The New Brunswick Student
Wellness Survey (NBSWS) began in 2006-2007 for grades 6-12 students, and was
repeated in 2009-2010, 2012-2013 and 2015-2016. Part of the NB Wellness Strategy, NBSWS is a provincial initiative of the
Department of Social Development’s Wellness Branch, in co-operation with the Department
of Education and Early Childhood Development. Data collection, data analysis
and knowledge transfer is led by the New Brunswick Health Council (NBHC). The purpose of the survey is to examine the
health and wellness attitudes and behaviours of students. Students will be asked questions about their wellness behaviours such as
their eating habits, physical activity, bullying, tobacco use, and how
connected they feel to their school. Students in grades 7-12 will also be asked
questions on sex, alcohol and drug use.
This year, the survey coincides with the Canadian Student Tobacco, Alcohol and Drugs
Survey (CSTADS). CSTADS is a
national survey sponsored by Health Canada and administered every two years to
students in grades 7 to 12 in participating provinces. To minimize the impact
of surveys for students, the CSTADS will be incorporated into the NBSWS. This
means that 1 out of every 9 students between grades 7 and 12 will be randomly
selected to complete the CSTADS instead of the NBSWS.
By taking the time to complete this
survey, students can contribute to their school’s improvement plans and student
wellness activities. On Wednesday, February 27th, 2019, our school
will be participating in this survey, as we aim to improve the health and
wellness of children in our community. If you would like more information on
this survey, please call the New Brunswick Health Council at 1-877-225-2521 or
visit their website at www.nbhc.ca.
For more information on the CSTADS, please visit their website at www.cstads.ca.
Participation by
students at the time of survey administration will be voluntary and anonymous. The
student’s name or identification number will not appear on the completed
questionnaire. All student answers will be grouped together when results are
reported, which means that information is never released in a manner that could
be used to disclose a student’s identity.
For
the NBSWS, survey results will only be reported at the school, district or
provincial level, or by group such as grade or sex. A database containing all
student responses will be stored at the NBHC. This database will have
identifiers such as age, sex, school and grade. There will be no student name,
address or identification number in this database. Only a select number of NBHC
staff will have access to this database. Questionnaires will be destroyed one
year after the completion of the survey year, and the database will be held
indefinitely for trending purposes.
For the CSTADS, national and provincial
results will be reported by group (e.g., grade, sex, province), similar to the
reporting of CSTADS 2016/2017 (https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/canadian-student-tobacco-alcohol-drugs-survey/2016-2017-summary.html).
Questionnaires will be destroyed two years after the completion of the survey
year. Data with identifiers such as student age and school postal code
will be stored at University of Waterloo and only university research staff
will have access to it. Anonymized data will be accessible to federal and
provincial governments and researchers across Canada. This data may be held
indefinitely.
Prior to the date of the survey, parents who do not
want their child to participate can call the New Brunswick Health Council at
1-877-225-2521 and must provide the school name, student name, home room
teacher’s name and grade.