First Nations Youth Reframing the Focus: Cultural Knowledge as a Site for Health Education

Résumé

Through a participatory project, health researchers and educators move toward anin-depth, multifaceted understanding of the urgent and pressing health issues ofcontemporary Aboriginal youth. Digital video is used by high school students as aresearcher vehicle to highlight health topics that emerge from their own personalperspectives. Participants reject the Eurocentric deficit model of health and create aparadigm based in the holistic values of balance and respect as taught by theircommunity and Elders. Through personal explorations, insightful connections aremade between health indicators such as drug abuse or suicide and less tangibledeterminants such as emotional and spiritual well-being. After engaging in thevideomaking process, participants felt empowered as emerging researchers andinspired to become messengers of health knowledge for their peers.