Project Overview

This research will explore if a social media intervention developed by Aboriginal youth (specifically videos to be available through YouTube) using a participatory approach can be an effective means for encouraging smoking prevention and/or cessation amongst youth and others in Aboriginal communities. However, because it is grounded in the tenets of participatory research, the scope and potential impacts of the research extend beyond a simple, measurable research question to less tangible (but ultimately perhaps more important) grass root changes at the individual, community and population level. In this research, the process itself is considered to be as important as the actual research product in truly changing perspectives, attitudes and behaviors among participants and others, and in acting as a catalyst for changing environments and policies from the “bottom-up”.

Funding

Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Priority Announcement for First Nations, Inuit and Métis Health. $100,000 (CDN)

Project Team

Lisa Given

Dr. Given is Professor of Information Studies and Associate Dean Research (Faculty of Education) and a member of the Research Institute for Professional Practice, Learning and Education at Charles Sturt University, Australia. She serves as a member of the College of the Australian Research Council and is an Adjunct Professor in Humanities Computing, Faculty of Arts and in the Faculty of Education at the University of Alberta.

Cindy G. Jardine

Dr. Jardine’s research interests are in the multi-disciplinary area of environmental health risk communication. Her research looks at means and impediments to promoting better dialogue between stakeholders that will hopefully lead to more informed decisions on risks. This involves looking at the role of risk communication as a part of a comprehensive risk management strategy, including incorporating public perspectives into risk decision making. Knowledge translation and knowledge exchange are key considerations.

Candace Nykiforuk

Dr. Nykiforuk works with community groups across Alberta to help them to plan accessible, healthy communities. Through Dr. Nykiforuk, the School of Public Health has partnered with the City of Edmonton’s Walkable Edmonton program to work with community members in identifying walking routes and destinations in their area. Projects like this are important for the development of healthy communities.

Tracy Friedel

Tracy L. Friedel, nehiyaw-métis from the community of manitow sâkâhikan (Lac Ste. Anne, Alberta), is an Assistant Professor in Indigenous Education in the Department of Curriculum and Pedagogy at the University of British Columbia (UBC). Tracy’s research interests include First Nation and Métis experience in the realm of work and learning, decolonizing research at the intersection of health and education, oral histories and outdoor/land/place-based education.