Social support, material circumstance and health behaviour: Influences on health in First Nation and Inuit communities of Canada

Richmond, Chantelle; Ross, Nancy A.

doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2008.06.028

Cited by 78 publications

(63 citation statements)

References 38 publications

(46 reference statements)

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“…This finding, along with the literature [3,28–31], suggest that Indigenous and Northern youth currently utilise a range of supports outside the formal healthcare system to manage their mental health. Previous studies have found that health services are often difficult to access for Northerners and Indigenous peoples due to diverse barriers that often exist within the environmental or policy contexts of the social ecological framework, such as staffing shortages and high staff turnover [5], geography [5,32], structural racism in the healthcare system [33], and the unavailability of consistent culturally relevant and safe care [5,34].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 57%

“…Findings from this study thus corroborate past research that describe how Indigenous and Northern Canadian youth rely on intrapersonal and interpersonal supports that are not part of the healthcare system when addressing mental health challenges. These supports include connection to culture, traditional customs, and practices [30,35,36], being out on the land and connecting to the environment [7,29], using the arts to build personal resiliency and strengthen peer relationships [28,37], leaning on family and other individuals [29,31], and practising their religious faith [3]. …”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Exploring coping strategies and mental health support systems among female youth in the Northwest Territories using body mapping

Lys

2018

International Journal of Circumpolar Health

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The mental health of young women in the Northwest Territories (NWT), Canada, is a critical public health concern; however, there is a dearth of research that examines how this population manages mental health challenges. This study explores the self-identified strategies that female youth in the NWT use to cope with mental health issues. The arts-based qualitative method of body mapping and a trauma-informed, strengths-based approach grounded in social ecological theory was used to collect data during in-depth semi-structured interviews. Forty-one participants (aged 13–17 years) attended FOXY body mapping workshops in six NWT communities in 2013 then completed interviews regarding the content of their body maps. Thematic analysis was used to identify five themes related to coping strategies: grounding via nature, strength through Indigenous cultures, connection with God and Christian beliefs, expression using the arts, and relationships with social supports. These results can be used to develop culturally relevant, strengths-based, trauma informed interventions that improve coping and resiliency among Northern youth.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 57%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring coping strategies and mental health support systems among female youth in the Northwest Territories using body mapping

Lys

2018

International Journal of Circumpolar Health

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“…Another consequence of these broader changes has been significant acculturative stress among northern populations, linked to the rapid changes in livelihoods and culture, and experience of residential schools [10,12,80-83]. Many of the older respondents were born and raised in small hunting camps, resettled in Iqaluit, spent time at tuberculosis sanatoria in southern Canada in the 1950s and 60s, and now live in a modern community.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The characteristics and experience of community food program users in arctic Canada: a case study from Iqaluit, Nunavut

2012

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BackgroundCommunity food programs (CFPs), including soup kitchens and food banks, are a recent development in larger settlements in the Canadian Arctic. Our understanding of utilization of these programs is limited as food systems research has not studied the marginalised and transient populations using CFPs, constraining service planning for some of the most vulnerable community members. This paper reports on a baseline study conducted with users of CFPs in Iqaluit, Nunavut, to identify and characterize utilization and document their food security experience.MethodsOpen ended interviews and a fixed-choice survey on a census (n = 94) were conducted with of users of the food bank, soup kitchen, and friendship centre over a 1 month period, along with key informant interviews.ResultsUsers of CFPs are more likely to be Inuit, be unemployed, and have not completed high school compared to the general Iqaluit population, while also reporting high dependence on social assistance, low household income, and an absence of hunters in the household. The majority report using CFPs for over a year and on a regular basis.ConclusionsThe inability of users to obtain sufficient food must be understood in the context of socio-economic transformations that have affected Inuit society over the last half century as former semi-nomadic hunting groups were resettled into permanent settlements. The resulting livelihood changes profoundly affected how food is produced, processed, distributed, and consumed, and the socio-cultural relationships surrounding such activities. Consequences have included the rising importance of material resources for food access, the weakening of social safety mechanisms through which more vulnerable community members would have traditionally been supported, and acculturative stress. Addressing these broader challenges is essential for food policy, yet CFPs also have an essential role in providing for those who would otherwise have limited food access.

