10 research outputs found
Urban Reality of Type 2 Diabetes among First Nations of Eastern Ontario: Western Science and Indigenous Perceptions
No full textThis paper presents an anthropological investigation of perception and management of Type 2 Diabetes among First Nations people in an Eastern Ontario urban setting. Applying the concept of structural violence and based on the semi-structured interviews conducted with urban First Nations people and health care professionals, findings of this study reflect that diabetes is entangled in a complex web of social and cultural circumstances that make the coping and management of this disease very challenging for today's First Nations people. Results also document the shared social, cultural and historical circumstances which have contributed to the emergence of diabetes among First Nations people. Diabetes in this regard can be viewed as a reflection of economic and social conditions, but also low self-esteem and self-worth arising from a colonial past. These perspectives have repercussions for reaction to diabetes diagnosis and coping strategies around diet, physical activity and medication. Existing levels of diabetes management strategies, including treatment, support and education meet the urban First Nation peoples' need to some extent. The paper concludes with the recommendations for development of future health and social programmes that engage stakeholders and pay considerable attention to their strengths and needs
Diversity, Disparity and Diabetes: Voices of Urban First Nations and Métis People, Health Service Providers and Policy Makers
No full textWhile previous health research with Aboriginal populations focused almost exclusively on Aboriginal Peoples of First Nations descent living on reserves or in isolated rural communities in Canada, this study focusing on diabetes aimed to engage Aboriginal Peoples of First Nations and Métis descent living in an urban Ontario setting. Type 2 diabetes mellitus is a progressive metabolic disorder that affects Aboriginal Peoples of Métis and First Nations descent disproportionately compared to the rest of the Canadian population. To understand this disparity in diabetes incidence and to address issues with existing diabetes prevention and management strategies, this study: a) explores the perceptions surrounding Type 2 diabetes and its prevention from First Nations and Métis community people and health service providers and policy makers; and b) informs the existing diabetes prevention, management and care strategies in light of these perceived understandings. Primary data was collected through 40 in-depth one-on-one narrative interviews with First Nations and Métis people, health service providers and policy makers. Thematic codes that emerged through the narrative analysis of this data revealed that to fully understand the social determinants of diabetes in an urban First Nations and Métis people’s context required the application of intersectionality theory, since production of First Nations and Métis diabetes is socially determined and deeply intersectional. By combining the concepts of the social determinants of health and intersectional approaches, narrative analysis of the primary data revealed that diversities in socio-economic, cultural, legal and spatial contexts determine First Nations and Métis people’s life choices and have a strong bearing on their health outcomes. First Nations and Métis participants’ narratives revealed that dimensions of marginalization were reflected not only through inadequate material resources, but also through intersections of multiple factors such as colonial legacies, stereotyping, legal statuses, and the pan-Aboriginal nature of government policies and services. First Nations and Métis community members indicated that preventive programming aimed at avoiding or managing diabetes should be grounded in balancing and restoring the positive aspects of physical, mental, spiritual and emotional health and should also balance their diverse needs, lived realities, and social circumstances. The views of health service providers and policy makers captured in this thesis tended to reflect an understanding of diabetes causation grounded in both biomedical and intersecting social determinants of health. At the pragmatic level, however, the solution to this health issue presented by health service providers and policy makers addresses only the measurable individualistic biomedical risk factors of diabetes. Policy makers also discussed the need for developing qualitative indicators of the success of presently implemented health programs.
