National Study of Well-being of Legal Professionals Launched
Message from Dr. Nathalie Cadieux, principal investigator and associate professor at Université de Sherbrooke:
Dear Colleagues,
I am writing to invite you to participate in a unique research study on the mental health and well-being of legal professionals in Canada. The study has been developed by me and my research team at the Université de Sherbrooke in partnership with the Federation of Law Societies of Canada, the Canadian Bar Association and all law societies across Canada.
Legal practitioners are among those professionals most at risk of experiencing wellness issues such as stress, anxiety, and depression. In this context, our study aims to better understand and promote a healthy and sustainable practice of law in Canada. The Canadian legal community is mobilizing to improve wellness in the legal profession. However, we won’t achieve this without you.
I invite you to complete our anonymous and confidential online questionnaire. The questionnaire will take 30 to 45 minutes to complete. You can take a break at any time by closing the page, and continue later from where you left off. All we ask is that you complete all of the questions. Please note that once you have completed and submitted the questionnaire, it will be impossible to erase or change your responses.
Your participation is voluntary, but please be assured the responses you provide will be extremely important in our research into the well-being of legal professionals.
The project is governed by a rigorous research protocol and has been reviewed by the Université de Sherbrooke ethics committee. Please be assured that only members of my team and I will have access to your answers. No questions in the questionnaire will allow you to be identified. Your responses will remain anonymous and strictly confidential.
You may complete the survey in English or French.
The well-being survey is housed on the Qualtrics platform, which is compatible with all mainstream browsers. When you open the survey link, Qualtrics will place cookies on your browser to keep track of the survey session. This allows you to close the browser and later resume your session where you left off on the same device by simply clicking on the survey link (please note that this will not work if you are in private mode). There is no save button on the survey and you do not need to save your responses to return to the survey. To ensure this feature is enabled, please do not clear your cookies while you are completing the survey (e.g. in between your visits to the survey platform).
Also, once you answer the last question in the survey, your responses will be automatically submitted; you will not see a ‘submit’ button and you will not have a chance to review your answers. However, at any point before you respond to the last question, you will be able to use the “back” button to return to previous questions and change your answers if you wish. If you have any concerns or questions about completing the survey, please contact me and my research team at the Université de Sherbrooke at 819.821.8000, extension #62797 or via email.
I would like to thank you warmly for your time, and for helping us improve the practice of law from coast to coast to coast in Canada!
Prof. Nathalie Cadieux, PhD CRHA
wellnessinlaw.eg@usherbrooke.ca
Principal investigator and associate professor
Business School
Université de Sherbrooke
