Inuit Family Perspectives and Stories about Sexual Health and Relationships in Nunavut

• Main Author: Healey, Gwen Katheryn
• Other Authors: Gesink, Dionne, Dalla Lana School of Public Health
• Format: Thesis
• Language: unknown
• Published: 2016
• Subjects: attachment; Indigenous; Inuit; relationships; sexual health; trauma; 0573; Arctic; Nunavut; inuit
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1807/70789

Background: High rates of the sexually transmitted infections of chlamydia and gonorrhea were a concern among community members in Nunavut. The goal of this study was to explore the perspectives of Inuit youth and parents on the topic of sexual health and relationships. Method: This qualitative participatory research study was conducted within an Indigenous knowledge framework with a focus on Inuit ways of knowing and story-telling. Interviews were conducted in 2011 in 3 Nunavut communities with 17 Inuit youth 16-19 years of age and 20 Inuit parents who had at least 1 teenage son or daughter between 13-19 years of age. Results: Parents in the linked their understandings of sexual health with a series of relocation events, which occurred in the Canadian Arctic in the mid 20th century. These relocation events led to widespread disruption of Inuit families, kinships, and attachments by separating young children from their primary caregivers for extended periods of time. The traditional communication pathway about sexual health and relationships was disrupted for many families during this time. Concurrent experiences of child sexual abuse among the parents in this study compounded the trauma of being separated from their families. Severed family attachments during the settlement period and child sexual abuse were the primary factors discussed by parents in this study as contributing to the current state of sexual health in Nunavut. Youth participants identified parents/caregivers as the preferred source of knowledge about sexual health and relationships, even if they were not learning from them at the present time. They also related sexual decision-making among youth to the broader community context and determinants of health, such as poverty. Conclusion: Taking these findings into account, rebuilding and strengthening family and community relationships can make significant positive contributions to sexual health and relationships by providing supportive networks for adolescents and revitalizing millennia old pathways for knowledge sharing. Directions for public health include supporting parent-adolescent dialogue about sexual health; incorporating holistic individual and collective empowerment-based models for sexual health promotion; and supporting parents to heal from trauma and strengthen family relationships. Ph.D.