Overall, the results of this study indicated that effective diabetes prevention and management strategies for urban First Nations and Métis people must recognize and address the diversities in their historical, socio-economic, spatial and legal contexts as well as their related entitlement to health services. A comprehensive diabetes prevention strategy should target the social determinants of health that are specific to urban First Nations and Métis people and must build on community strengths
Diversity, Disparity and Diabetes: Voices of Urban First Nations and Métis People, Health Service Providers and Policy Makers
No full textWhile previous health research with Aboriginal populations focused almost exclusively on Aboriginal Peoples of First Nations descent living on reserves or in isolated rural communities in Canada, this study focusing on diabetes aimed to engage Aboriginal Peoples of First Nations and Métis descent living in an urban Ontario setting. Type 2 diabetes mellitus is a progressive metabolic disorder that affects Aboriginal Peoples of Métis and First Nations descent disproportionately compared to the rest of the Canadian population. To understand this disparity in diabetes incidence and to address issues with existing diabetes prevention and management strategies, this study: a) explores the perceptions surrounding Type 2 diabetes and its prevention from First Nations and Métis community people and health service providers and policy makers; and b) informs the existing diabetes prevention, management and care strategies in light of these perceived understandings. Primary data was collected through 40 in-depth one-on-one narrative interviews with First Nations and Métis people, health service providers and policy makers. Thematic codes that emerged through the narrative analysis of this data revealed that to fully understand the social determinants of diabetes in an urban First Nations and Métis people’s context required the application of intersectionality theory, since production of First Nations and Métis diabetes is socially determined and deeply intersectional. By combining the concepts of the social determinants of health and intersectional approaches, narrative analysis of the primary data revealed that diversities in socio-economic, cultural, legal and spatial contexts determine First Nations and Métis people’s life choices and have a strong bearing on their health outcomes. First Nations and Métis participants’ narratives revealed that dimensions of marginalization were reflected not only through inadequate material resources, but also through intersections of multiple factors such as colonial legacies, stereotyping, legal statuses, and the pan-Aboriginal nature of government policies and services. First Nations and Métis community members indicated that preventive programming aimed at avoiding or managing diabetes should be grounded in balancing and restoring the positive aspects of physical, mental, spiritual and emotional health and should also balance their diverse needs, lived realities, and social circumstances. The views of health service providers and policy makers captured in this thesis tended to reflect an understanding of diabetes causation grounded in both biomedical and intersecting social determinants of health. At the pragmatic level, however, the solution to this health issue presented by health service providers and policy makers addresses only the measurable individualistic biomedical risk factors of diabetes. Policy makers also discussed the need for developing qualitative indicators of the success of presently implemented health programs.
Overall, the results of this study indicated that effective diabetes prevention and management strategies for urban First Nations and Métis people must recognize and address the diversities in their historical, socio-economic, spatial and legal contexts as well as their related entitlement to health services. A comprehensive diabetes prevention strategy should target the social determinants of health that are specific to urban First Nations and Métis people and must build on community strengths
Antecedents and social consequences of Type 2 Diabetes among urban First Nations people, especially women, of Eastern Ontario: Western science and indigenous perceptions
No full textInequities in Diabetes Outcomes among Urban First Nation and Métis Communities: Can Addressing Diversities in Preventive Services Make a Difference?
