Research Profiles - Being alive well
Urban Aboriginal people want health research that will restore the sense of balance necessary for good health.
Dr. Malcolm King
Scientific Director, CIHR Institute of Aboriginal Peoples' Health
To be in good health, to Aboriginal peoples, means considerably more than just being disease-free. It means living a balanced life.
The Anishinabek (Ojibway) have a term that encapsulates this outlook. They speak of mno bmaaadis, or "being alive well."
To be alive well requires an individual to be in balance with all four elements of life: the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual. But this balance extends beyond the individual, requiring every person to live in harmony with their families, their communities, and the natural and spiritual worlds.
When that balance is lost, good health is lost with it.
For Canada's First Nations, Métis and Inuit peoples that balance has been shaken by colonization, globalization, migration, and loss of land, language and culture. The results are now obvious: Aboriginal peoples have shorter life spans, higher child mortality rates and are more susceptible to diseases such as tuberculosis, diabetes and obesity.
This health imbalance is just as apparent for Canada's urban Aboriginal peoples who, despite living in centres with excellent health care facilities, also face the additional stresses of trying to maintain their cultural identity far from their home communities. CIHR-supported researcher Dr. Janet Smylie, for example, stresses that the high rate of infant mortality for Aboriginal people - 1.7 to four times higher than for the rest of Canadians – doesn't improve in urban areas. "Obviously, health care services alone won't solve everything," she notes.
In this month's Research Profiles we look at the work of several researchers such as Dr. Smylie who are helping urban Aboriginal peoples regain that sense of balance and live healthier lives. Drs. Smylie, Peter Menzies, Neil Andersson, Patricia Spittal and Chief Wayne Christian are committed to research that involves academics, social scientists and clinicians working in equal partnership with First Nations, Metis and Inuit peoples to identify the most pressing needs and most appropriate and workable solutions.
Their efforts should be seen not as a quick fix. Rather they are helping to create clinical interventions that address all four elements of life. This is research that looks for ways to help individuals regain their balance and reconnect with or rebuild their families and communities.
