Grant: Master's Award: Canada Graduate Scholarships

Despite increasing national attention on Indigenous health in Canada, research continually concentrates upon the determinants of health disparities, and relatively fewer efforts have been made to understand and support the factors underlying strength and resilience of Indigenous communities. This strengths-based approach has particularly been underused in the study of contextual (community-level) factors of health. In this community-based-participatory research study, we explore contextual factors, including community stressors and structural factors, and their effect on physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health outcomes of Pictou Landing First Nation, a Mik'maq community situated in Nova Scotia. This study employs quantitative methods in the statistical analysis of national survey data, supplemented by qualitative methods in the form of in-depth, semi-structured interviews with key community informants and subsequent analysis of themes. Methods and objectives of this study continue to be adapted and evolve in response to community engagement. Overall, this study intends to draw attention to the positive attributes of the community and increase consideration of how these characteristics can be utilized and built upon as cornerstones for health programming and planning. Furthermore, this study advocates for the shift of academic research away from illness-based models and towards more comprehensive, empowering, and action-oriented approaches.