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“…Much of the literature describes CHR programs targeting the Aboriginal population [12][13][14]20,31 or the role of CHRs in improving social capital, cohesion and social support as important determinants of Aboriginal health. 2,32,33 Other studies have documented the role of CHWs in maternal health programs, 15,22 dental health for preschool children, 18 hepatitis B testing, 25 HIV/AIDS prevention, 27 community development more generally 16 and nutrition programs. 17 In addition, for research purposes, CHWs are employed to collect data from the communities they serve 15,18,22,34 or are identified as key informants regarding those communities.…”

Section: Education and Trainingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…17 In addition, for research purposes, CHWs are employed to collect data from the communities they serve 15,18,22,34 or are identified as key informants regarding those communities. 11,18,19,32,33,35 Community knowledge Community knowledge is essential to the roles of CHWs. First, community origin or in-depth knowledge of the community is necessary to build trust, respect and mutual understanding between the CHWs and the communities they serve.…”

Section: Education and Trainingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Community health workers in Canada and other high-income countries: A scoping review and research gaps

Najafizada

Bourgeault

Labonté

et al. 2015

Can J Public Health

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OBJECTIVES: Community health workers (CHWs) have been deployed to provide health-related services to their fellow community members and to guide them through often complex health systems. They help address concerns about how marginalized populations in many countries experience health inequities that are due, in part, to lack of appropriate primary health care services, possibly resulting in inappropriate use of higher-cost health services or facilities. This paper reviews studies on CHW interventions in a number of high-income countries, including Canada, to identify research gaps on CHW roles. METHODS:A scoping review using 68 sources of interventions involving CHWs was undertaken. The five-step Arksey and O'Malley model guided this review with the aim of summarizing research findings and identifying research gaps in the existing literature on CHWs in Canada (23 sources). A standardized extraction tool was employed to synthesize the literature. SYNTHESIS:We found that CHWs provide a wide range of health-related services but in a manner that, in Canada, is unrecognized and unregulated. In highincome countries, CHW interventions have contributed to health-related issues in communities and demonstrated potential to both reduce health inequity in marginalized populations and reduce the cost of medical services. CONCLUSION:CHWs are an under-recognized, and therefore underutilized, public health workforce, which has a promising capacity to reduce health inequities in marginalized populations in Canada. There is growing support to suggest that CHW roles need to be better integrated within the broader health and social services systems to enable their full potential to be realized.KEY WORDS: Community health workers; human resources; Canada La traduction du résumé se trouve à la fin de l'article.Can J Public Health 2015;106(3):e157-e164 doi: 10.17269/CJPH.106.4747C ommunity health workers (CHWs) have been deployed in most countries (whether low-, middle-or highincome) to provide health-related services to their fellow community members and to guide them through often complex health systems. They help to address concerns about how marginalized populations and communities in many countries experience health inequities that are due, in part, to lack of appropriate primary health care services, possibly resulting in inappropriate use of higher-cost health services or facilities. [1][2][3][4] The World Health Organization (WHO) defines CHWs as "members of communities where they work, selected by and answerable to the communities for their activities, supported by the health system but not necessarily a part of its organization, and have shorter training than professional workers." 5 The 2006 World Health Report identified the use of CHWs as an important strategy to address the growing shortage of health workers, particularly in low-resource settings, as well as to achieve the health-related Millennium Development Goals. 6 The key research priorities related to CHWs in these settings are to know more about their re...

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Social support, material circumstance and health behaviour: Influences on health in First Nation and Inuit communities of Canada

Cited by 78 publications

References 38 publications

Exploring coping strategies and mental health support systems among female youth in the Northwest Territories using body mapping

Exploring coping strategies and mental health support systems among female youth in the Northwest Territories using body mapping

The characteristics and experience of community food program users in arctic Canada: a case study from Iqaluit, Nunavut

Community health workers in Canada and other high-income countries: A scoping review and research gaps

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