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 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 90 institutions have taken part as of Winter 2024.

Student Survey

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 

Employee Survey

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

Optional modules for employee survey:

• Suicidal ideation

• Substance use

  • Alcohol use

  • Cannabis use

  • Tobacco use

Optional modules

For both surveys, institutions can also choose to include one optional module on eco-anxiety or housing security.