Building Bridges: Describing a Process for Indigenous Engagement in Epidemiology.

Background: Processes for epidemiology embedded with Indigenous methodology are needed. Building Bridges was developed to engage Indigenous peoples in epidemiology to address health issues relevant to them.

Objectives: We describe our process for meaningfully engaging Indigenous leaders and peoples living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in epidemiology research.

"I Guess I Shouldn't Come Back Here": Racism and Discrimination as a Barrier to Accessing Health and Social Services for Urban Métis Women in Toronto, Canada.

Racism serves as a major barrier in access to health and social services, leading to absent, delayed, and/or avoidance of treatment. Métis Peoples experience barriers to accessing both Indigenous-specific and mainstream services yet are often left out of discourses surrounding racism and service access. Racism and discrimination experienced by Métis people is rooted within a deep history of assimilative and racist colonial policies.

Increased mortality among Indigenous persons in a multisite cohort of people living with HIV in Canada.

Objective: Compare all-cause mortality between Indigenous participants and participants of other ethnicities living with HIV initiating combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) in an interprovincial multi-site cohort.

Methods: The Canadian Observational Cohort is a collaboration of 8 cohorts of treatment-naïve persons with HIV initiating cART after January 1, 2000. Participants were followed from the cART initiation date until death or last viral load (VL) test date on or before December 31, 2012.

A comparison of virological suppression and rebound between Indigenous and non-Indigenous persons initiating combination antiretroviral therapy in a multisite cohort of individuals living with HIV in Canada.

Background: This study compared time to virological suppression and rebound between Indigenous and non-Indigenous individuals living with HIV in Canada initiating combination antiretroviral therapy (cART).

Methods: Data were from the Canadian Observational Cohort collaboration; eight studies of treatment-naive persons with HIV initiating cART after 1/1/2000. Fine and Gray models were used to estimate the effect of ethnicity on time to virological suppression (two consecutive viral loads [VLs] <50 copies/ml at least 3 months apart) after adjusting for the competing risk of death and time until virological rebound (two consecutive VLs >200 copies/ml at least 3 months apart) following suppression.

The Indigenous Red Ribbon Storytelling Study: What does it mean for Indigenous peoples living with HIV and a substance use disorder to access antiretroviral therapy in Saskatchewan?

Indigenous peoples living with HIV are less likely than non-Indigenous peoples living with HIV to access antiretroviral therapy; however, there is not enough contextual information surrounding this issue. The Indigenous Red Ribbon Storytelling Study was conducted in part to examine how Indigenous peoples living with HIV construct and understand their experiences accessing antiretroviral therapy. Our study design was critical Indigenous qualitative research, using the Behavioral Model of Health Services Use and community-based participatory research approaches.

Getting the Canadian HIV epidemic to zero: Valuing indigenous cultures through holistic research.

This paper was orally presented at the Canadian Aboriginal AIDS Network, Wise Practices IV - Community-Based Research Gathering on September 25, 2013 in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada as the LaVerne Monette Memorial Lecture. The objectives of this paper are: (1) to describe the HIV epidemic among Aboriginal people living in Canada; and (2) to examine the value of incorporating indigenous cultures into research within the context of holistic research perspectives. The methodology used to address the objectives was an integrative review (i.

Addressing HIV/AIDS among Aboriginal People using a Health Status, Health Determinants and Health Care Framework: A Literature Review and Conceptual Analysis.

Objectives: (1) To describe the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection among Aboriginal populations using a mixed methods approach (i.e. quantitative and qualitative methods); (2) to examine the individual-level and community-level relationships between HIV/AIDS, health determinants, and health care (e.

The association of housing density, isolation and tuberculosis in Canadian First Nations communities.

Background: First Nations communities in Canada experience disproportionately high levels of overcrowded housing, degree of isolation, and rates of tuberculosis (TB). A study was done to assess the association between housing density, isolation, and the occurrence of TB in First Nations communities.

Methods: Average persons per room (ppr), isolation type, average household income, population, and TB cases (1997-1999) at the community level were entered into a database.

Improving the health of future generations: the Canadian Institutes of Health Research Institute of Aboriginal Peoples' Health.

In the past and in the present, research studies and media reports have focused on pathology and dysfunction in aboriginal communities and have often failed to present a true and complete picture of the aboriginal experience. The Canadian Institutes of Health Research Institute of Aboriginal Peoples' Health is a national strategic research initiative led by both the aboriginal and research communities. This initiative aims to improve aboriginal health information, develop research capacity, better translate research into practice, and inform public health policy with the goal of improving the health of indigenous peoples.