Approaching Etuaptmumk – introducing a consensus-based mixed method for health services research

• Published in: International Journal of Circumpolar Health
• Main Authors: Susan Chatwood, Francois Paulette, Ross Baker, Astrid Eriksen, Ketil Lenert Hansen, Heidi Eriksen, Vanessa Hiratsuka, Josée Lavoie, Wendy Lou, Ian Mauro, James Orbinski, Nathalie Pabrum, Hanna Retallack, Adalsteinn Brown
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2015
• Subjects: health systems stewardship; indigenous values; mixed methods; Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine; RC955-962; Arctic; Circumpolar Health; International Journal of Circumpolar Health
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.3402/ijch.v74.27438; https://doaj.org/article/f50fd38864f442abaa4ed85add6ff3e3

With the recognized need for health systems’ improvements in the circumpolar and indigenous context, there has been a call to expand the research agenda across all sectors influencing wellness and to recognize academic and indigenous knowledge through the research process. Despite being recognized as a distinct body of knowledge in international forums and across indigenous groups, examples of methods and theories based on indigenous knowledge are not well documented in academic texts or peer-reviewed literature on health systems. This paper describes the use of a consensus-based, mixed method with indigenous knowledge by an experienced group of researchers and indigenous knowledge holders who collaborated on a study that explored indigenous values underlying health systems stewardship. The method is built on the principles of Etuaptmumk or two-eyed seeing, which aim to respond to and resolve the inherent conflicts between indigenous ways of knowing and the scientific inquiry that informs the evidence base in health care. Mixed methods’ frameworks appear to provide a framing suitable for research questions that require data from indigenous knowledge sources and western knowledge. The nominal consensus method, as a western paradigm, was found to be responsive to embedding of indigenous knowledge and allowed space to express multiple perspectives and reach consensus on the question at hand. Further utilization and critical evaluation of this mixed methodology with indigenous knowledge are required.