement
Substance use
Food security
Sexual health behaviour
The employee survey takes approximately 15 minutes to complete and includes 7 core sections, with 5 optional modules that institutions can select based on their priorities:
Mental health assets
Mental health deficits
Workplace experience
Health service utilization
Physical health/health behaviours
Food security
Demographics
Option modules:
Suicidal ideation
Substance use
Alcohol use
Cannabis use
Tobacco use
The CCWS consists mostly of measures used in existing Canadian health surveillance surveys, such as the Canadian Community Health Survey. These measures were chosen because of the extensive information already available on their validity and reliability. You can read more about the development of the CCWS in the first of our technical series.
The survey is confidential and voluntary, and participants may opt out of any questions they are not comfortable answering. In the future, additional modules may be incorporated to suit different institutional needs and areas of interest.
The CCWS is intended to be flexible, and in the future, additional modules, specific to other areas of health and wellbeing, can be incorporated depending on institutional interest.
The student survey was piloted on a small number of campuses in Fall 2019, then implemented at post-secondary institutions across British Columbia in early 2020. Expansion to campuses across Canada began in Fall 2020, and over 50 institutions have taken part as of Spring 2021.
