Authors
Sarah Newell
Publication date
2018
Description
An individual’s health is influenced by more than just the health care system, but also in large part by the social determinants of health. People exist within broader social, cultural, and ecological systems which influence their health outcomes through the social determinants of health. This doctoral dissertation examines social, cultural, and ecological systems to understand several factors that support and hinder community health and wellbeing to inform future policy. This dissertation incorporates a mix of methodological approaches across four interrelated research studies to better understand direct and indirect factors influencing community health and wellbeing. In doing so, this thesis is divided into four research chapters. Study 1 consists of a community-based research project that examines how food security, cultural continuity, and community health and wellbeing are connected through the sharing of harvested country food in Chesterfield Inlet, Nunavut, Canada. Based on this understanding we can demonstrate how climate change and increased shipping along the inlet affects the community as a result of changes in marine mammals and harvesting activities. Study 2 presents a logistic regression that models how cultural continuity variables impact self-rated health for participants living in Inuit Nunangat in Canada. This model uses the Arctic Supplement questions of the Aboriginal Peoples Survey to compare measures of cultural continuity to traditional measures based on government services. This study demonstrates an important link between cultural continuity and self-rated health for Inuit living in Inuit Nunangat. iv Study 3 contains a …
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