Use of participatory research and photo-voice to support urban Aboriginal healthy eating

Abstract

The aim of this research was to work collaboratively with an urban Aboriginal community to understand meanings of food and food insecurity and strengthen responses to this issue. The project took place at the Wathaurong Aboriginal Cooperative in Geelong, South Eastern Australia in 2009-2010. Photo-voice research methods were used to explore meanings of food and food insecurity. This identified that food selections were influenced by family harmony, collectivism and satiation of hunger with cheap high carbohydrate and fat foods. People were also proud of their hunter-gatherer heritage and saw the Wathaurong Aboriginal Cooperative as leaders in healthy food provision. Action research cycles were used to develop responses including plates depicting healthy food portions, social cooking opportunities, development of a cooking television series and a specialised cook-book. The partnership required researchers to listen carefully to respond to needs of the Wathaurong Aboriginal Cooperative, and this meant adapting research plans to suit the local environment and community partner needs. There is potential for Aboriginal organisations to provide further leadership for healthy eating and food security through workplace food policies and partnerships with food security agencies. Use of Aboriginal nutrition knowledge to provide nutrition education may be useful in health promotion approaches.

Eating in the City: A Review of the Literature on Food Insecurity and Indigenous People Living in Urban Spaces

“…In all three countries, for those Indigenous people operating under budget constraints, healthy foods from supermarkets were often unaffordable [60,61,64,65,68,71]. In the Australian context, Foley [68] found that despite the breadth of choices in the food system, the cost of healthy food remained a barrier for many urban Indigenous households.…”

“…People were reluctant to experiment with new and different foods because they did not want to risk wasting food if it was going to be rejected by household members [69]. In particular, there was concern about the possibility of food wastage by children who rejected new foods [61].…”

“…Definitions of what constituted fast foods were not disclosed in most studies and therefore may vary across studies. Fast foods were eaten because they were considered to be more affordable and accessible than other healthier alternatives [60,61,68,71], or were easier to access in low-income neighbourhoods [71]. Brown et al [62] noted that for Indigenous people moving from reserves to urban centres, the combination of greater availability of fast foods and a faster paced life resulted in less time to cook, which led to the greater consumption of fast food.…”

“…In some studies, Indigenous people express a strong desire to eat traditional foods [63,66,71,72], including in one Canadian case study, a population of urban youth [71]. The hunter-gatherer heritage of Indigenous peoples is a source of pride [71], and some continue to practice activities such as fishing [61].…”

This Is Not a Guide to Indigenous Research Partnerships

“…Karen Adams has worked in and with Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organizations over a period of 20 years. This has involved working in community organizations with researchers and working as a researcher with community organizations, conducting research in areas such as social network analysis, child health, peer mentoring, health programme evaluation and analysis of surveillance systems (Adams & Spratling 2000Adams 2006;Adams & Walker 2006;Adams et al 2004aAdams et al , 2004bAdams et al , 2006aAdams et al , 2006bAdams et al , 2012Paasse & Adams 2011).…”