The Social and Cultural Context of Risk and Prevention: Food and Physical Activity in an Urban Aboriginal Community

Abstract

One of the key public health challenges facing indigenous and other minority communities is how to develop and implement effective, acceptable, and sustainable strategies for the prevention of non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM). In this article, the authors describe how an ethnographic approach was used to contextualize the behavioral risk factors for NIDDM and applied to the development of a more meaningful and appropriate epidemiological risk factor survey instrument for an urban Aboriginal population in Australia. The overall research design comprised a mixture of qualitative and quantitative methods. The ethnographic study showed that the complex web of meanings that tie people to their family and community can and should be taken into account in any social epidemiology of health and illness if the findings are to have any effective and long-term potential to contribute to successful public health interventions targeting these behavioral risk factors.

Physical Activity of Remote Indigenous Australian Women: A Postcolonial Analysis of Lifestyle

“…Tang and Browne (2008, p. 118) neatly explain the significance of transferring responsibility to adhere to societal norms to individuals, "specifically, by making recourse to individualism, which places the responsibility for making 'bad life choices' on the person, those historical and socio-economic processes that constrain equal access to resources and to a healthy life are relegated to the background." Individual agency is in the foreground at the expense of shared memory and inherited social relations (Cowlishaw & Morris, 1997, p. 5) which underpin the social fabric of many Indigenous communities (Thompson, Gifford, & Thorpe, 2000).…”

An ethnographic action research study to investigate the experiences of Bindjareb women participating in the cooking and nutrition component of an Aboriginal health promotion programme in regional Western Australia

“…Importantly, self-efficacy is considered the most important precursor to behaviour change (42) . In addition, by taking their meals home, they included the family unit into the food work processes, providing the family an opportunity to sample new and healthier foods and to discuss important factors such as cost, preferences, dietary patterns and habits (8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13) that had the potential to influence dietary change, which is important in the prevention of nutritionrelated disease (40,43,44) . Compared with other countries of the world, Australia is classified as 'food secure' (45) .…”

Respiratory illness in urban Indigenous children: risk and cultural context

“…The results illustrated that the health risks associated with diabetes in urban Aboriginal people were inseparable from the unique social and cultural risks of disconnection from family, the land and the past (Thompson et al, 2000).…”

“…Thompson, Gifford and Thorpe (2000) conducted an ethnographic mixed methods study of Aboriginal people with diabetes about their attitudes and beliefs regarding the cultural and social contexts of risk and prevention of diabetes. The study (conducted out of two…”

“…Aboriginal people view activity undertaken for the sole benefit of the individual as shameful and disconnecting. Participation in collective activities, on the other hand, is viewed with approval, as they are seen to benefit families and improve the collective wellbeing of the community (Thompson et al, 2000). Therefore, any health interventions which targets Aboriginal people must take into account the connection Aboriginal people have between their personal health and ties to family, community, the land and the past (Thompson et al, 2000).…”