Research Profile – Recapturing your Voice

A collaborative research project enables native youth to use photography and Aboriginal traditions to discuss health

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To really understand the health needs of a community, you sometimes need more than survey results and medical tests. You first need to understand their culture.

That is what Dr. Pammla Petrucka and her team are doing in their work with youth at the Standing Buffalo Dakota First Nation reserve, a community of 600 people.

As with many First Nations communities, the Standing Buffalo Dakota Nation has high levels of problems such as depression, substance abuse and school drop-out rates, which in turn affect health and well-being. But most intervention programs focus on the negatives and have poor success rates, which could indicate that these interventions are culturally inappropriate.

Dr. Petrucka and her team began their research by seeking guidance from the community. The youth and Elders participated in ‘sharing circles’, something that’s "analogous to a focus group except that, within the Indigenous context, everybody must participate," says Dr. Petrucka.

In the initial consultations, the community identified youth health as a priority. Fourteen young people, aged 12 to 16, volunteered to be study participants when the project began in 2005.

After working with reserve leaders, the research team decided to provide cameras to the youth and ask them to photograph what they felt keeps them well (or unwell). Then, the researchers talked to the teens about what the photos meant to them.

The researchers found richness and depth in the discussions with the youth. Pictures of things contributing to wellness ranged from nature scenes, such as sunsets, trees and rocks; to school playground equipment; to traditional crafts; to pictures of family members and community powwows.

Alternatively, the teens captured images of litter, lack of clean drinking water, and a contaminated lake when asked to photograph things that made them unwell.

"The kids themselves told us what the issues were; we didn’t go in with pre-conceived ideas," says Dr. Petrucka.

At the request of the Chief and Council, the study participants’ pictures were converted into murals, which were hung at powwows as reminders of what contributes to wellness. The murals became the story of the youth on their paths to living well.

As a more permanent way of saving the information, the youth and elders asked that these pictorial stories of their health be saved, not digitally, but in Wintercounts – stylized artwork on animal hides traditionally used by the Dakota peoples to record their history. The knowledge of how to make Wintercounts had largely been lost, so the team visited the Smithsonian Institute to study Wintercounts stored there. The youth were then given hides, and they worked with an Elder to re-capture this cultural skill.

"Wintercounts now are a source of data. One could look at them and do research on what contributed to their paths to wellness for these kids in each year of their life. They are the analysis, and they are knowledge dissemination," says Dr. Petrucka.

The researchers found that these visual research approaches are powerful ways to explore health needs with youth. As a result of the project, photography is now used in the elementary school as a way to help kids communicate.

"It gives the kids a life-skill. And, it’s a different way to communicate your issues, your challenges, your thinking and your preferred future," she says.

In a related research project, Elders are being paired with youth to encourage positive choices as a way to move from negative health outcomes. The researchers and the community hope that by integrating aspects of Aboriginal culture into health research and interventions, they can build a healthier population.

“Wintercounts now are a source of data. One could look at them and do research on what contributed to their paths to wellness for these kids in each year of their life. They are the analysis, and they are knowledge dissemination.”
– Dr. Pammla Petrucka, University of Saskatchewan