Database name:
Health Promotion Survey

Thematic Coverage:
This survey collected baseline information on current attitudes and behaviours of Canadians in regards to health, containing data on health risks, practices, and status.

Maintained by:
Special Surveys Division, Statistics Canada
Availability:
A public release version of the data files is available through the Data Liberation Initiative (DLI). Some variables are suppressed and other are aggregated to protect the anonymity of individual survey respondents. Custom tabulations are also available on a cost recovery basis.



Start Date:
1985
Release Date:
N/A - Discontinued in 1991
Frequency of collection:
Conducted in 1985 and 1990 only



Data Collection:
Sample survey of all persons 15 years of age or older living in Canada excluding residents of the Territories and full-time residents of institutions. Data was obtained from 100% Telephone interview.
Sample size:
13,792 individuals (unweighted); 20,643,379 (weighted)



Geographic coverage:
All provinces, excluding residents of the Territories and full-time residents of institutions
Lowest geographic
level collected:
Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) / Census Agglomeration (CA) and Non-CMA/CA. Prince Edward Island has no CMA and the CMAs of Montreal and Toronto were each separate strata.
Lowest geographic
level of release:
Province
Existing rural variable:
Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) / Census Agglomeration (CA) and Non-CMA/CA is coded for sampling purposes.

Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) / Census Agglomeration (CA) and Non-CMA/CA can be used as an urban / rural variable. CMA/CA and Non-CMA/CA can be used to construct a 5-level rural/urban variable. Urban core, urban fringe and rural fringe distinguish between central and peripheral urban and rural areas within a census metropolitan area (CMA) or census agglomeration (CA). Urban core is a large urban area around which a CMA or a CA is delineated. The urban core must have a population (based on the previous census) of at least 100,000 persons in the case of a CMA, or between 10,000 and 99,999 persons in the case of a CA. The urban core of a CA that has been merged with an adjacent CMA or larger CA is called the secondary urban core. Urban fringe is the urban area within a CMA or CA that is not contiguous to the urban core. It has a minimum population of 1,000 and a population density of at least 400 per square kilometre, based on the previous census counts. Rural fringe is all territory within a CMA or CA not classified as an urban core or an urban fringe. The other levels of geography in this classification are urban area (small towns) that lie outside of CMA and rural area lying outside of CMA.

Rural definitions that can be constructed from this database include (building block)*:
Rural and Small Town definition
(Census Subdivision)
Metropolitan area and census agglomeration Influenced Zones
(Census Subdivision)
OECD "rural communities" definition
(Census Consolidated Subdivision)
OECD "predominantly rural regions" definition
(Census Division)
Ehrensaft's "Beale codes"
(Census Division)
* Results for these areas of geography could conceivably be derived from postal codes if respondent confidentiality is ensured.



Data Elements:
  • Heart diseases, by factors causing heart problems, Blood pressure and cholesterol, control methods used
  • Exercises for sustenance of good health, by type
  • Smoking habits, social acceptance, restrictions and public opinions
  • Risk of sexually transmitted disease
  • Alcohol consumption, quantity, frequency and reasons for
  • Drugs and medicines, use and abuse, by type
  • Dental health
  • Health concerns for government

Notes:
There are few physical measures in this survey.

For more information, contact the Special Surveys Division, ssd@statcan.ca

This area contains documents in Portable Document Format (PDF). To view documents in PDF, you will need the Adobe Acrobat® Reader, which can be downloaded from the Adobe website.