Weltschmerz

Weltschmerz 

“( German: “world grief”) the prevailing mood of melancholy and pessimism associated with the poets of the Romantic era that arose from their refusal or inability to adjust to those realities of the world that they saw as destructive of their right to subjectivity and personal freedom—a phenomenon thought to typify Romanticism. The word was coined by Jean Paul in his pessimistic novel, Selina (1827), to describe Lord Byron’s discontent (especially as shown in Manfred and Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage). Weltschmerz was characterized by a nihilistic loathing for the world and a view that was skeptically blasé (Encyclopedia Britannica).”

 

Weltschmerz

“(from the German, meaning world-pain or world-weariness, pronounced [ˈvɛltʃmɛɐ̯ts]) is a term coined by the German author Jean Paul and denotes the kind of feeling experienced by someone who understands that physical reality can never satisfy the demands of the mind. This kind of pessimistic world view was widespread among several romantic authors such as Lord Byron, Giacomo Leopardi, François-René de Chateaubriand, Alfred de Musset, Nikolaus Lenau, Hermann Hesse, and Heinrich Heine. It is also used to denote the feeling of sadness when thinking about the evils of the world—compare empathy, theodicy. The modern meaning of Weltschmerz in the German language is the psychological pain caused by sadness that can occur when realizing that someone’s own weaknesses are caused by the inappropriateness and cruelty of the world and (physical and social) circumstances. Weltschmerz in this meaning can cause depression, resignation and escapism, and can become a mental problem (compare to Hikikomori). The modern meaning should also be compared with the concept of anomie, or a kind of alienation, that Émile Durkheim wrote about in his sociological treatise Suicide (wikipedia).”

Social colonization: primary root cause of TB among aboriginal populations

Elaine Randell (Communicable Disease Consultant, Department of Health and Social Services, Government of Nunavut, Canadian Public Health Association) presented evidence at the Senate hearing on Health in April 2010. She argued that,

“To fully understand the pattern of TB in most aboriginal populations in Canada, it’s important for us to understand the history of TB among this group, where the epidemic came from, as well as the social determinants of health that significantly contribute to the continuing high rates of infection and disease.

Contact with European merchants and traders in Canada occurred in sequence, beginning with the Atlantic provinces in the 16th century, Ontario and Quebec in the 17th century, the Pacific provinces in the 18th century, the prairies in the 19th century, and the territories in the 20th century. Contact in the territories began in the west in Yukon, and to the east, which is now Nunavut. The subsequent wave of settlement that followed this changed the way that aboriginal populations lived, from small, isolated, mobile groups to large groups living in settlements and stationary.

This social colonization was what provided the vector for the spread of tuberculosis. The earlier the epidemic began, the sooner it reached its peak and began to fall, until the last 15 years or so, as we’ve heard, which is why we see the pattern of TB rates we have amongst aboriginal populations, the rates being lowest amongst the population where the social colonization occurred earliest and highest in areas such as Nunavut, where it occurred most recently.

Inadequacies in the social determinants of health are key in continuing the cycle of outbreaks and high rates of TB among aboriginal populations. Crowded and inadequately ventilated housing increases transmission. I’m aware of situations in which infectious cases have been recorded in houses with 13 people or more, including young children, who are especially vulnerable. The rate of transmission in these situations is very high. Those without housing move from home to home as guests, thus increasing the number of people who are exposed and infected. Long periods of cold weather and darkness in the north lead to longer periods of time spent indoors in crowded and inadequately ventilated housing. This leads to increased exposure and shared air space and subsequent increase in transmission. Poor nutritional status increases risk of progression from infection to disease. In many remote communities, selection of nutritious foods such as fresh vegetables and fruits is extremely limited and prohibitively expensive. Programs such as food mail that provide access to more nutritious foods are easily accessed by people who have credit cards, but many Inuit don’t have credit cards and don’t even have bank accounts.

Delayed diagnosis of infectious cases results in prolonged exposure time for contacts. Diagnosis is delayed when regions don’t have local diagnostic capabilities and expertise.

Some remote communities lack continuity of health care providers. A successful TB program is dependent on a relationship of trust between the residents in the community and their health care providers. This requires continuity of staff and health care workers who are experienced and trained in early detection of tuberculosis.

Social colonization is the primary root cause of TB among aboriginal populations. Issues related to the social determinants of health, which include crowded and inadequate housing, poor nutritional status, and lack of continuity of health care providers, are the root causes of continued high rates amongst Inuit. TB rates in Europe began to fall even before the introduction of the first medications, with improvements to standards of living. By addressing issues such as poverty, housing, and access to health care and nutritious food, we can expect the same to happen here.”

Who’s Who

Randell, Elaine. 2010-04-20. “Social Colonization.” Evidence. Standing Committee on Health. 40th Parliament, Government of Canada. 3rd Session. Paragraph 1903660.

