No abstract

Storytelling, in its various forms, has often been described as a practice with great emancipatory potential. In turn, Indigenous knowledge shows great promise in guiding a participatory action research (PAR) methodology. Yet these two approaches are rarely discussed in relation to one another, nor, has much been written in terms of how these two approaches may work synergistically toward a decolonizing research approach. In this article, I report on a community-driven knowledge translation activity, the Peoples’ International Health Tribunal, as an exemplar of how narrative and PAR approaches, guided by local Indigenous knowledge, have great potential to build methodologically and ethically robust research processes. Implications for building globally relevant research alliances and scholarship are further discussed, particularly in relation to working with Indigenous communities.

Three mental health approaches with potential relevance to rural Canada were reviewed: telepsychiatry, integrated mental health models, and community-based approaches. These approaches have been evaluated in relation to their cost-effectiveness, comprehensiveness, client-centredness, cultural appropriateness, acceptability, feasibility and fidelity; criteria that may vary amidst rural contexts. Collaborative approaches to care, technologies fully integrated into local health systems, multi-sectoral capacity-building, and further engagement with informal social support networks may be particularly promising strategies in rural communities. More research is required to determine rural mental health pathways among diverse social groups, and further, to establish the acceptability of novel approaches in mental health.

Belonging has been identified as an important resource for health and well-being in the lives of youths. Thus, it is an important concept for upstream health promotion and culturally safe and relevant nursing care. While many researchers acknowledge the importance of the social, cultural, and political context in the lives of newcomer youths, little research has examined the sociopolitical processes inherent in immigrant and refugee youths' experiences of belonging. By employing an intersectional and postcolonial perspective, this study explored newcomer youths' gendered, racialized, and class experiences of inclusion and exclusion that ultimately influenced their sense of belonging in their country of resettlement. Through an examination of online blogs in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and secondary analyses of transcribed interviews from a previous study conducted in Canada, experiences of belonging were revealed to be shaped by complex and multifaceted structures of oppression. Through individual and collective efforts of resistance and resiliency, newcomer youths worked to construct a sense of belonging in their daily lives. Despite these participants' demonstrated strengths, it is evident that more work is needed to support newcomer youths' sense of belonging and well-being throughout resettlement. Implications for nursing practice and research are discussed.

This article examines the influence of a large-scale mining operation on the health of the community of San Miguel Ixtahuacán, Guatemala. An anti-colonial narrative approach informed by participatory action research principles was employed. Data collection included focus groups and one-on-one interviews from August to November of 2011. Over this period, we interviewed 15 Mam Mayan men and 41 women (n = 56) between the ages of 18 and 64 including health care workers, educators, spiritual leaders, agricultural workers and previous mine employees from 13 villages within the municipality. Participants' accounts pointed to community health experiences of social unravelling characterized by overlapping narratives of a climate of fear and discord and embodied expressions of distress. These findings reveal the interconnected mechanisms by which local mining operations influenced the health of the community, specifically, by introducing new threats to the safety and mental wellbeing of local residents.