Oral

During this session participants will learn about and discuss how social justice issues common to four different subsistence fishing communities are being addressed in order to improve the communication of health risks. The public health issues of concern are adequate nutrition (protein and omega-3 fatty acids) and exposure to methylmercury. The presenters will describe the use of traditional and novel methodologies, including pictures and videography, to understand subsistence fishing and consumption patterns in several different ethnic and cultural contexts and will then discuss the specific challenges they faced when developing health risk communication tools with and for their respective communities. The communities and groups addressed by these four presentations include African Americans, Latinos, Hmong, Native Americans, Hispanics, Micronesians, and the Anishinaabe. The geographic locales represented are Rochester NY, Minnesota, northeastern Oklahoma, and Milwaukee Wisconsin. Two additional threads of thought will include a) the importance of engaging the focal communities and of collaborating with local and regional agencies, and b) the tension between cultural, time-honored traditional practices and current science/health findings. The presentations will be 15 minutes each in order to allow 15 minutes for group discussion.

Session Objectives: 1. Identify three social justice-related concerns that can act as public health determinants in subsistence fishers. 2. Describe how one of the study methodologies presented hooks into these social justice concerns. 3. Compare the methodologies in terms of their potential for addressing social justice concerns in the context of public health advisories.

CE Credits: Medical (CME), Health Education (CHES), Nursing (CNE), Public Health (CPH)