Naming racism as a root cause of inequities in palliative care research: a scoping review.

Background: Racial and ethnic inequities in palliative care are well-established. The way researchers design and interpret studies investigating race- and ethnicity-based disparities has future implications on the interventions aimed to reduce these inequities. If racism is not discussed when contextualizing findings, it is less likely to be addressed and inequities will persist.

Frameworks, guidelines, and tools to develop a learning health system for Indigenous health: An environmental scan for Canada.

Introduction: First Nations, Inuit, and Métis (FNIM) peoples experience systemic health disparities within Ontario's healthcare system. Learning health systems (LHS) is a rapidly growing interdisciplinary area with the potential to address these inequitable health outcomes through a comprehensive health system that draws on science, informatics, incentives, and culture for ongoing innovation and improvement. However, global literature is in its infancy with grounding theories and principles still emerging.

CONNECTing Concussion Care with Research Across Ontario.

Common data elements (CDEs) for concussion, as established by international bodies, are not being widely used in Ontario, resulting in significant variability in the data being assessed and collected across clinics. CDEs support standardization of care as well as large-scale data sharing for high impact research. A collaborative network - - comprised of health care professionals, researchers, members from advocacy groups, and patients was formed to establish and implement CDEs for concussion care and research.

Heart Health Begins With Community: Community-Based Research Exploring Innovative Strategies to Support First Nations Heart Health.

Background: Indigenous people have displayed their strength through their holistic practices and spiritual connection to the land. Despite overcoming the impact of discriminatory and disempowering policies within Western institutions, Indigenous people continue to experience a higher risk of cardiovascular disease, compared to the general population. To move toward improving Indigenous health outcomes, researchers need to work in partnership with communities to develop heart health strategies centred on their experienced barriers and sources of healing.

Envisioning Indigenous and biomedical healthcare collaboration at Stanton Territorial Hospital, Northwest Territories.

To improve the quality of care for Indigenous patients, local Indigenous leaders in the Northwest Territories, Canada have called for more culturally responsive models for Indigenous and biomedical healthcare collaboration at Stanton Territorial Hospital. This study examined how Indigenous patients and biomedical healthcare providers envision Indigenous healing practices working successfully with biomedical hospital care at Stanton Territorial Hospital. We carried out a qualitative study from May 2018 - June 2022.

Does Health Care? Accountability Matters for Indigenous Patients.

In Canada, there is evidence that Indigenous Peoples have experienced systemic and medical racism directly or indirectly. This commentary discusses the prejudice and racism evident in healthcare throughout history. The narrative then shifts to address medical professionals who do not provide quality treatment, and a guideline is provided for Indigenous patients and clients to enable them to file complaints with licensing boards.

Weaving First Nations, Inuit, and Métis principles and values into health research processes.

Objectives: In the Spring of 2021, a research team from the Dalla Lana School of Public Health completed environmental scans on nine key health-related topics to develop an anti-Indigenous racism strategy for health systems in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. To ensure we (Indigenous and non-Indigenous researchers) were respecting First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples, cultures, worldviews, and research methods, we weaved three frameworks of Indigenous values and principles together to create a conceptual foundation for undertaking the environmental scans.

Study Design And Setting: In discussions with First Nations Elders, Métis Senators, and our research team, we chose the Seven Grandfather Teachings (Anishinaabe, a specific First Nation's life values), Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit (Inuit societal values), and the Métis Principles of Research.

Designing accountability measures for health professionals: results from a community-based micro-credential: case study on Indigenous cultural safety.

Background: There is a widespread commitment to implementing anti-Indigenous racism with health organizations in Canada by introducing cultural safety staff training. In partnership with a public health unit in Ontario, Canada, we developed an evaluation tool to assess the performance of staff who completed an online Indigenous cultural safety education course.

Aims: To develop an accountability checklist that could be used for annual employee performance reviews to assess the use and level of knowledge received in professional cultural safety training.

Indigenous Cultural Safety Trainings for Healthcare Professionals Working in Ontario, Canada: Context and Considerations for Healthcare Institutions.

Background: Racism and discrimination are realities faced by Indigenous peoples navigating the healthcare system in Canada. Countless experiences of injustice, prejudice, and maltreatment calls for systemic action to redress professional practices of health care professionals and staff alike. Research points to Indigenous cultural safety training in healthcare systems to educate, train, and provide non-Indigenous trainees the necessary skills and knowledge to work with and alongside Indigenous peoples using cultural safe practices grounded in respect and empathy.

Indigenous Food Systems Changes and Resiliency: Protocol for a Scoping Review.

Background: Indigenous food systems (IFS) consider the complex relationships and connections between land, animals, plants, water, and people. These food systems may differ between regions, Indigenous cultures, and history; however, given the similar colonial histories and policies influencing Indigenous groups in Canada, the United States, Australia, and Aotearoa (New Zealand), the IFS changes and responses in these regions may follow similar trends. Climate change and pollution continue to impact the environment in catastrophic ways, and this, in turn, impacts IFS.

Needing indigenous biometrics for health in Canada.

This article presents a critical analysis of the use of biometrics in clinical practice and their inadequacies for Indigenous populations in Canada and globally. Misclassifications of health status based on biometrics have health implications across the lifespan, from gestation to older adulthood, which are also examined. The social determinants of health and of Indigenous health compound the impact of inaccurate biometrics on First Nations, Inuit and Métis populations.

Ethical publishing in 'Indigenous' contexts.

