Canadian Health Survey on Seniors, 2019-2020

<p>The Canadian Health Survey on Seniors (CHSS) is a cross-sectional survey that collected information related to health status, health care services, supports, as well as social and health determinants for the Canadian population aged 65 and over. The survey is a supplement to the Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS). The CHSS includes 15 minutes of content asked at the end of the CCHS to respondents aged 65 and over. The surveys are designed to flow seamlessly from the CCHS into the CHSS.</p>

The objectives of the Canadian Health Survey on Seniors are:
<ol>
<li>To better understand what contributes to healthy aging by collecting data on the health and well-being of seniors, including their use of health care services and supports, as well as social, demographic, geographic and economic determinants.</li>
<li>To produce estimates on the health of seniors aged 65 and over at the provincial level, and for seniors aged 85 and over at the national level.</li>
<li>To produce a cross-sectional dataset on the health of seniors that permits analysis on a range of research questions and surveillance activities.</li>
<li>To evaluate changes on certain aspects of health from the CCHS - Healthy Aging (HA), 2008/2009.</li>
</ol>

<p>Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, collection was paused from mid-March until September, 2020. When collection resumed in September, a new module was added to the CCHS with content related to the pandemic: changes in mental health, precautions taken to protect against COVID-19, experiences of symptoms, getting tested for COVID, and willingness to get a vaccine. Important note: the responses for the COV module for the collection periods of September to December have been included on the 2020 annual file but they are not included in the 2019/2020 data file.</p>