2024-2025 Deployments of the Canadian Campus Wellbeing Survey (CCWS) – A Canadian health and wellbeing assessment tool for Canadian campuses
Preparations for the Winter 2025 deployment of the CCWS are now under way. The CCWS aims to help post-secondary institutions (PSIs) assess health and wellbeing on campuses, identify priorities for intervention, and increase capacity to link research with policy and practice. Over 90 PSIs from across Canada have taken part in the CCWS, and Winter 2025 provides an opportunity for returning institutions to continue to track their progress, and for new institutions to set a baseline.
Aligned with the National Standard for Mental Health and Well-Being for Post-Secondary Students and partnered with the Best Practices Network, the CCWS vision is for a comprehensive and coordinated evaluation system for Canadian post-secondary student mental and physical health and wellbeing. Participating institutions receive a case-level dataset for their own institutions to analyze, as well as access to an interactive reporting tool (Tableau dashboard) to allow for comparisons between data for non-identified institutions, allowing for knowledge and resource sharing.
Frequently Asked Questions about the CCWS for Students:
- When should I sign up? We recommend starting now, during summer 2024. Service agreements must be reviewed, signed, and returned to the CCWS by October 31st in order to guarantee a spot in the Winter 2025 deployment. Late submissions may not be able to be accommodated. Visit our website for more details on timeline and next steps.
- Can my institution participate any time, or should we coordinate deployment with other institutions? We are encouraging all interested institutions to take part in Winter 2025 to provide more comparison options. A fall 2024 deployment is available upon request. Your institution can participate individually or as part of a consortium. We recommend deploying on a 2- or 3-year cycle. Our ultimate goal is to have established consortia (i.e., institutions from the same region who wish to be compared) deploy together. You can connect with organizations that you are part of to explore how to coordinate deployments and potential data sharing.
- What topics are covered in the CCWS? The core domains are mental health and wellbeing, campus climate and student experience, health service utilization, physical health/health behaviours, academic achievement/experience, substance use, food security, and sexual health. The survey can be completed in French or English. An employee version is also available so that institutions can take a whole campus approach to evaluation (Okanagan Charter, 2015)
- Can my institution add questions to the core survey? Yes. Up to five additional questions can be programmed into the institution’s version of the CCWS at no additional cost. Institutions participating with an organized consortium may choose to include the same additional items.
- How long does the survey take to complete? The CCWS is designed to be completed in a short period of time (15-20 minutes) to reduce student burden and increase response rate.
- How much does it cost to participate? The CCWS has been developed to be an ongoing survey on a cost-recovery model. The cost for survey participation is based on your institution’s total enrollment (head count) with details at www.ccws-becc.ca.
Please visit the CCWS website (ccws-becc.ca) or e-mail us at survey@ccws-becc.ca to learn more. (PDF)