Canadians’ Perspectives on Digital Health Privacy

Understanding Canadians’ attitudes, utilization, perceptions and expectations around digital health privacy

About the Survey

This page presents the main results from the What Canadians Think: Exploring Public Trust in a Digital Data Ecosystem survey commissioned by Canada Health Infoway in partnership with the Centre of Addictions and Mental Health (CAMH) and conducted online by Leger.

The survey questions were updated to reflect the changing digital health landscape as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. The online survey was conducted from March 8-20, 2022, with 2,010 Canadians over the age of 16. Infoway has been tracking attitudes, expectations and experiences in digital health privacy in Canada every 5 years since 2007. This study aims to update this public opinion research by further exploring Canadians’ attitudes, utilization, perceptions and expectations around digital health privacy. The results presented in this survey comply with the public opinion research standards and disclosure requirements of the Canadian Research and Insights Council (CRIC) and the global ESOMAR network.

For detailed methodology, and data presentation rules, click here

Please click here to access the full survey results report

Suggested citation: Canada Health Infoway (2024). Infoway Insights: What Canadians Think 2022 – Privacy Edition Survey: Canadians’ Perspectives on Digital Health Privacy. https://insights.infoway-inforoute.ca/digital-health-privacy-survey

Survey Topics

The research objective of the survey was to explore Canadians’ attitudes, utilization, perceptions and expectations around digital health privacy.
  • Privacy Experiences
    Health privacy is the right of individuals to control their personal health information. Privacy literacy refers to an individual’s awareness and understanding of various privacy laws and privacy rights. A privacy breach can be an intentional or unintentional collection, use or disclosure of personal health information that is not authorized.
  • Trust
    Trust, in the context of healthcare and digital health services, refers to an individual’s willingness to disclose their personal health information to another individual, organization, or service provider.
  • Virtual Care
    Virtual care is any interaction between a patient and health care provider that does not involve direct contact, and it can include video visits, telehealth, and secure messaging.
  • Use of Data Beyond Provision of Care
    Large amounts of health information are generated about Canadians and recorded in electronic databases. Outside of direct care services, electronic personal health information can be used for health research, improving healthcare performance and outcomes, resource allocation, and improving quality of healthcare services.
  • Participants Profile & Healthcare Experiences
    Participants characteristics and healthcare experiences includes information on participant demographics, perceived quality of care, healthcare utilization, and digital health use.

Data Tables

Access banner tables with breakdowns for key demographic and professional practice attributes for each question.

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