HEAL (HEALthy Eating and Supportive Environments) Diet and Activity Study FAQs
Here you will find some frequently asked questions related to the Diet and Activity study. It is also called the HEAL study because the study is being partly supported by funding for a project called the HEALthy Eating and Supportive Environments study.
Please see the sections below for common general issues and survey-specific information.
If you are trying to complete one of your surveys and run into issues during business hours (Monday to Friday 8:30am-4:00pm):
- Call us at 1-877-919-9292. Calling us is the fastest and easiest way to reach us during business hours.
- Email us at tomorrow@cancercarealberta.ca. Please put into the subject line “Help now” which will let us know you are within the window for completing your survey so we can try to respond to you as soon as possible.
- All
- General Common Issues
- ASA24 (Dietary survey)
- ACT24 (Activity survey)
- HEAL Study
- General FAQ about the Diet and Activity Surveys
- General Technical and Registration Questions
- General FAQ about participating in ATP
Everything you are able to provide is valuable even if it not perfect.
- Missed one of the surveys? Don’t worry – we are asking you to do these a few times over the year, so you can wait for your next invitation.
- One of the tools just really not working for you? That’s fine – focus on doing the other one. It all helps!
The ASA24 diet survey will ask you to report what you ate and drank over the previous day. This is the survey you will be asked to complete a few times over the year. It will ask you to report all foods and drinks for your meals and snacks, as well as any supplements (e.g., vitamins), as well as what time you ate/drank, where you consumed them (e.g., home, restaurant), and a few other questions. The survey may also ask you a few extra questions to help prompt reporting of things people sometimes forget, like adding toppings to sandwiches and salads.
Click the link below to go to a demo version of the survey if you’d like to see what it is like:
ASA24 Demo – when you get to the demo site, please click on the “Launch Demo ASA24-Canada-2018” button.
Please note that all data entered into this test survey will be deleted.
There are many foods/drinks included in the diet survey (ASA24) – but unfortunately it doesn’t include everything.
First, if the words you’re using to search for a food are too specific, you may not be able to find it. So as a first step, you could try using a less detailed search term. For example, if you want to report “barbequed chicken sandwich,” try searching for “chicken sandwich” and review the options that come up.
Items that people commonly cannot find include gluten-free items and some culturally specific foods – unfortunately, these items are not available in the survey version we are using. We know this can be frustrating. Please try to find something close to what you are looking for. Completion is better than perfection – a food that is somewhat close to what you ate will still give us more information than not including the food at all.
If you still can’t find what you’re looking for that’s close to the item you ate/drank, you can either:
- choose “Add a recipe” on the search results page, which will allow you to put in ingredients for your food item (i.e. build a recipe)
- or
- choose “I can’t find what I’m looking for” at the bottom of the search results page, which will bring up an open text box and you can write in your item
The ASA24 tool is designed to enter one food or drink item at a time (e.g. bagel), not all items in your meal (e.g. bagel, eggs, coffee).
To add food items:
- Search for one item at a time using 1-2 keywords;
- Look at the list of possible options below and select the closest match;
- Your selected food item will be added to your meal;
- Repeat the process to add remaining items to your meal.
Yes, if you start a survey, you can save your progress and return to it by clicking on the same link in your ATP Participant Portal.
However, once you start your 24-hour recall you have until 8:00am the next day to complete it. After that, it will reset and you will have to start a new record. Therefore, we highly recommend that you start the survey when you are confident you can complete it in one sitting.
If you click on the ASA24 link in your ATP Participant Portal and can’t access the ASA24, we encourage you to try to log-in on a different device if you have one. If this still doesn’t work, please contact us.
To fully submit the ASA24, once you have entered all your food items, you must continue through the remaining prompts, including the “Add Details” section. This step is required to ensure all necessary information is captured.
The survey is considered complete after you complete the final question “How usual was the amount you reported?”
After completing this and clicking “Next”, you will be brought to a page that says “Thank you for your participation. You are logged out…”. Your survey is successfully submitted and received on our end.
It may take up to 5 minutes for the survey to appear in the “Completed Surveys” section of the ATP Participant Portal but you will be able to see that it is submitted and received there.
You can try using the Help functions built into the tool. See the screenshot below for where to find the Help button in the ASA24 (dietary survey):
Or – contact us by phone (1-877-919-9292; Monday to Friday, 8:30am – 4:00pm) or by email (tomorrow@cancercarealberta.ca).
