“Because you love us as much as we love you”: The role of community relationships in facilitating Indigenous engagement in healthcare

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dc.contributor.authorJohn, Jodi
dc.contributor.authorCastleden, Heather
dc.date.accessioned2025-02-20T19:40:13Z
dc.date.available2025-02-20T19:40:13Z
dc.date.issued2025
dc.description.abstractGrounded in relational worldviews and ways of being, Indigenous health on Turtle Island once thrived. However, colonization disrupted and sought to delegitimize Indigenous relationships, having devastating impacts on Indigenous health and contributing to persistent Indigenous health disparities. Making matters worse, Indigenous Peoples face barriers to engagement in mainstream Canadian healthcare, including racism and the marginalization of Indigenous relational conceptions of health and ways of caring. Using an Indigenous methodology, we explored Kanyen'kehá:ka (Mohawk) relationality between community members and community-based healthcare providers (n = 25), and how these ways of relating shaped engagement in community-based care. Our analysis identified three key themes: in Kenhté:ke (Tyendinaga) the concept of health goes beyond western definition and is broadly defined and relational; connectedness and shared experiences are foundational to Kenhté:ke identity and ways of caring; and relationships that reflect community connection foster more engagement in healthcare than otherwise in western care settings. These findings have critical implications for western norms of healthcare professional training and practice and the need to include Indigenous relational ways of caring and conceptions of health.
dc.description.reviewstatusReviewed
dc.description.scholarlevelFaculty
dc.description.sponsorshipThis research was completed with financial support from the Indigenous Mentorship Network of Ontario and a Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship. We are grateful to the Kenhtekehró:non who agreed to participate in this study, and the community advisory committee who supported our research process.
dc.identifier.citationJohn, J., & Castleden, H. (2024). “Because you love us as much as we love you”: The role of community relationships in facilitating Indigenous engagement in healthcare. Social Science & Medicine, 365, 117532. 10.1016/j.socscimed.2024.117532
dc.identifier.urihttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2024.117532
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/1828/21222
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherSocial Science & Medicine
dc.rightsCC BY-NC-ND 4.0
dc.rights.urihttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
dc.subject.departmentSchool of Public Administration
dc.title“Because you love us as much as we love you”: The role of community relationships in facilitating Indigenous engagement in healthcare
dc.typeArticle

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