Grant: Travel Awards - Institute Community Support

The integration of healthcare and social services is a strategy often utilized in health policy to tackle health inequalities among vulnerable groups. This is an approach taken to address Indigenous health within Ontario and British Columbia through Indigenous, community-controlled health policies and services. However, little is known about service user and service provider experiences of integrated healthcare offered through Indigenous health policies, and whether this approach is effective in addressing community wellbeing. Through a community-based participatory research (CBPR) approach with an Indigenous Health Authority and First Nations communities, this project looks at how integration takes place in practice within community healthcare settings by including the perspectives of service providers, and by understanding the experiences of service receivers. Guided by a research advisory committee, and with a commitment to the principles of OCAP®, information will be gathered through semi-structured interviews and focus groups. This project aims to recognize how First Nations-controlled health policy in BC integrates traditional Indigenous approaches to health with Western healthcare, and how this integration operates in practice through service provision within First Nations communities, and how community members experience this approach. While situated within local contexts, this research broaches an overarching question of whether integration within Indigenous healthcare systems, and as designated through Indigenous health policy, can be effective in meeting the complex care needs of diverse Indigenous communities by drawing on community perspectives and experiences. This research will provide an understanding of Indigenous approaches and experiences of healthcare service integration, where services beyond Western models, such as traditional healing, are incorporated into the structure of service provision.