The ACT24 activity survey will ask you to report what activities you did over the previous day. This is the other survey you will be asked to complete a few times over the year (in addition to the diet one described above). It will ask you to choose activities that reflect what you did for all hours of your day, such as sleeping, getting ready in the morning, getting to work, and so on. It will ask you some additional questions depending on the activity, such as how much of the activity was spent sitting vs. standing, and the level of exertion (e.g., for activities like sports).
There are many activities in the activity survey (ACT24) – but it doesn’t include everything.
If you can’t find the activity you are looking for, choose the “Other” option located at the bottom of the activity options list within the category – this will open a text box and you can describe your activity as well as add the relevant details (i.e. when you started and stopped and the level of activity/exertion).
Yes, if you start a survey, you can save your progress and return to it by clicking on the same link in your ATP Participant Portal.
However, once you start your 24-hour recall you have until 8:00am the next day to complete it. After that, it will reset and you will have to start a new record. Therefore, we highly recommend that you start the survey when you are confident you can complete it in one sitting.
You will need to account for all 24 hours.
- Gaps in your timeline will be flagged in red. Even small gaps need to be addressed. You can also say “I do not wish to correct” at the end to keep them as is.
- Overlapping activities will be flagged. If two activities overlap, adjust the timing so one ends before the next begins, or report only the main activity. You can also say “I do not wish to correct” at the end to keep them as is.
If you experience technical difficulties that are preventing you from logging in and accessing the ACT24, we encourage you to try to log-in on a different device if you have one. If this still doesn’t work, please contact us.
The survey works best on a desktop or laptop computer. If you don’t have access to one and the survey is challenging on your iPad/tablet or iPhone/mobile phone, you can skip the ACT24 survey.
To complete the ACT24, you must enter activities for your full 24-hour timeline. The final activity you add must be “Sleeping or in bed.” After adding this, you will be asked a few follow-up questions about your sleep. Please note that ACT24 cannot be submitted without this final entry.
Once all required steps are complete, a green “Submit” button will appear. Click “Submit” to officially complete your ACT24.
It may take up to 5 minutes for the survey to appear in the “Completed Surveys” section of the ATP Participant Portal but you will be able to see that it is submitted and received there.
You can try using the Help functions built into the tools. See the screenshot below for where to find the Help button in the ACT24 (activity survey):
The HEAL study is designed to understand how what we eat is influenced by our “food environment”, like whether healthy foods are accessible within our communities, and other factors like neighbourhood walkability, physical activity, and financial security. The detailed information on diet and physical activity will also be used in the future by other researchers to investigate associations with health outcomes like cancer and chronic disease.
What we eat and drink and how we spend our day influence our health and wellness. Many factors influence what we eat/drink and do, including where we live, our access to places to buy food and do activities, our responsibilities (e.g., work, volunteering, caregiving) and our preferences.
The HEAL study is collecting information to better understand how your local environment, such as the types of food outlets close to you and how walkable your neighbourhood is, can affect your eating and activity habits. This information will help towns, cities, planners and public health professionals better understand how environments can be designed to support health and wellness in Canada.
At the end of the study, you will also receive a personal summary report of the diet and activity information you provided.
The study launched in Nov 2025. Participants will be invited to start the study on a rolling basis, from Fall 2025 to Fall 2026/early 2027. Data collection from each participant is approximately one year, so the time required for data collection from all participants is expected to take place from 2025 to 2027.
Participants will be invited to start the study at different times over the course of a year. If you haven’t been contacted yet, don’t worry, your invitation is probably on its way. If you’re not sure if we have the correct email address for you, please email us at tomorrow@cancercarealberta.ca or call us at our toll-free number 1-877-919-9292; our call centre hours are Monday through Friday, 8:30am-4:00pm MST.
For the HEAL study specifically, the data will be used to help us understand how features of the “food environment”, like stores selling healthy foods in your community, impact what you eat, and how features of the “built environment”, such as parks and transit options in your neighbourhood, impact what activities you do. In the future, the data will be available to be used by many different researchers across Canada to explore relationships between diet and activity and health outcomes like chronic disease and cancer, such as:
- How does the food environment differ across Alberta, and across Canada?
- What nutrients and foods help prevent cancer?
- How does sleep impact cancer risk?
- How much and what type of movement reduces cancer risk?
- In whom do certain activities or eating patterns have the most health benefits?
