Abstract
Objectives
This community-based project examined the interpersonal and system influences on smoking practices and exposure to cigarette smoke that place young pregnant and parenting First Nations women and their children at risk. The aim was to work with the community using this information to develop meaningful strategies to support tobacco reduction and reduce exposure to second-hand smoke.
Method
Ethnographic methods informed by decolonizing approaches were used to study smoking practices and exposure within the context of six First Nations rural reserve villages in the Gitxsan territory in North-Western British Columbia. Data were collected through individual interviews with key community members, individual and group interviews with women, men, youth and older people, including Elders, and participant observation.
Findings
Older people, including grandparents and Elders expressed great interest in being more involved in their communities, particularly with youth. Other community members, especially mothers, saw such older people as important in diminishing the tobacco exposure problem, with ideas for their involvement ranging from role modeling non-smoking or respectful smoking to teaching cultural traditions.
Conclusion
Elders in First Nations communities represent a culturally-relevant resource for health that is currently underused. Communities might draw upon their wisdom and influence to decrease tobacco exposure and promote community health in other ways. This offers a concrete, practical strategy in response to widespread calls for supporting the culture of Aboriginal people as part of health promotion.
Key words: Indigenous population, tobacco, passive smoking, mothers, pregnant women, health promotion
Résumé
Objectif
Ce projet communautaire portait sur les influences interpersonnelles et systémiques qui exposent les jeunes femmes enceintes et les jeunes mères des Premières nations et leurs enfants au tabagisme et à la fumée de cigarette. Le but était d’utiliser ces informations en élaborant, avec la collaboration de la communauté, des stratégies concrètes pour réduire le tabagisme et l’exposition à la fumée secondaire.
Méthode
Nous avons employé des méthodes ethnographiques étayées par des approches de décolonisation pour étudier le tabagisme et l’exposition à la fumée de cigarette dans six villages situés dans des réserves rurales des Premières nations sur le territoire gitksan (Nord-Ouest de la Colombie-Britannique). Les données ont été recueillies au moyen d’entretiens individuels avec des membres influents des communautés, d’entretiens individuels et collectifs avec des femmes, des hommes, des jeunes et des personnes âgées (y compris des anciens) et par l’observation des participants.
Résultats
Les personnes âgées, dont les grands-parents et les anciens, étaient vivement intéressées à s’impliquer davantage dans leur communauté, particulièrement auprès des jeunes. Les autres résidents, surtout les mères, considéraient les personnes âgées comme étant importantes pour réduire le problème d’exposition au tabac et avaient des idées pour les impliquer (en étant des exemples de non-fumeurs pour les jeunes ou en leur enseignant le respect du tabac ou d’autres traditions culturelles).
Conclusion
Les anciens des communautés des Premières nations sont une ressource de santé culturellement significative encore sous-utilisée. Les communautés pourraient faire appel à leur sagesse et à leur influence pour réduire l’exposition au tabac et promouvoir la santé communautaire de diverses façons. Ce serait une stratégie concrète et pratique pour répondre aux appels généralisés en faveur de l’intégration de la culture des peuples autochtones dans la promotion de la santé.
Mots clés: population d’origine amérindienne, tabac, tabagisme passif, mères, femmes enceintes, promotion de la santé
Footnotes
Conflict of Interest: None to declare.
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