Compassion fatigue: a symptom of caring

listening to their anguished voices she too became undone and the lines of life etched in the palms of her hands faded in all the wrong places . . .

Crawshaw, Caitlin. 2009-09-12. “Caring workers pay price: Compassion fatigue flies under radar.” Edmonton Journal.

“Compassion fatigue is often associated with nurses, who care for the sick and dying, but any worker who regularly deals with human suffering can become desensitized and detached. Beyond employees in the obvious professions–such as social work, nursing and counselling–chaplains, teachers, humane workers, midwives, personal support workers, lawyers, workers at women’s shelters, journalists and even those manning the phones at social insurance organizations can also be affected. Even those caring for others outside of the workplace, such as an elderly parent or sick spouse, can feel drained of their emotional and physical energy. “People who provide care with compassion and empathy can experience compassion fatigue,” explains Devon Tayler, an Edmonton social worker and compassion fatigue consultant. “That’s the good news about it — it’s a consequence of caring, and human beings care for each other. The downside is, we often don’t recognize that cost.” Those who suffer from compassion fatigue, or secondary traumatic stress disorder, often isolate themselves at work and limit communication with their clients or coworkers. They can become sick often and miss work, and ultimately become completely burned out, taking stress leave or quitting their jobs suddenly. “Burnout is a physical, social, emotional and spiritual situation where people have really lost themselves and lost meaning,” says Tayler. Those being cared for can also be severely affected. Some people with compassion fatigue start to dehumanize their patients, choosing to view them as case studies or clients, rather than as human beings. This can “block the story” of those receiving care and increase the likelihood of caregivers making mistakes. “We might gloss over something, thinking it’s not that important, when another person might think it really is important,” says Tayler. But this isn’t just a workplace problem. “Compassion fatigue impacts work . . . but it also impacts how we are in our families and in the community,” she says. Sufferers often stop doing the things they once enjoyed, as they feel utterly spent at day’s end. Many can do little more than zone out in front of the TV, disconnecting from their loved ones. Francoise Mathieu, a counsellor in Kingston, Ont., says awareness of compassion fatigue has improved since she started giving sessions on the subject in 2001, but many professionals still know very little about it. Also, she says students aren’t being prepared for this professional inevitability. “To me, it’s a huge issue that needs to be recognized as an occupational health and safety hazard in the workplace.” While compassion fatigue can be confusing for people who have dedicated their lives to the service of others, Mathieu assures people that it’s a symptom of caring. “The irony is that the best and most caring employees are the most at risk (Crawshaw 2009-09-12).”

Crawshaw, Caitlin. 2009-09-12. “Caring workers pay price: Compassion fatigue flies under radar.” Edmonton Journal.

shortlink http://wp.me/P2UqB-11

Storm Lantern 1999

Storm Lantern 1999

Originally uploaded by ocean.flynn

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

Fantasy Palace, Iqaluit, Nunavut June 27, 2002

Fantasy Palace, Iqaluit, Nunavut June 27, 2002

Originally uploaded by ocean.flynn

This is a partial truth, more like a flicktion, or a dream, or the virtual than the real. It’s not science or art, more like an invention or innovation. Pieces of this a flicktion are scattered throughout my semi-nomadic cybercamps like tiny inukshuk on a global landscape. It mimics visual anthropology but isn’t. It imitates ethnography but lacks the objectivity. There are words written, pictures taken of events, dates, settings, stages and characters without an author. Maybe it’s the wrong venue in a photo album of beaming faces, stunning scenery, professional photographers, travelers, techies, retirees. But we can all choose to follow each others sign posts in this cyberspace or move on. This is the power of this new social space spun in CyberWeb 2.0.

Cultural ethnographers are supposed to return to their academic spaces, sharpen their methodological tools to a tip that almost cuts the paper they write on (and too often the culture, pop or otherwise they are writing about). You’re not supposed to return from the field with their your mind numbed from the frosted words of those who were seduced by the gold mine of benign colonialism, their voices confident, mocking, paternalistic, jaded by years, or decades of northern experience (1970s-2002). Your were supposed to leave the field with the pace of your beating heart uninterrupted inside your embodied self. You weren’t supposed to leave your a chunk of your soul in that graveyard in Pangnirtung on the Cumberland Sound. This is just lack of professionalism. Get a grip. Just write that comprehensive, proposal, dissertation. Move on. It’s just the way it is.
In this coffee shop sipping a cup of freshly brewed French Roast, (better than a Vancouver Starbucks!), SWF listened with her eyes. She was compassionate but ever so slightly distant. She doesn’t seem to realize how much others from the outside can perceive her knowledge. It is what at times makes her intimidating. Her three generation life story is the stuff of Inuit social history. She seems to almost be unaware of how important that story is. She was surprised that the First Nations cared about the creation of Nunavut. I remember our first class together. She spoke so softly but she was so firm, so insistent, modest and dignified. The wails I had heard by the open graves that still echo in my mind, were all too familiar to her. Slowly, insistently she explained to me as if I really needed to listen, remember, register this. “We do not need your tears. We have enough of our own. We do not need you to fix this. We need your respect. We need you to not make it worse. We need you to listen to us, really listen. Alone, with no resources an elder has been taking them out on the land. She gets no funding. What she has done works. The funding is going elsewhere on projects that are promoted by the insiders. Inuit like her are not insiders.”

