Shaping the direction of youth health

The COMPASS system is a research platform for evaluating natural experiments and generating practice-based evidence in school-based prevention. 

The COMPASS system is focused on enabling the timely and robust generation of knowledge and evidence to advance youth health, by building the capacity to integrate research, evaluation, policy, and practice within the Canadian (and international) prevention system. Learn more about COMPASS.

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News

Teens who have disposable income, live in a lower-income home or are gender diverse are more likely to use e-cigarettes, according to a new study at the University of Waterloo.

Researchers examined survey responses from more than 46,000 adolescents in 167 schools across Canada as part of the COMPASS research system at Waterloo’s School of Public Health Sciences.

Read the full UW news release here and find the complete research publication available on the COMPASS website here.

The Canadian Institutes of Heath Research has extended funding for the COMPASS study for an additional 5 years (until 2027). This extension maintains our ongoing efforts to provide schools with timely locally relevant evidence on a variety of risk factors as we have done since 2012, while also evaluating the ongoing impact that restrictions associated with the COVID-19 pandemic have on youth substance use and mental health over time.