Like all data we collect from you, these data will be held by ATP. CanPath will also have a de-identified copy – meaning, a copy that doesn’t contain your personal information, such as your name, date of birth and address. Researchers who wish to access the data will apply through the standard processes at ATP and CanPath. Only approved investigators will have access to the data.
ATP will hold the primary copy of your data. For those who have consented to sharing data with CanPath, we will send CanPath a de-identified or anonymous copy of the data (i.e. it will not including any personal information about you like your name or address). ATP and CanPath have built a solid data governance, protection, and security foundation. We have stringent application review processes for researchers looking to access and use the data and are committed to protecting participant data and privacy.
Summaries of the study’s results will be shared by ATP, the other regional cohorts in CanPath, and CanPath through their websites, newsletters, publications, presentations, and social media. At the end of the study, you will receive a personalized report summarizing the diet and activity information you provided.
We recognize not everyone prefers online participation. We are using online surveys for this study because it makes data collection faster, cheaper and more accurate. Unfortunately, there isn’t an option to participate in the HEAL study other than online.
If you tried to sign up for an Alberta.ca account and our ATP Participant Portal before and got frustrated, we get it. The online sign-up process has improved over the last few years and is more user-friendly now, so we encourage you to try our online instructions again.
Also, we are here and happy to help you! To reach out, please email us at tomorrow@cancercarealberta.ca or call us at our toll free number 1-877-919-9292. Our call centre hours are Monday through Friday, 8:30am to 4:00pm.
Your diet and daily activities can vary day to day and over the course of the year. There are also some things that we eat and do infrequently or seasonally, such as having barbecues and working in the garden in the summer or skiing and shovelling snow in the winter. By asking you to report what you eat and drink and your activities at different times and in different ways, we can capture various types of information and get a more complete picture of your diet and the activities you engage in.
Think of it like blood pressure: one reading tells you little, multiple readings show your true pattern.
We know there are many surveys to fill out, so we’ve tried to make the process as simple as possible.
- When it’s time to participate, you’ll receive an email inviting you to log into your ATP Participant Portal.
- Once logged into the portal, you’ll find personalized links to your diet and activity surveys.
- No need to enter usernames or passwords after this – just click on the survey link, and you’ll be logged in automatically.
- You can begin entering your information right away.
- The initial health and lifestyle survey will take up to ~40 minutes.
- Each of the diet and activity surveys asking you to report what you ate/drank and your activities for the previous day will take 20-40 minutes. The time it takes will depend on how many things you have to report. The surveys will likely get easier to complete after the first one, as you get more familiar with the survey tools.
- The final set of diet and activity surveys that ask you about what you usually eat and drink and your activities over the past year will each take 45-60 minutes to complete – this is because the surveys are trying to capture a much longer timeframe, but will help fill important gaps in information that the past-day surveys might’ve missed.
Participating in this study is completely voluntary. Your participation in Alberta’s Tomorrow Project will not be affected based on whether you participate in the HEAL study. If, for any reason, you no longer wish to participate in the study, you may end your participation at any time. You can do this by notifying the ATP team. You will remain a valued participant in ATP going forward, and for the HEAL study even partial data is valuable.
If you are a registered participant of ATP, we will contact you by email to let you know when a new survey is available for you to complete. We may also reach out by SMS text message (if you’ve opted in for this) or by phone call.
Yes, if you start a survey, you can save your progress and return to it by clicking on the same link in your ATP Participant Portal. However, be aware that once you start your 24-hour recalls you have until 8:00am the next day to complete them; after that, they will close and you will have to start a new record. Therefore, we highly recommend that once you start any of the surveys, you try to complete it in one sitting.
To get solutions to real life problems, we need real data – not “perfect” data. Your unusual days are just as valuable as your usual days – this is the real-world data that is greatly needed for research! We encourage you to report your diet and activity as accurately and authentically as you can. This study is designed to account for variations in your routine. You will have the opportunity to report your diet and activities a few times over the course of the year. This will help provide a more accurate picture for your overall routine, even if you had an unusual day.
For the surveys about your previous day, don’t worry if you weren’t able to complete one in time – since we are asking you to complete these a few times over the year, you can just wait for your next invitation. If you missed one of the other surveys and want to complete it, reach out and we’ll figure out a plan. Please email us at tomorrow@cancercarealberta.ca or call us at our toll-free number 1-877-919-9292. Our call centre hours are Monday through Friday, 8:30am to 4:00pm.