Uploaded by ocean.flynn on 2 Dec 2006, 11.00AM MDT.

Selected Timeline of the Social History of Participatory Action Research (PAR) Methodologies

Selected Timeline of the Social History of Participatory Action Research (PAR) Methodologies
(Slightly adapted from a timeline I developed on my Carleton University web page (2003) to complement and share my PhD comprehensive exam).  

1913 Moreno, Dr. Jacob Levy, (1889-1974) originated psychodrama, sociodrama, role training, sociometry, group psychotherapy. Moreno left Vienna and moved to America in 1925. He was influential in the social sciences. He originated psychodrama in 1921 a forerunner of creative arts therapies. He founded the American Society of Group Psychotherapy and Psychodrama (ASGPP) in 1942. In 1918 Moreno was using the term ‘drama’ to refer to “the activation of religious, ethical and cultural values in spontaneous-dramatic form”. It has been argued that the Austrian physician, social philospher, and poet Jacob Moreno was a pioneer in developing the idea of practitioner research (Gunz, 1996).”McTaggert (1992:2) cites work by Gstettner and Altricher which has a physician named Moreno using group participation in 1913 in a community development initiative with prostitutes in Vienna. ”

1940’s Kurt Lewin is often credited with being the “father” of action research, especially in social psychology and education (for example, Kemmis, 1988: 29). When Lewin went to the US, he had been much influenced by Moreno, the inventor of group dynamics and sociodrama and psychodrama. Moreno had already developed a view of action research in which the “action” was about activism, not just about changing practice or behaviour understood in narrowly individualistic terms. Moreno was interested in research as a part of social movement. “Despite the clouded origins of action research, Kurt Lewin, in the mid 1940s constructed a theory of action research, which described action research as “proceeding in a spiral of steps, each of which is composed of planning, action and the evaluation of the result of action” (Kemmis and McTaggert 1990:8). ”

1945 – 1975 The new First Nations middle class emerged in Canada during the period of rapid growth following WWII (1945 – 1975) and includes managers, administrators, professionals and technicians. Cree bureaucrats in James Bay and the Alaskan business class emerged and reproduced itself. These groups mastered the technical idiom and directed PAR. They shared middle-class values with non-aboriginals and recognised that a fully-participatory research process which included all classes of aboriginal society, would challenge the status quo. (Jackson 1993:55) 

1960 “The Rockefeller Foundation opened a field office in Cali, Colombia in 1960, ten years after the establishment of the Colombian Agricultural Program in Bogota. Guy S. Hayes, an Assistant Director in the Medical and Natural Sciences division, held the post of Field Director in Cali from 1960 until 1970. After 1970, the office was headed by Foundation Representatives Patrick N. Owens (1970-1974) and Farzam Arbab (1974-1978). The office closed on December 31, 1983.”

1973 International Council for Adult Education: Toronto, ON founded by J. Roby Kidd. In 1975 this organization became a major advocate of participatory action research. The ICAE involved local communities in data collection and problem identification. Academics, who were also community workers, collaborated with local community participants on research projects. “The overall objective of the Council is to promote human resource development, to enable people to participate more fully in determining their economic, social, political and cultural development.” International Council for Adult Education  The aim of the Council is to promote the education of adults in accordance with the development needs of individuals, communities and societies as a way of enhancing international understanding; achieving economic and social development; advancing the skills and competencies of individuals and groups.

1960s Migration of Aboriginal people to urban areas grew in 1960s and 1970s. (Jackson 1993:58)  “Fin des années ’60, se développa une rébellion contre le savoir universitaire, notamment par la recherche appelée en Allemagne “Aktivierende Befragung” (enquête mobilisatrice). Il s’agissait, par exemple, d’aller de porte à porte dans les quartiers pour entamer une conversation dont le but était d’inviter à la réflexion. Ainsi, tel agent dit “il paraît que le club de jeunes du quartier cause des problèmes car il y a eu vandalisme. Qu’en pensez-vous ?”. La synthèse des conversations ayant été faite, celle-ci est restituée aux gens du quartier, par pâté de maison. Cette enquête débouche sur une action en commun. Convergence the International Journal of Adult Education, has been providing a forum for international exchange on current developments in adult education since 1968. An issue was devoted to Participatory Research in 1988: 1988. “Participatory Research” Convergence Vol.XXI:2/3.

