Substance Use, Abuse & Treatment

Topics include cultural safety, mental health and addictions, and social inclusion and exclusion. Related Material: Building Bridges Symposium Report. Building Bridges 2: A Pathway to Cultural Safety, Relational Practice and Social Inclusion: Final Report.

Comments on strategies that may be the most effective tools to help decrease suicide and suicide attempt including community wellness and cultural competence strategies.

Describes the research process and results of a participatory project on how Indigenous girls and the female family members that care for them. Results show that flexible design that allows for intergenerational involvement can prove beneficial for both participants and for researchers.

Insights into the health, well-being and resilience of youth as it relates to sexual and injecting behaviour.

Discusses ways to change research paradigm by introducing a community based model which includes building and sustaining collaborative relations, cultural implementation of programs, and spreading research findings from a tribal perspective.

Discusses mental health concerns including loss of cultural roots, violence, drug and alcohol abuse, depression, and suicide.

Looks at the effectiveness of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's Service to Science initiative which provided training and customized evaluation technical assistance to locally-developed substance abuse prevention programs.

Looks at mortal combat over street corners, schools, and community centres as gangs vie for dominance in the illegal drug trade.

Study results show a high future cancer burden in the First-Nations on-reserve population.

Discusses differential rates of HIV incidence among Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal injection drug users, and the need for a culturally sensitive and evidence-based response to the epidemic.

Looks at issues in the context of remote locations as expressed by the women living there. Concludes with recommendations in the areas of health and social services, education, politics and leadership, justice and culture.

Program helps communities with prevention of alcohol and petrol sniffing abuse.

"Demonstrates the necessity and utility of interrogating and shifting the current FASD policy paradigm in order to strengthen the capacity of polity to promote health and social equity." Chapter from An Intersectionality-Based Policy Analysis Framework edited by Olena Hankivsky. Scroll down to page 93 to read chapter.

Evidence given by Camoose Bottle, aged 71, including an account of the taking of Treaty #7 following a deterioration in Indian life after introduction of alcohol; allocation of lands to various tribes and later loss of part of the Blood Reserve.

Report looks at the real possibility of a confrontation between Canada's Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal communities based on five determinants.

Discusses the need for Canada to adopt the United Nations guidelines for suicide prevention in an effort to reduce deaths.

For use in conjunction with Walk With Me - Pathways to Health Harm Reduction Service Delivery Model. Provides information on harm reduction strategies and how they might be applied in community settings.

Comments on federal government policy that is dismissive of public health and harm reduction approaches to drug use.

Psychology Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Calgary, 1999.

Looks at the genocide of the Indigenous population over the past 300 years in the United States. Duration: 1:03:10.

Reports Nunavut has higher rates of lung, colorectal and oral cancers from the rest of Canada and lower rates of reproductive cancers.

Draws on data from 1991 long-form census, compare cancer incidence and survival rates with those of non-Aboriginal Canadians.

Uses data from 2004-2005 Canadian Community Health Surveys and 2001 Aboriginal People's Survey for identifying demographic, socio-economic and geographic factors.

Comments on how demographic, socio-economic and geographic factors impact the health service given to Inuit compared to other Northern Canadians.

Compares prevalence of smoking, obesity, level of physical activity, fruit and vegetable consumption, and alcohol use as well as uptake of screening for breast, cervical and colorectal cancer. Uses data from 2007 and 2011 Canadian Community Health Survey.

Looks at the relationship between cannabis use in aboriginal youth and a positive identification with their CPS (Child Protection Services) caseworker.

Study is the first step in addressing community concerns about cannabis and requests for improved understanding of cannabis use and its related mental health harms.

Report studies the issues and provides several proposals for concrete action by Cape York (Australia) Indigenous people to achieve a more positive outcome.

Review of study: Risk Factors, Atherosclerosis, and Cardiovascular Disease Among Aboriginal People in Canada: The Study of Health Assessment and Risk Evaluation in Aboriginal Peoples by S. Anand, S. Yusuf, R. Jacobs, A.D. Davis, Q. Yi ... [et al.] Study shows that an epidemic of CVD can be expected unless the risk factor profile can be modified.

Description and evaluation of "Our Youth, the Voice of the Future" project which was aimed at providing self-development for at-risk teens. Sources of information include project files, Aboriginal Healing Foundation National Process Evaluation Survey, key informant interviews, and documents and data collected by community support coordinator.

Consists of an interview where he gives a description of naming ceremonies, explains the significance of "grandfathers" in Indian sprituality, and recounts several ghost stories.

Looks at loss of culture and identity resulting in increased displacement and self destructive behaviour in Innu children.

Study uses socio-demographics, drug use patterns, injections practices, sexual experiences, and HIV and HCV prevalence to compare women using drugs and in the sex trade with women who are not.

Health Care and Epidemiology Thesis (M.Sc.)--University of British Columbia, 2009.

Brief comment on a study which revealed links between intergenerational trauma and the rates of HIV and Hepatitis C in young Aboriginal people in British Columbia.

Concludes that suicide prevention and intervention programs must address historical and lifetime trauma among young people with substance dependence.

Health Care and Epidemiology Thesis (M.Sc.)--University of British Columbia, 2009.

Health Care and Epidemiology Thesis (M.Sc.)--The University of British Columbia, 2007.

A study that focuses on Indigenous female drug using sex workers in British Columbia to discuss the culture of violence and its ties to both historical and ongoing colonization.

Studied trends of assault and associated risk factors in cohort of 259 participants living in Vancouver and Prince George, British Columbia, between 2003 and 2010.

Examines the link between sexual abuse and negative health outcomes such as mental, sexual and drug-related vulnerabilities.

Discusses the variables and barriers associated with a medication-assisted treatment for First Nations, Inuit and Métis individuals using drugs.

Examines the use of mobile devices by Indigenous youth as means to obtain health support for HIV contracted due to substance abuse.

Study interpretation concluded that deaths were occurring at an alarming rate, particularly young women or those using injection drugs. Argues that these results reflect intersections of current and historical injustices, substance use and barriers to care.

Sample of 605 individuals between the ages of 14 and 30 years of age from Prince George and Vancouver, British Columbia. Those who had been taken from their biological parents were more likely to be HIV-positive, homeless, paid for sex, diagnosed and hospitalized with mental illness, self-harmed, and had thought about or attempted suicide.

Argues that prevention and treatment programs are urgently required in Vancouver and Prince George as both have elevated HIV and Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) prevalence.

Study identifies associations between high transience and sex and drug related HIV vulnerabilities.