"It's all interconnected… like a spider web": a qualitative study of the meanings of food and healthy eating in an Indigenous community.

Qualitative study w/ semi-structured interviews & observational field notes

"To recruit key informants for interviews, EG connected with community members through an existing contact and attending local events, reflecting convenience sampling."

This qualitative study explored the connections between food and health using semi-structured interviews and observational field notes. Through the study two versions of "healthy eating" emerged: one relating to traditional food and preparation methods and the other relating to “southern” cooking methods and foods, as well as a more medicalised account of illness. The authors encourage further exploration of "healthy eating" beyond a biomedical perspective.

Ethical approval was granted by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, contingent on local approval, given by Nemaska's Chief.

Connecting overweight and diabetes with issues of colonialism and environment, structural racism, poverty and lack of culturally relevant/safe research to challenge biomedical perspectives that frame the issues as Indigenous issues.

Deductive thematic analysis of transcripts, Literature review

Publication

"While SEM is valuable in understanding a range of health determinants in Indigenous communities, a historical dimension is also needed, and must be considered when designing public health approaches to addressing diet-related health conditions." (p. 7)
"The multiple constructions of "healthy", in relation to food, must be accommodated in public health initiatives to address the higher rates of diet-related disease faced by this community." (p. 7)

Health Services Research and Policy
Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
Population Health Sciences
Indigenous Studies