1970’s Aboriginal leadership and the new middle class: Throughout the 1970s aboriginal members of the new middle class initiated and directed PAR. (Jackson 1993:55) 

1970’S Critiques of positivistic research paradigms emerged in the work of Habermas, Adorno and the Frankfurt School.

1974-? Edward Jackson worked for several years as field coordinator for Frontier College in the Atlantic Provinces of Canada. 

1971 Paulo Freire visited Tanzania in 1971 and observed the Participatory Research work as self-defined by Marja Liisa Swantz.

1971 Paulo Freire visited Tanzania in 1971 and observed Swantz’ methodologies which he then introduced to international social scientists. (Hall 1994:3331).

1960’s? – 1970’s Marja Liisa Swantz. worked with students and women village workers in the Tanzanian coastal region using a method which she self-defined as Participatory Research. Paulo Freire visited Tanzania in 1971 and observed Swantz’ methodologies which he then introduced to international social scientists. (Hall 1994:3331). Budd Hall credits Swantz work with influencing his own. “Marja Liisa Swantz was a social scientist attached to the Bureau for Land Use and Productivity (BRALUP) of the University of Dar es Salaam. She and a group of students from the University of Dar es Salaam including Kemal Mustapha who was later to become the African coordinator for participatory research were working in an engaged way with women and others in the costal region of Tanzania. Through this practice she and the others began to articulate what she called “participant research”.” (Hall, Budd 1997) 

1970-74 Budd Hall worked at the Institute of Adult Education of the University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Hall described how he and many co-workers were transformed by the “…ideas, strategies and programmes of the Tanzanian government of the day articulated most effectively by President Julius Nyerere. Nyerere himself a former teacher had written much about the capacity of education to unchain people just as it had been used by the colonial powers to enchain a people. The philosophy of Ujamaa and Self-Reliance, concepts of what we would call today Afro-centric development and local economic development were open challenges to the way that the rich countries saw the world. Tanzania and Tanzanians were is so many ways telling the world that the ’emperor has no clothes’. Nyerere and a generation of articulate and gifted leaders such as Paul Mhaiki in adult education challenged all who were working in Tanzania, national and expatriate alike, to look through a different lens to understand education, agriculture, development, history, culture and eventually for some of us even research and evaluation methods. We were all encouraged to ‘meet the masses more’ and while on a day to day basis this was difficult to understand, over time many of us were profoundly transformed.” (Hall, Budd 1997) 

1974 Fundacion para la Aplicacion de las Ciencias (FUNDAEC), a nongovernmental development agency in Colombia was founded by a group of professionals from a variety of disciplines, concerned about the negative impacts of the development processes set in motion after WWII, outlined in their frequent deliberations what eventually became a model for the integral development of rural areas, rooted in a meaningful participation of its inhabitants. The group was led by Farzam Arbab, a renowned physicist who had arrived as a visiting professor to the Universidad del Valle in 1970.” “The Rockefeller Foundation opened a field office in Cali, Colombia in 1960, ten years after the establishment of the Colombian Agricultural Program in Bogota. Farzam Arbab headed the program from 1974-1978. Farzam Arbab was a member of the NSA of Colombia from 1970 – 1980. Dr. Arbab holds a BA from Amherst College, Massachusetts (1964), a doctorate in elementary particle physics from the University of California, Berkeley (1968), and an honorary doctorate in science from Amherst College (1989). Farzam Arbab served as president of Fundacion para la Aplicacion de las Ciencias (FUNDAEC), a nongovernmental development agency in Colombia, from 1974 to 1988, and continues to serve on its board of directors. “Farzam Arbab’s doctorate in theoretical particle physics (1968) led him to Colombia to work with the University Development Program of the Rockefeller Foundation to strengthen the Department of Physics at the Universidad del Valle. While there he began to study the relationship between science, technology, and educational policy and their effects on development, which led him and a group of colleagues to form the Fundación para la Aplicación y Enseñanza de las Ciencias (Foundation for the Application and Teaching of Science).”