If you don’t see a survey link in the notifications pane, please click on the “Surveys” menu at the top. You should be able to access the survey via a dropdown menu. If you can’t see it from here, please contact us by emailing tomorrow@cancercarealberta.ca or calling 1-877-919-9292.
If you were attempting to log-in from a work device, try a personal device instead. Some employers have strict security settings (e.g., firewalls) that restrict how users can navigate their networks and this could prevent you from accessing platforms like Alberta.ca Account or the ATP Participant Portal. A personal device likely won’t have the same setting in place.
To maintain high quality services, Alberta.ca Account does undergo regular maintenance. During the following maintenance windows, you may encounter service disruptions (all times in MST):
- Monday to Saturday, 10 pm to 10:30 pm, (22:00 to 22:30) MT
- Sunday, 7 am to 12 pm, (07:00 to 12:00) MT
- Thursday night 11 pm (23:00), to Friday 3 am (03:00) MT
- Second Sunday of the month up to 24 hours
If you experience technical difficulties, or need assistance recovering your username or password, please send an email to tomorrow@cancercarealberta.ca or call us at 1-877-919-9292. We are here to help!
If you have reached the “Submit Your PIN” webpage (see picture below), your Alberta.ca Account is not connected to the ATP Participant Portal.
To complete this, please do the following:
- Please click the blue “Send My PIN” button
- Follow the instructions to reset your account setting and have your PIN emailed to you.
- After this, you will be able to enter your PIN, click submit, and reach the ATP Participant Portal.
If you require assistance, please get in touch by emailing us at tomorrow@cancercarealberta.ca or by calling 1-877-919-9292.
In order to participate in the HEAL study, you need to be able to log into the ATP Participant Portal where the survey links are located. Through this portal, you can:
- Complete any open surveys
- Consent to new research opportunities
- Update your contact information
- Check upcoming appointments
- View certain test results
If you consented to data linkage as a part of your original enrollment in ATP, we receive updates about new cancer diagnoses directly from the Alberta Cancer Registry on an annual basis. You don’t need to report this information separately.
The diet survey (called the CDHQ-III) will ask you how often you ate or drank certain foods and drinks, and how much you usually ate/drank them.
The activity survey (called the PYTPAQ) will ask you to report the activities you engaged in (e.g., work, snowshoeing, gardening), how often and for how long you did the activities (e.g., gardening for 4h per day, 1 day per week in the summer, for 4 months), and the level of exertion (e.g., didn’t increase your heart rate, or caused your heart rate to increase a lot).
At the end of the HEAL study, you’ll receive a personalized report summarizing the diet and activity information you provided.
Otherwise, it is outside of ATP’s scope of practice to provide individual health advice to participants. For questions about your health and related advice, please consult your physician as they will be best able to make the appropriate recommendations and/or referrals.
Yes, you can, but we strongly encourage you to use a larger device. The surveys are optimized for larger devices like a desktop or laptop computer, so they work better on those versus a mobile device (like phone or tablet).
“Alberta.ca Account” is a secure online platform operated by the Government of Alberta. It offers a variety of different online services.
One of these services is to allow ATP participants to log-in securely to the ATP Participant Portal in order to participate online. Only a basic account is required to do this. None of your survey information will be accessible by or shared with the government.
Other Alberta.ca Account services (outside ATP) include purchasing park passes, applying for permits, and gaining access to a service called “MyHealth Records”, where you can view lab test results or vaccination records, and more.
“Alberta.ca Account” is used by ATP as a secure method for participants to log in to the ATP Participant Portal, provide private health information in our online surveys, and for this valuable information to be protected and kept confidential. Our online system also validates who is filling out what surveys so that when one participant completes an online survey today, this will be tied to the previous surveys that same participant has done in the past.
In order to participate online, you will have to have at least a basic Alberta.ca Account.
There are two types of Alberta.ca Accounts – A “Basic Account” and a “Verified Account”.
Either of these will work for ATP’s purposes but a basic (or unverified) account is the minimum that we require. We do not need you to take additional steps to create a verified account.
If you reach the Alberta.ca Account “Welcome,” page, you have established an active account.
For ATP’s purposes, we do not need you to create a verified account on the Alberta.ca Account webpage. A basic (or unverified) account is the minimum we require.
If you choose to take additional steps to verify your account, you will be asked to provide:
- A permanent address
- An Alberta driver’s licence or identification card.
Again, if you are at this stage, know that ATP does not require you to provide this in order to participate in our studies. You may choose to verify your account if you want to use other services available through Alberta.ca.
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