No full textThis article primarily aims to demonstrate how diversity is reflected among urban Aboriginal peoples in Canada. Secondly, it uncovers if and how preventive health services in the province of Ontario, Canada are responsive to this diversity. Data for this study were gathered from a review of literature on culturally appropriate health service delivery to Aboriginal peoples in Canada and a qualitative exploratory study conducted with urban First Nation and Métis people, and health service providers and policy makers. The findings from review of literature and the exploratory study indicated that the nature of Aboriginal diversity and its trends are complex. From the document review, we can comprehend that socio-economic disparities among First Nations and Métis, compared to non-Aboriginal people, are reducing slowly; however, evidence from the exploratory study suggested otherwise and indicated that there is also a strong need for First Nation and Métis families to overcome barriers in order to improve their quality of live in urban Ontario, Canada. It is evident that health services for urban First Nation and Métis people cannot address existing health inequities by simplistic application of pan-Aboriginal strategies in preventive services. Initiatives for urban First Nation and Métis people require strategies that are targeted at the unique and distinct needs of First Nation and Métis residents regardless of their legal status, cultural pluralities, socio-economic backgrounds, and place of residence in cities
Type 2 Diabetes among Aboriginal People in Canada: A Focus on Direct and Associated Risk Factors
No full textAbstract The need for determining Aboriginal population-specific risk factors of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus has become increasingly urgent as the incidence and prevalence rates are increasing rapidly and as the need for prevention of diabetes in this population have become a necessity. This is a review of scientific literature that was conducted using PubMed and Medline databases which identified 55 relevant articles. A number of factors including lifestyle, ethnicity, access to health care, and genetic predisposition were identified as putative risk factors of this metabolic disorder. Initial results indicate a number of other risk factors of interest, such as age, Body Mass Index (BMI), Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (GDM), Hypertriglyceridemic Waist (HTGW) and HNF1A a G319S variant and Metabolic Syndrome (MetS). We have categorized these and other risk factors as modifiable, intermediate, and nonmodifiable risk factors; and each of these factors are further subdivided into direct and indirect factors. We will compare these risk factors with those identified by Aboriginal peoples and evaluate for concordance or discordance through focus-group consultations with Aboriginal peoples in our future study. This report describes the role of risk factors acting alone o
Examining the Relationship between Attachment Styles and Resilience Levels among Aboriginal Adolescents in Canada
No full text The history of colonization in Canada has a traumatic intergenerational impact on young Aboriginal people's health, which is evidenced by the wide health disparities (Adelson, 2005; Health Council of Canada, 2012). However, extant research shows that, through resilience, many Aboriginal adolescents overcome adverse situations and develop into healthy adults (Andersson & Ledogar, 2008). Knowledge of the ways and extent to which Aboriginal youth seek support to cope with stressful events may be improved by examining the distribution of attachment styles and their relationship with resilience. The data (n = 136) used for this study were obtained from the British Columbia Adolescent Substance Use Survey. Findings indicate resiliency was significantly associated with attachment style (p < .01). The study findings provide support for tailoring resilience mental health promotion and intervention resources according to attachment style to foster long-term engagement in programming that helps Aboriginal youth live a healthy and holistically balanced life. </jats:p
Insults, threats and other impolite utterances in British TV series Emmerdale
No full textThis paper examines how Jonathan Culpeper’s theoretical framework on impoliteness, based on the concept of face and face wants and Brown and Levinson’s previous politeness framework, can be applied to analysing fictional discourse in a TV soap opera.
The research material consists of 21 episodes of Emmerdale aired originally on the British ITV channel between 26 June and 13 November 2018 and transcribed by the author of this thesis. Emmerdale was selected as the subject because this long-running series is very popular in the United Kingdom and it is a typical example of drama or soap opera which is primarily based on discourse between the characters. The use of impoliteness is examined in the interactions of three selected characters that often use impolite or even insulting language. The data consists of face-to-face discourse (dyads) between the main characters and other characters in the series. The dyads are classified as close or distant relationships depending on whether the other interactant is a friend or family member, or an outsider.
The method is quantitative as well as qualitative. In addition to sarcasm, six types of impoliteness are selected as focus areas (insult, condescension, criticism, threat, silencer, dismissal). The focus is on the linguistic form of utterances, and non-verbal and paralinguistic features are largely excluded. In addition to calculating the occurrence of the mentioned types of impoliteness in the dialogues, it is assessed whether there are differences in the use of impolite utterances between the selected characters or between close and distant relationships.
The results show that in terms of the percentage of impolite utterances, the analysed characters can be considered equally impolite and all characters were more impolite in distant than in close relationships. One of the characters was notably more impolite in close relationships than the other two. There were also some differences between the types of impoliteness the characters used to express impoliteness
Specific loss of Toll-like receptor 2 on bone marrow derived cells decreases atherosclerosis in LDL receptor null mice*The senior author, Stewart C. Whitman, passed away on 19 February 2010. The manuscript has been communicated by Ross W. Milne (e-mail: [email protected]) and Yves L. Marcel (e-mail: [email protected]), University of Ottawa Heart Institute, 40 Ruskin Street, Ottawa, ON K1Y 4W7, Canada.