1974-75 Budd Hall was a visiting fellow at the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex from 1974 – 1975. While at Sussex he met international researchers like Francisco Vio Grossi from Chile and Rajesh Tandon from India, who shared his research interests. (Hall, Budd 1997) 

1975 While at Sussex Budd Hall compiled a special issue of the journal Convergence on the theme of what he labelled ‘Participatory Research’. Hall chose the term ‘participatory research’ to encompass the collection of varied research approaches, including Swantz’ ‘Partipant Research’ and the European ‘Action Research’ which ‘shared a participatory ethos.’ (Hall, Budd 1997) 

1976 First World Assembly of the International Council for Adult Education which took place in Dar es Salaam in 1976. 

1970s “La critique la plus tranchée est intervenue dans les années ’70 et vient des universitaires engagés du Sud s’insurgeant contre l’aspect élitiste, importé, ethnocentrique du savoir occidental. D’autres épistémologies furent proposées, notamment par Orlando Fals-Borda (Colombien), Mohammed Anisur Rahman (Bangladeshi) et Budd Hall (Canadien travaillant en Tanzanie). (Se référer à Fals-Borda et Rahman Action and knowledge. Breaking the monopoly with P.A.R., Apex Press, N.Y. 1991). C’est Budd Hall qui lanca le vocable Participatory Action-Research (P.A.R.) ou RAP : “recherche-action-participative” au cours de son travail visant à associer les villageois ujamaa de Tanzanie à sa recherche-action.” Network Cultures 

1977 the International Council of Adult Education supported the initiation of a global network in Participatory Research that brought together the work of a growing number of practitioners/scholars already engaged participatory research practices in different parts of the world. Budd Hall, Edward Jackson, dian marino and Deborah Barndt. This included Orlando Fals-Borda and colleagues in Colombia, Francisco Vio Grossi in Chile, Rahman in Bangladesh and Hall in Tanzania. (Hall, Budd 1997) (Fischer 1996)  

1977 In the early stages of participatory action research many academics left their institutional posts to engage in more militant activism. Inspiration was garnered from humanist philosophies, from the writings of Ghandhi and in the contemporary version of Marxist thought. Orlando describes this stage as iconoclastic where no established institutions were trusted. (Orlando 1992:15) 

1977 World Symposium on Action-Research and Scientific Analysis was held in Cartagena, Columbia. This event was organised by Orlando Fals-Borda and Columbian institutions along with other national and international bodies. The theories of Antonio Gramsci offered new insights into participation. (Orlando 1992:15) Hall asserts that Fals-Borda originated the term “Participatory Action Research.” Budd Hall recalled that this Symposium “totally and efficiently dismissed for once and for all the pretention of detached positivist science.” (Hall, Budd 1997) 

1977 A follow-up meeting was held in Aurora, Ontario with Budd Hall, dian marino, Edward Jackson, Yusuf Kassam (Tanzania), Abdelwahid Yousif (Sudan), Per Stensland (USA), Helen Callaway (UK), Greg Conchelos, Paz Buttedahl, Francisco Vio Grossi, a colleague from India. The participants at that meeting produced a working definition of Participatory Research. 1. PR involves a whole range of powerless groups of people–exploited, the poor, the oppressed, the marginal. 2. It involves the full and active participation of the community in the entire research process. 3. The subject of the research originates in the community itself and the problem is defined, analyzed and solved by the community. 4. The ultimate goal is the radical transformation of social reality and the improvement of the lives of the people themselves. The beneficiaries of the research are the members of the community. 5. the process of participatory research can create a greater awareness in the people of their own resources and mobilize them for self-reliant development. 6.It is a more scientific method or research in that the participation of the community in the research process facilitates a more accurate and authentic analysis of social reality. 7. The researcher is a committed participant and learner in the process of research, i.e. a militant rather than a detached observer.(Hall, 1978:5) (Hall, Budd 1997)

1978 There were five nodes in the Participatory Action network: Toronto; New Delhi-Rajesh Tandon, coordinator; Dar es Salaam, Tanzania – Yusuf Kassam, coordinator; Netherlands – Jan de Vries, coordinator; Caracas, Venezuela – Francisco Vio Grossi, Coordinator.(Hall, Budd 1997) 

1979 There were meetings in New Delhi organized by Rajesh Tandon, at Highlander Research and Education Centre hosted by John Gaventa.(Hall, Budd 1997) 

1970’s

Stenhouse, L. (1979) ‘Using research means doing research’ in Dahl H et al (eds). “Spotlight on educational research, Oslo University Press. Stenhouse brought action research to the field of education in Britain and did much to popularise the idea of the teacher as a researcher, the classroom as a laboratory and teachers as part of a ‘scientific community’.” 

1981 “Breaking Ground: The Role of Popular Education and Research in Social Movements” was organised by Deborah Barndt. This conference looked at case studies from Nicaragua(Francisco Lacayo), Quebec (Paul Belanger) and Highlander Centre in the USA (Myles Horton and John Gaventa). This conference not only spoke of popular education and participatory research but was organized along the principles themselves.(Hall, Budd 1997) 

1982

At the 20th World Congress of Sociology in Mexico City Participatory Action-Research expanded its scope from the “micro, local and peasant community to the complex, urban, economic and regional.” (Fals-Borda 1992:16) 

1980s Migration of Aboriginal people to urban areas stabilized. (Jackson 1993:58) 

1980 “Native women are not represented at the leadership and decision-making level of Native organizations.” (Tobias 1980:16 cited in Jackson 1993:59) 

