216201 Urban Aboriginal Health Assessment: Using Concept Mapping to Develop a Survey Tool

Monday, November 8, 2010

Janet K. Smylie, MD MPH , Centre for Research on Inner City Health, University of Toronto/St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto, ON, Canada
Michelle Firestone, MHS , Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
Mairi Omand , Centre for Research on Inner City Health, St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto, ON, Canada
Sylvia Maracle , Executive Director, Ontario Federation of Indian Friendship Centres, Toronto, ON, Canada
Donna Lyons , Métis Nation of Ontario, Director of Health Services, Ottawa, ON, Canada
Connie Siedule , Tungasuvvingat Inuit, Director of Health, Ottawa, Canada
Cora Lee McQuire , Executive Director, Ontario Native Women's Association, Thunderbay, ON, Canada
De dwa da dehs nye>S. Aboriginal Health Centre , Aboriginal Health Centre, De dwa da dehs nye>s, Hamilton, ON, Canada
Cheryl Mcpherson, MSW , Centre for Research on Inner City Health, St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto, ON, Canada
Conrad Prince, BA , Centre for Research on Inner City Health, St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto, ON, Canada
Patricia O'Campo, PhD , Centre for Research on Inner City Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
Purpose: The Our Health Counts project aims to develop accessible and valid urban Aboriginal health information in Ontario. Concept mapping was used to develop three culturally relevant urban Aboriginal health assessment surveys, drawing on the priority health domains articulated by First Nations, Inuit, and Métis community stakeholders in Hamilton and Ottawa, Ontario.

Methods: Up to 40 key stakeholders from each community participated in the three concept mapping activities: (1) Group Brainstorming, (2) Group and Online Sorting and Rating and (3) Group Map Interpretation. Participants generated statements regarding health and health related issues and topics in their communities (First Nations, Inuit, or Métis) that were prevalent, serious, had the fewest solutions, or were otherwise important. Statements were sorted into piles that made sense to each participant and were rated according to service availability, need for health information and overall health concern. Concept systems software uses non-metric multidimensional scaling and cluster analysis to create point and cluster maps reflecting the overall group sort and rate.

Results: The number of final statements varied in each community, ranging from 44 to 102. Participants in each community opted for the number of clusters that best suited their understanding of health. Each cluster represented a community health domain. The chosen labels for these domains strongly reflected local First Nations, Inuit, and Métis understandings of health.

Conclusions: Concept mapping is an effective and culturally relevant community based method that engaged community health stakeholders and contributed to health assessment survey tools that reflect local understandings of health.

Learning Areas:
Diversity and culture
Provision of health care to the public
Public health or related research

Learning Objectives:
1. Articulate the importance of concept mapping as a community-based methodology that builds capacity and brings together diverse concepts. 2. Explain the processes and outcomes of the three concept mapping activities. 3. Discuss how priority health domains generated by Aboriginal community members were essential to the development of a culturally appropriate and applicable health assessment survey tool.

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am qualified to present because of my expertise in Indigenous health measurement systems, Indigenous Knowledge Translation, Community Based Research with Aboriginal Communities and Family Medicine.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

Back to: 3094.0: Indigenous examples of Community Based Participatory Research and community led projects