No full text Innate immunity and, notably, Toll-like receptors (TLR), have an important role in atherogenesis. We have tested the hypothesis that the selective loss of TLR-2 by cells of bone marrow (BM) origin will protect low-density receptor-deficient (Ldlr −/−) mice from both early- and late-stage atherosclerosis. BM cells from Tlr2+/+ and Tlr2−/− littermates were used to reconstitute lethally irradiated Ldlr−/− mice. Following a recovery period, mice were placed either on a diet containing 21% saturated fat – 0.15% cholesterol for 8 weeks to study early-stage atherosclerosis, or on a diet richer in cholesterol (1.5%) for 16 weeks to study late-stage atherosclerosis. Donor cell Tlr2 genotype did not alter serum cholesterol levels or lipoprotein profiles in recipient animals. After 8 weeks on the 0.15% cholesterol diet, deficiency of TLR-2 expression on cells of BM origin reduced atherosclerosis in the aortic root and the aortic arch in both genders of mice. In contrast, the BM recipients who received the 1.5% cholesterol diet for 16 weeks showed much larger lesions in the aortic root, and TLR-2 deficiency in BM cells failed to provide protection. Thus, TLR-2 expression in BM-derived cells contributes primarily to early stage atherosclerosis. </jats:p
Revisiting our history : Black-Asian tropes in African American literature and culture 1980s to the present
No full textThis dissertation establishes a space to explore Black-Asian tropes in African American literature written since the 1980s. I examine African American literary works that feature Black-Asian relations, encounters, and alliances. I argue that a distinct kind of discourse is occurring when African American literature feature Black-Asian tropes; it is a discussion that decenters and has the potential to disrupt common debates of Black-White readings of American literature, in general. I start my analysis with the 1980s because I am interested in AfroAsian motifs in Contemporary African American literature. In 1984, Velina Hasu Houston\u2019s drama, American Dreams, was performed on a off-Broadway stage by the Negro Ensemble Company, and featured an African American-Japanese couple coming home to the husband\u2019s non-receptive relatives in Harlem, New York. In 1988, Octavia Butler\u2019s Adulthood Rites was published and depicted a Black-Chinese half-human, half-alien being trying to understand his alterity. In 1993, Ishmael Reed\u2019s Japanese By Spring was published and illustrated how an African American college professor attempts to politically align himself with a Japanese college president in the hopes of obtaining tenure at a predominantly White college. In the 2000s, Jacqueline A. Sue\u2019s Cornbread and Dim Sum: A Heart Glow Romance (2004) and Angela Weaver\u2019s No Ordinary Love (2009) featured romantic relationships between African American women and Chinese men. The core of my analysis is to interpret the shared experiences between African Americans and two Asian American groups, Japanese and Chinese. Each author\u2019s literary imagination seeks to call into existence a Black-Asian presence. History, law, and some social science help explain the relationships represented in each text. In each chapter, I discuss forgotten histories, such as the impact of Japanese and Chinese emigrants on the American labor force of the 1800s; the relocation of American soldiers to Kansas due to segregation laws in other parts of the United States during the 1950s; African American supporters of the Pro-Japan movements in the 1930s; and the effect of American racial laws on interracial couples prior to the US Supreme Court ruling on Loving vs. Virginia of 1967. These historical references are included in literature across genres, including drama, science fiction, satire, and romance, and cover topics on colorism, multiethnic identity, and interracial relationships. Furthermore, in this study, I attempt to address a popular cultural term, Blasian, that encapsulates contemporary experiences of African and Asian Americans in the United States. By the end of the dissertation, I define and discuss what Blasian Narratives are and create a literary and cultural niche for exploring more Blasian experiences.Thesis (Ph. D.)--Michigan State University. English, 2016Includes bibliographical references (pages 158-163