1980s Neoconservative wave cut into social services, human rights. (Jackson 1993:61) 

1980s Canadian government took aggressive stance vis-a-vis National Energy Programs and aboriginal communities. (Jackson 1993:52) 

Bill C-48 Canada Lands Legislation permitted exploration and extraction activities by resource corporations on Aboriginal lands before land claims were settled. (Jackson 1993:51) 

1987

In Doing Participatory Research: A Feminist ApproachPatricia Maguire revealed how the early writings most often spoke in genderless and race-neutral terms such as the community, the people, the marginalized, the exploited, or the poor(Maguire, 1987).”Maguire’s work advanced our collective understanding of how gender and participatory research works together and how many of us, myself included, contributed to the silencing of women’s perspectives through our own language and experiences.” .(Hall, Budd 1997) 

1988

Since 1988, The South-North Network Cultures & Development has been addressing the essential role of cultural dynamics within society.Cultures & Development Journal Network Cultures-Europe, Brussels, Belguim 

1988 Pam Colorado of the University of Calgary linked PAR to IK. Colorado suggested PAR could act as ‘flow-through” mechanism between western science and Indigenous Knowledge. Colorado identified a number of characteristics associated with both IK and PAR: “… a commitment to qualitative research, local participation, the learning process, the value of fun in research work, and the role of professionals in facilitation and group building…” (Colorado 1988:64 cited in Jackson 1993:62) 

1990? Trent University offered a PAR course in their Native economic development and small business management courses. 

1990 A turning point in relations between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Canadians. (Jackson 1993:61) 

1990 Elijah Harper, an Aboriginal legislator from Manitoba voted against the Meech Lake Accord, a constitutional amendment to bestow special protection of Quebec’s cultural status in Canada. (Jackson 1993:61) 

1990 Traditionalists and heavily armed Mohawks at Oka manned a series of protest blockades for a month in the summer. The Canadian Army was called in drawing international attention and placing Aboriginal rights on the public agenda. (Jackson 1993:61) 

1990? Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) urged non-Aboriginal researchers to take their ethical and cultural direction from Aboriginal communities. (Jackson 1993:63) 

1991 Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples is the most ambitious PAR ever. (Jackson 1993:60) 

1990

Sage published William Foote Whyte’s manuscript entitled “Participatory Action Research.” In this version of the history of Action Research, Lewin was credited with being its founder in the 1940’s. Whyte made no reference to Fals Borda, Hall, Tandon, Brown, Swantz, Maguire or any of the thousands of both Northern and Majority world writers who had been using the same term. 

1993 Aboriginal working class: Jackson argues that the aboriginal working class has been ignored by aboriginal groups whose administrators are largely middle class. Of the entire Aboriginal population it is estimated that about 25% are permanently unemployed. (Loxley, John University of Manitoba cited in Jackson 1993:58) 

1990s Aboriginal movement in Canada now uses more traditional social science methods including surveys along with other qualitative PAR methods. (Jackson 1993:53) 

 

VOICES OF CHANGE: Aboriginal-centred and Inuit-centred participatory action research projects:

PHASE I Aboriginal PAR: Land Use and Occupation

 

c.1965 Community self-surveys (CENTRAD 1973; Ponting and Gibbons 1980 cited in Jackson 1993:49.) 

1968 – discovery of oil and gas, Prudhoe Bay, Alaska 

1968 – Inter-departmental Task Force on Northern Oil development 

C.1970’s Land Use and Occupancy Studies (Jackson 1993:50) 

1970 – Imperial Oil discovery of oil and gas in the Mackenzie Delta 

1970 – General guidelines for the construction and operation of oil and gas pipelines in the Mackenzie Valley and Northern Yukon 

1971 – Environmental Social Program 

1972 – Expanded Guidelines for Northern Pipelines 

1974 – Canadian Arctic Gas Application 

1974 – Government creates the Pipeline Application Assessment Group 

1974 – Environmental Protection Board 

1974 – Independent Mackenzie Valley Pipeline Inquiry 

1974 British Columbia Nazko-Kluskus Land Use (cited in Jackson 1993:50)

1974 – 1977: Mr. Justice Thomas Berger’s enquiry was established on March 21, 1974. “Northern Frontier – Northern Homeland: The Report of the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline
Inquiry.”

