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Shared Health Priorities Survey-Based Data Collection — Frequently Asked Questions

Background

  1. What is the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) and what is its mandate?

CIHI is an independent, not-for-profit, publicly funded organization that provides essential information on Canada’s health systems and the health of Canadians. CIHI provides comparable and actionable data and information that are used to support health system planning across Canada. Our stakeholders use our broad range of health system databases, measurements and standards, together with our evidence-based reports and analyses, in their decision-making processes. See CIHI’s website for more information.

  1. What is a health indicator?

A health indicator is a measure that summarizes information about a given priority topic in population health or health system performance. Examples of health indicators include Cost of a Standard Hospital Stay, Proportion of Physicians in Rural Areas and Surgical Patients Readmitted to Hospital. Watch the video Getting to Know Health Indicators (video) for more information.

Health indicators can be compared across different geographic and organizational boundaries. They also can support provinces and territories, regional health authorities and institutions to monitor the health of their populations and track how well their health systems function over time. Health indicators can help us understand whether progress is being made in areas of focus.

  1. Why is CIHI developing indicators related to mental health and substance use?

CIHI is working with federal, provincial and territorial governments to develop and report on indicators related to access to mental health and substance use services across Canada. This is part of a 10-year commitment by governmentsFootnote i, known as Shared Health Priorities, to improve access to both mental health and substance use services, and to home and community care.

Over time, these mental health and substance use indicators will tell a clearer story about access to care across Canada, identify where there are gaps in services and help to make improvements.

CIHI has released the following Shared Health Priorities indicators focused on mental health and substance use; refer to the Access data and reports section of cihi.ca:

  1. Why is CIHI conducting surveys about early intervention for mental health and substance use and navigation of related services?

As there are no existing measures of early intervention for mental health and substance use nor for navigation of related services, CIHI is collecting data for these indicators through self-reported surveys to learn more about the experiences of Canadians.

Accessing the right services at the right time in the community begins with knowing what services are available and how to navigate the system. People can experience various pathways when seeking mental health and substance use support and services, and these pathways are often not optimal. Public consultations revealed navigation to be particularly challenging for those seeking services.

Mental health and substance use concerns often begin in childhood and adolescence, and early diagnosis and intervention are important to prevent further development of disorders and to promote recovery. Recognizing the effectiveness of early interventions to treat mild to moderate mental health disorders, it is important to understand the use of existing community-based mental health and substance use services for children and youth age 13 to 24 (age 14 to 24 in Quebec).

Survey collection

  1. What do these surveys involve and how are they being conducted?

These surveys ask Canadians about their experiences when using or trying to access services for mental health and substance use (e.g., alcohol, drugs) within the last 6 months (Early Intervention survey (PDF)) or the past 12 months (Navigation survey (PDF)). These surveys are conducted in all provinces and territories across Canada. Surveys can only be completed online. Respondents to the Navigation survey are age 15 and older, and respondents to the Early Intervention survey are age 13 to 24 (age 14 to 24 in Quebec). These surveys are voluntary and anonymous, and respondents are given the opportunity to enter a draw for a gift card valued at $100.

CIHI has engaged the Canadian research firm R.A. Malatest & Associates Ltd. and Banfield Agency to conduct and promote these surveys on its behalf. 

  1. What are the survey timelines?

These surveys were initially conducted in fall 2022, and again during winter and spring of each subsequent year. Canada, provincial and territorial results from the surveys are being reported on cihi.ca.  

CIHI relaunched the surveys for this year’s new surveying cycle:

The Early Intervention and Navigation surveys are available in English and French until late spring. 

  1. How is CIHI protecting the privacy of survey respondents?

Individual responses are kept anonymous and are not shared with anyone, including doctors or other care providers, teachers, employers or family members. Each respondent is assigned a unique, randomly assigned ID code that does not directly link to the data they provide. These surveys do not ask for a health card number or any information that would identify respondents.

The information you provide to CIHI through the survey will be used, retained and disclosed solely for the purposes of the survey and related reporting in accordance with CIHI's Personal Information Privacy Policy (PDF). For greater certainty, CIHI will disclose your information in only aggregated format to health care decision-makers and the public. The information provided in these surveys will be safely stored for 5 years and then securely destroyed. Data storage and access will follow CIHI’s strict privacy and security policies.

  1. What mental health and substance use supports are made available to survey respondents?

These surveys include questions about using or trying to access mental health and substance use health services, which may cause emotional difficulties for some individuals. The surveys include additional information about helpful resources from Wellness Together Canada, including

  1. How were these surveys developed?

An expert advisory group provided input on the survey design and methodology. This group includes individuals from across Canada with expertise in mental health and substance use, measurement, and program and policy development.

Throughout the development of these surveys, CIHI also engaged with adults and youth with lived and living experience to help define the scope of the project, to design suitable survey questions, and to better understand the impact of mental health and substance use on Canadians. This engagement included ongoing meetings with advisory groups and interviews with family members. We worked closely with CIHI’s Patient Engagement Office to ensure that best practices for engagement guided this work. More information can be found on CIHI’s Working with patients and families web page.

After these surveys were developed and prior to data collection, they were also tested with a sample of Canadians.

  1. What information and reports will CIHI be releasing based on this data? How can these be accessed?

CIHI has released the Canada, provincial and territorial results from these surveys in the Access data and reports section of cihi.ca. Additional contextual information is available in the 2022 companion report (PDF) on the Shared Health Priorities page.

Prior to July 2025, CIHI released the results in the Your Health System web tool, which has now been decommissioned.

  1. How can you support us?

We encourage you to share the surveys with your networks and complete the surveys yourself. The Early Intervention and Navigationsurveys each take 10 minutes to complete.

Help us spread the word to your community! Your support will help decision-makers implement strategies that can address challenges in or barriers to accessing mental health and substance use (MHSU) services.

We have a variety of promotional materials that we recommend sharing with your networks to increase survey engagement:

  1. Who do I contact if I have questions or concerns?

If you have any questions about these surveys, please email hspspecialprojects@cihi.ca. 

Footnote

i.

Back to Footnote i in text

The federal government agreed to a separate arrangement with Quebec, distinct from A Common Statement of Principles on Shared Health Priorities.