Integrating conventional science and aboriginal perspectives on diabetes using fuzzy cognitive maps.

There is concern among Aboriginal communities in Canada that conventional approaches to the treatment of diabetes are ineffective in part because they fail to recognize the local Aboriginal perspective on the causal determinants of diabetes. While this shortcoming has been recognized, there have been no explicit attempts to practically define these perspectives and prescribe how conventional health management might be altered to incorporate them. In part, this may be due to difficulties in communicating Aboriginal perspectives in a manner which permits incorporation into conventional science-based frameworks.

Holistic risk-based environmental decision making: a Native perspective.

Native American Nations have become increasingly concerned about the impacts of toxic substances. Although risk assessment and risk management processes have been used by government agencies to help estimate and manage risks associated with exposure to toxicants, these tools have many inadequacies and as a result have not served Native people well. In addition, resources have not always been adequate to address the concerns of Native Nations, and involvement of Native decision makers on a government-to-government basis in discussions regarding risk has only recently become common.