1976 The Alcan Project proposed to carry natural gas by pipeline from Prudhoe Bay to the continental United States. It was put forward by a consortium of companies but it would have been Foothills Pipelines (Yukon) that would be building the Yukon portion of the pipeline. http://www.economicdevelopment.yk.ca/industry/OilAndGas/businessdevelopment/Lysyk%20Inquiry.htm

1977 Dene land use and occupancy study led to claims made by Dene Nation. Nahanni Butte is one of the Deh Cho’ communities. Nahanni Dene speak Slavey. (Nahanni 1977 cited in Jackson 1993:50) 

1978 Mackenzie Valley proposed pipeline was prevented due to the inquiry into Dene Land Use (Jackson 1978) 

1977 Eastern Arctic Inuit land use led to claims made by Inuit Tapirisat (Brice-Bennett 1977 cited in Jackson 1993:51) 

1977 Northern Ontario Nishnawbe-Aski Land Use (Sieciechowicz 1977 cited in Jackson 1993:50) 

Freeman, M. 1976. Inuit Land Use and Occupancy Project, Vol. 3: Land Use Atlas. Ottawa: Dept. of Indian and Northern Affairs. 

1970s Other Land Use and Occupation Studies led to Committee for Original People’s Entitlement (The Inuit of the Western Arctic) (Jackson 1993:51) PHASE II Aboriginal PAR: Water, Sanitation, Health, Housing, Social Services

 Late 1970’s Aboriginal-initiated, community-directed research on water, sanitation, health, housing, social services. (Jackson 1993:50) These studies used qualitative methodologies. (Jackson 1993:53)

1977 Trout Lake Band Council This PAR Cree-centred project (1977 – early 1980s) used local research committees, community seminars, study trips and local training along with reports in Cree syllabics. The research was designed to select a water and sewage system for the community. The choice was between a costly sewer line to service a small minority of non-Aboriginal houses (termed ‘technical apartheid’) vs a trucked water and waste system that would serve all the community. The more democratic second system was chosen. The project received international attention. (Jackson 1993:52) 

late 1970’s Union of Ontario Indians engaged in PAR health policy production. (Jackson 1993:52) 

1979 Native Canadian Centre, Toronto initiated a social services needs assessment. Aboriginal-initiated PAR used network sampling methods, long interviews with open-ended questions, coffee gatherings to present the results and obtain feedback. (Bobiwash and Malloch 1980 in Jackson 1993:53) 

1980 National Royal Commisson on Indian and Inuit Health (Jackson 1993:53) 

1980s Health steering committee formed of community health representatives, band council members, citizens at large. (Jackson 1993:53) 

late 1970’s Aboriginal participatory research began to focus on women as a group (Jackson 1993:50)

PHASE III Aboriginal PAR: Alternative Economic Strategies

late 1970’s Aboriginal communities use PAR to identify alternative economic strategies (Jackson 1993:50) 

1977 Nahanni described the outside professional, non-Aboriginal researcher as a spy who writes in codes and does not share research findings. Dene, on the other hand were described as belonging to a brotherhood. (Jackson 1993:51) This professional researcher-researched dichotomy existed in the 1970s where disempowered groups were negotiating land claims with governments and institutions linked directly or indirectly to the outside, professional, non-Aboriginal researcher. 

early 1980’s Aboriginal communities begin to use PAR to develop alternative economic strategies (Jackson 1993:50) 1981 Council for Yukon Indians (CYI) recommended a comprehensive training plan for Yukon Indian People. (Council for Yukon Indians 1981a cited in Jackson 1993:54) 

1982 Kayahna Tribal area used PAR methods in economic development planning and implementation. 

1982 Canadian Journal of Native Studies published a special issue on the role of outsiders from outside the Aboriginal community in contributing “knowledge of the functioning of institutions of the larger society as they impinge on native concerns while community members provide expertise in defining the issues and in culturally and behaviourally appropriate ways of addressing them. Together both groups search for methods of linking resources to communities to solve development issues.” (Jackson et al. 1982:5 cited in Jackson 1993:62) 

1984 Pauktuutit was incorporated in 1984 as the national association that represents all Inuit women in Canada. Issues researched include family violence, justice, youth, health, social issues, FAS, 

1985 Faculty and students of the Department of Native Studies at Trent University produced a set of guidelines for doing participatory oral history research in Aboriginal communities. (Conchelos 1985 cited in Jackson 1993:62)

1985 Old Crow community in northern Yukon produced a socioeconomic plan for sustainable resources use with PAR methods. (Jackson 1993:62) 

Native Canadians refer to themselves as Aboriginal peoples, First Nations or First Peoples. Aboriginal peoples and Aboriginal movement are central to the current political, economic and social activism of Native Canadians. (Jackson 1993:64) 

PHASE IV Aboriginal and Inuit PAR: Alternative Cultural Strategies

1. Language education, protection and survival

2. Interviewing the Elders

1996 Oral Traditions Course offered at Nunavut Arctic College Interviewing Inuit Elders: Introduction The Oral History Project grew out of the Oral Traditions course held at the Iqaluit campus of Nunavut Arctic College in 1996. The College invited Inuit elders to be interviewed, in Inuktitut, by the eight students taking the course that year.(Iqaluit, 1999).

