June 16, 2021
Question:
A researcher has inquired if there an estimated release date for a CCHS 2019-2020 PUMF? I know data collection was delayed in 2020 so recognize the file’s release would likely be later than typical, but it would be great to give an estimate to the researcher.
The researcher would also like to know the following in order to determine if the 2019-2020 PUMF will be useful to them (when it is released):
Our project will focus on the question “Thinking of the most recent time you felt this way, why didn’t you get care?- Transportation issue”. The variable code for the question is UCN_010J. Will this variable be included on the 2019-2020 PUMF, specifically with data for Ontario?
We can see from the questionnaires on Statcan’s website that the question was asked in both 2019 & 2020, but is it possible to confirm whether the variable will indeed be included on the PUMF for 2019-20? The 2017-18 PUMF only included data for certain provinces for this question, and we aren’t certain of the reason for that, or if it is safe to assume Ontario data will be included again.
Answer:
The CCHS questions are organized into thematic groups called ‘modules’ which are included either in all provinces and territories on an annual basis (core content such as smoking, height weight, general health, etc.. ), in all areas for certain years (theme content such as food security, mental health care needs, suicidal thoughts, etc..), or else are included in certain provinces/territories based on a selection by the relevant ministry of health as part of the ‘optional content’ selection process. This process gives the ministries of health (and whatever extended consultation they do) the option to select up to 8 minutes of content from a bank of existing modules based on their particular data needs. The UCN content has only been offered as optional content in the past several years (2015 to 2020) with the last year being included as theme content being in 2014.
For the 2019-2020 PUMF, we only include content in a particular province/territory if the data was collected in both years in that area. For the case of UCN, here is the selection by province (O designating that it was selected and asked). The UCN variables will be included with valid answers for those provinces on the PUMF. I’m not listing the territories, even though the content was asked in Nunavut in both years. This is because we are not yet sure we’ll be able to include the territories on the next PUMF. The pandemic halted our collection from March to August 2020 and we only collected a limited sample from September to December with a very low response rate in Iqaluit (and the other capitals) only. With the lack of coverage of the full territory, at best we may be able to include the territorial capitals on the PUMF, but at worst, due to disclosure risk, the 2019-2020 CCHS PUMF will cover provinces only. Work on the PUMF will begin soon with an expected release of sometime mid-fall (though this may be subject to change – things are very busy with data production for pandemic related data right now).
