The World Mental Health-International College Student (WMH-ICS) Survey in Canada: Protocol for a Mental Health and Substance Use Trend Study

• Published in: JMIR research protocols 2022-07, Vol.11 (7), p.e35168-e35168
• Main Authors: Jones, Laura Brittany, Judkowicz, Carolina, Hudec, Kristen L, Munthali, Richard J, Prescivalli, Ana Paula, Wang, Angel Y, Munro, Lonna, Xie, Hui, Pendakur, Krishna, Rush, Brian, Gillett, James, Young, Marisa, Singh, Diana, Todorova, Antoaneta V, Auerbach, Randy P, Bruffaerts, Ronny, Gildea, Sarah Marie, McKechnie, Irene, Gadermann, Anne M, Richardson, Chris G, Sampson, Nancy A, Kessler, Ronald C, Vigo, Daniel Vicente
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Alcohol use; Anxiety; Anxiety disorders; College students; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; Drug use; Ethics; Feedback; Health services; Learning; Medical research; Mental depression; Mental disorders; Mental health; Multimedia; Narcotics; Pandemics; Polls & surveys; Protocol; Public health; Research methodology; Substance abuse treatment; Suicides & suicide attempts; University students
• ISSN: 1929-0748; 1929-0748
• DOI: 10.2196/35168

The World Health Organization (WHO) World Mental Health-International College Student (WMH-ICS) initiative aims to screen for mental health and substance use problems among post-secondary students on a global scale as well as to develop and evaluate evidence-based preventive and ameliorative interventions for this population. This protocol paper presents the Canadian version of the WMH-ICS survey, detailing the adapted survey instrument, the unique weekly cross-sectional administration, the multi-tiered recruitment strategy, and the associated risk mitigation protocols. This paper aims to provide a methodological resource for researchers conducting cross-national comparisons of WMH-ICS data, as well as to serve as a useful guide for those interested in replicating the outlined cross-sectional methodology to better understand how mental health and substance use vary over time among university students. The online survey is based on the WMH-ICS survey instrument, modified to the Canadian context by the addition of questions pertaining to Canadian-based guidelines and the translation of the survey to Canadian French. The survey is administered through the Qualtrics survey platform and is sent to an independent stratified random sample of 350 students per site weekly, followed by two reminder emails. Upon survey closure every week, a random subsample of 70 non-responders are followed up with via phone or through a personal email in an effort to decrease non-responder bias. The survey is accompanied by an extensive risk mitigation protocol that stratifies respondents by level of need and provides tailored service recommendations, including a facilitated expedited appointment to student counselling services for those at increased risk of suicide. Anticipated sample size is approximately 5,500 students per site per year. In February 2020, the Canadian survey was deployed at the University of British Columbia. This was followed by deployment at Simon Fraser University (November 2020), McMaster University (January 2021), and University of Toronto (January 2022). Data collection at all four sites is ongoing. As of May 6th 2022, 29,503 responses have been collected. Based on an international collaboration, the Canadian version of the WMH-ICS survey incorporates a novel methodological approach centered on the weekly administration of a comprehensive cross-sectional survey to independent stratified random samples of university students. After 27 months of consecutive s