1998 course offered at Nunavut Arctic College, Iqaluit, NU in the Inuit Studies Program supervised by Susan Sammons and Alexina Kublu.

3. Negotiating interfaces with provincial, federal and corporate bodies that deal in cultural industries

4. Integration of IQ and IK in all areas involving Aboriginal and Indigenous culture

 

1999

Culture, Language, Elders and Youth (CLEY) is formed as a disctinctive aspect of the Nunavut government. 

2002

“The True North Strong and Free – SYMPOSIUM REPORT.” June 17 – 19. The focus of the Symposium was to examine the impact of the benchmark Berger Inquiry over the past twenty five years and to explore ways in which Berger’s findings and recommendations may guide future northern endeavors. The Berger Inquiry set a number of precedents that have impacted on research with aboriginal, Metis and Inuit communities over the past twenty five years. Besides the body of recommendations produced from this research, Berger also developed a new and innovative research methodology and introduced a new concept of intervener funding. (Intervener funding refers to the provision of funds to environmental and Aboriginal groups for the purpose of hiring independent experts. Intervener funding concept acknowledges that there is a need for factual balance in research projects where the loss and/or benefit to concerned stakeholders may otherwise impair objectivity of the findings.) and the Berger’s innovative methodology in which he brought the researchers to the people directly affected by the research and heard from them exhaustively, was ‘new’ in the 1970s. 

References

(complete bibliography here)

Arbab, Farzam. 1997. “Rural University: Learning about Education and Development.” International Development Research Centre, Ottawa, Canada.

Freeman, M. 1976. Inuit Land Use and Occupancy Project, Vol. 3: Land Use Atlas. Ottawa: Dept. of Indian and Northern Affairs. 

Bibliography from Jackson:

Jackson, Ted. “A Way of Working: Participatory Research and the Aboriginal Movement in Canada.” in Park, Peter et al. 1993. Voices of Change: Participatory Research in the United States and Canada.London: Bergin and Garvey. 

Apple, Michael W. 1982. Education and Power. Boston: Routledge and Kegan Paul. Bell, Daniel. 1974. The Coming of Post-Industrial Society. London: Heinemann. 

Berger, T. R. 1980. Report of the Commission on Indian and Inuit Health Consultation. Ottawa: Health and Welfare Canada. 

Berger, T. R. 1985. Village Journey: The Report of the Alaska Native Review Commission. New York: Hill and Wang. 

Bobiwash, L. And L. Malloch. 1980. A Family Needs Survey of the Native Community in Toronto. Toronto: Native Canadian Centre. 

Bottomore, Tom. 1984. The Frankfurt School. London: Tavistock Publications. 

Brice-Bennet, C. Ed. 1977. Our Footprints Are Everywhere: Inuit Land Use and Occupation in Labrador. Ottawa: Queen’s Printer. 

Bronfenbrenner, Urie. 1972. “Lewinian Space and Ecological Space.” Journal of Social Issues. 33 (4). 

Castellano, Marlene Brant. 1983. “Canadian Case Study: The Role of Adult Education Promoting Community Involvement in Primary Health Care.” Unpublished manuscript. Trent University. 

Castellano, Marlene Brant. 1986. “Collective Wisdom: Participatory Research and Canada’s Native People.” Convergence. 19 (3):50-53. 

CENTRAD (Centre for Training, Research and Development). 1973. Small Business Management: Instructors’ Manual. Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. 

Colorado, Pamela. 1988. “Bridging Native and Western Science.” Convergence. 21 (2-3): 49 – 68. 

Conchelos, Greg. 1985. Participatory Oral History Research in Native Communities: Some Problems and Emerging Guidelines for Doing It. Prepared for the Conference on Participatory Research for Community Action, University of Massachussets at Amherst. 

Conchelos, Greg. 1988. “Knowledge Systems, Environmental Impact Assessment and Participatory Research.” Draft manuscript, Carleton University? Peterborough. 

Conchelos, Greg abd Ted Jackson. 1980. “Participatory Research for Community Education: Comparing Urban and Rural Experiences.” Presented to the Canadian Community Education Conference, Brandon, Manitoba. 

Lather, Patti. 1986. “Research as Praxis.” Harvard Educational Review. 56 (3): 257-277. August.

1993 Farzam Arbab elected as member of international House. . .

© Maureen Flynn-Burhoe 2002. Uploaded to aflicktion March 2009.

Qualitative Researchers at risk to emotional harm

This research resonated with my own experience providing me with a body of literature, a lexicon and and lens through which something that left me speechless might someday be spoken. 

 

“The first thing to note is that the concept of ‘duty of care’ is spelled out from the outset. This includes a reference to a moral obligation on behalf of those working in the University: The University must exercise a “duty of care” to employees and to those under supervision and this duty is recognised in both criminal and civil law. There is also a moral duty that the teacher has towards the pupil. (University ