The Canadian Nova Scotia Health Survey

Site: https://medicine.dal.ca/departments/department-sites/community-health/research/hdns/health-databases/archive.html

Updated 5/30/22

Country: Canada

Study design: Observational cohort with repeated measurements over time

Participant age range: Adults aged 50 and over

Number of participants at baseline: 1,739

Year of initial enrollment: 1995

Number of data collection waves: 9; data collection ongoing

Measures of well-being: 

  • Optimism
  • Positive affect

Quantity of well-being measures (e.g., number of constructs, number of times well-being was assessed): Low

Quality of well-being measures (e.g., were measures reliable and valid in the study population): High

Measures of physical health: 

  • Self-rated / questionnaire-based health
  • Self-report medical history or medication use
  • Measured anthropometrics, e.g., weight
  • Biomarkers
  • Adjudicated health outcomes

Access Information:

Interested researchers should contact Health Data Nova Scotia, Dalhousie University (HDNS@dal.ca) for more information.

Notable citation:

Davidson K, Mostofsky E, & Whang W. (2010). Don’t worry, be happy: positive affect and reduced 10-year incident coronary heart disease: the Canadian Nova Scotia Health Survey. European heart journal, 31(9), 1065-1070.