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Elizabeth MacRae

The Voice of Maritime Women—The Unspoken Burden of Women’s Health

Introduction

The IWK Foundation is proud to have launched a first-of-its-kind regional public perception survey to better understand women’s health experiences. Crestview’s Elizabeth MacRae and the entire research team are proud partners on this project, working alongside InfusePR. The goal was to gather insights directly from women across Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island.

The survey gathered responses from a staggering 27,317 women. The results offer an unfiltered, deeply personal look at how women experience health and what it means to manage their health as a woman in the Maritimes today.

The findings are clear: meaningful change is not optional, it is urgent. With more than 70 per cent of respondents saying the current system does not meet their needs, this report offers not just data, but direction.

Methodology

Our research team conducted this survey on behalf of the IWK Foundation. Below are insights on how the research was conducted and the methodology used to gather the compelling results.

Response

The response rate indicates that the topic of the survey struck a chord with Maritime women, who invested their time and trusted the IWK Foundation with their stories. The median time to complete the survey was approximately 19 minutes overall and approximately 33 minutes for those who reached the end of the survey.

Design

This survey employed a cross-sectional online survey design to gather qualitative and quantitative data from women across the Maritimes. Data was collected via a self-administered online survey, which was optimized for completion on mobile devices to ensure broad accessibility. To cater to the region’s linguistic diversity, the survey was made available in both English and French. The survey was open between July 2 – 31, 2025.

The survey utilized a non-probability, convenience sampling method, wherein participation was voluntary and open to all individuals who accessed the survey link.

Recruitment

A comprehensive public engagement campaign was deployed to recruit participants, with a deliberate effort to engage a diverse array of communities across the Maritimes. The survey was promoted through various digital channels, including targeted advertisements on social media, the IWK Foundation’s website, associated social media platforms, and the IWK podcast, inviting widespread participation. Word of mouth also played an important role and was one of the most powerful ways the survey gained traction. This proactive engagement provided crucial insights into the nuanced approaches essential for effectively reaching and including various community groups in surveys of this kind.

Target Audience

The target audience for this survey included all women residing in the Maritime provinces of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island.

Using Statistics Canada’s 2021 census data as an indicator, the results showed under-representation from various cultural, racial, and socio-economic communities. This initial outreach has deepened the understanding of the specific engagement strategies required and will actively work with leaders from various communities to ensure even greater inclusivity and input in future work.

Recognizing the importance of diverse perspectives, throughout the data collection period, dedicated outreach was conducted to various cultural, racial, and socio-economic communities, and response metrics were monitored to encourage a broad respondent pool.

While these efforts yielded valuable participation from diverse groups, the final demographic composition of respondents predominantly represented the region’s majority demographic, and that participation from the African Nova Scotian and Maritime black community, Indigenous and immigrant women as well as individuals who identify as non-binary or other genders was also limited.

The survey, and subsequent reports adopts a Women’s + approach, encompassing individuals assigned female at birth and gender-diverse people undergoing estrogen-based hormone therapy. This inclusive framework shifts away from sex-agnostic models towards an approach that distinguishes sex and gender.


Learn more

To learn more about the IWK Foundation and the findings of the survey, visit their website.

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