Ethical publishing practices are vital to tobacco control research practice, particularly research involving Indigenous (: For the purposes of this Special Communication, we use the term Indigenous people(s) to include self-identified individuals and communities who frequently have historical continuity with precolonial/presettler societies; are strongly linked to the land on which they or their societies reside; and often maintain their own distinct language(s), belief and social-political systems, economies and sciences. The authors humbly acknowledge, respect and value that Indigenous peoples are diverse and constitute many nations, cultures and language groups. Many Indigenous peoples also exist as governments in treaty relations with settler-colonial societies, and all Indigenous peoples have inherent rights under international law.

Bridging community and clinic through digital health: Community-based adaptation of a mobile phone-based heart failure program for remote communities in Uganda.

Background: In Uganda, limited healthcare access has created a significant burden for patients living with heart failure. With the increasing use of mobile phones, digital health tools could offer an accessible platform for individualized care support. In 2016, our multi-national team adapted a mobile phone-based program for heart failure self-care to the Ugandan context and found that patients using the system showed improvements in their symptoms and quality of life.

Virtual Care in Canada as of the Sixth Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Finding the Right Balance - An Indigenous Perspective.

The constraints of the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the adoption of virtual care. The role of virtual care in the mix of healthcare services is being re-examined as the pandemic evolves. For many diverse Indigenous communities (rural, remote, urban), virtual care has the potential to increase access to healthcare and improv health outcomes, or to worsen existing inequities.

Access to Cardiovascular Care for Indigenous Peoples in Canada: A Rapid Review.

Indigenous peoples in Canada are at an increased risk of cardiovascular disease compared to non-Indigenous people. Contributing factors include historical oppression, racism, healthcare biases, and disparities in terms of the social determinants of health. Access to and inequity in cardiovascular care for Indigenous peoples in Canada remain poorly studied and understood.

Health system learning with Indigenous communities: a study protocol for a two-eyed seeing review and multiple case study.

Background: It is well documented that Canadian healthcare does not fully meet the health needs of First Nations, Inuit or Métis peoples. In 1996, the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples concluded that Indigenous peoples' healthcare needs had to be met by strategies and systems that emerged from Indigenous worldviews and cultures. In 2015, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission also called on health organizations to learn from Indigenous "knowledges" and integrate Indigenous worldviews alongside biomedicine and other western ways of knowing.

Developing an Indigenous cultural safety micro-credential: initial findings from a training designed for public health professionals in southern Ontario.

Cultural safety training is a resource that healthcare institutions and staff can rely on to end anti-Indigenous racism in their organisations and to shift service providers' attitudes, beliefs, and knowledge of Indigenous people. The aim of this study was to understand the initial knowledge and interest about Indigenous Peoples that a southern Ontario public health unit's (PHU) staff hold. A cultural safety micro-credential project was developed in consultation with the PHU.

An environmental scan of Indigenous Patient Navigator programs in Ontario.

Indigenous people in Canada continue to experience barriers accessing healthcare services including systemic racism and disproportionate healthcare disparities. Indigenous Patient Navigators (IPNs) and programs may mitigate these barriers by providing culturally safe care and support for Indigenous patients and their families navigating healthcare systems. Unfortunately, few IPNs and IPN programs exist in Ontario.

What do you mean by engagement? - evaluating the use of community engagement in the design and implementation of chronic disease-based interventions for Indigenous populations - scoping review.

Background: Indigenous populations have remained strong and resilient in maintaining their unique culture and values, despite centuries of colonial oppression. Unfortunately, a consequential result of facing years of adversity has led Indigenous populations to experience a disproportionate level of poorer health outcomes compared to non-Indigenous populations. Specifically, the rate of Indigenous chronic disease prevalence has significantly increased in the last decade.

Education in uncertainty: Academic life as Indigenous health scholars during COVID-19.

As the COVID-19 crisis continues to develop, communities around the world find themselves living in new and uncertain times. School and university closures are significantly disrupting the lives of students, educators and researchers alike. With the sudden shift to online learning platforms, the limitations on research projects and the lack of standardised policies and procedures, many concerns arise surrounding the unequal impacts of this crisis.

Many lenses for planetary health: seeding citizen engagement for sustainable futures visioning with new ways of seeing.

Objectives: This pilot project sought to seed citizen engagement processes for sustainable futures visioning with ideas, perspectives, and processes informed by Indigenous ways of knowing.

Methods: Five circle dialogues were convened with students, faculty, and members of the public, in the spring of 2019, using Indigenous talking circle methodology and intentionally seeded with "disruptive" ideas to encourage reflexivity and open space for "out-of-the-box" thinking. These were complemented by a series of one-on-one dialogues with members of the pan-Canadian research team.

Using OCAP and IQ as Frameworks to Address a History of Trauma in Indigenous Health Research.

Indigenous people have been studied at great length. To counter deficit-based research that can reinforce stereotypes, the National Aboriginal Health Organization introduced principles of ownership, control, access, and possession (OCAP) to reduce historical trauma to individuals, families, and communities from research and reporting of findings. A further step in promoting culturally safe and responsible research with Indigenous peoples is to incorporate the Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit, traditional laws and principles that guide a way of life and of knowing.

Traumatic spinal cord injuries among Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal populations of Saskatchewan: a prospective outcomes study.

Background: People of Aboriginal (Indigenous) ancestry are more likely to experience traumatic spinal cord injury (TSCI) than other Canadians; however, outcome studies are limited. This study aims to compare Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal populations with acute TSCI with respect to preinjury baseline characteristics, injury severity, treatment, outcomes and length of stay.

Methods: This was a retrospective analysis of participants with a TSCI who were enrolled in the prospective Rick Hansen Spinal Cord Injury Registry (RHSCIR), Saskatoon site (Royal University Hospital), between Feb.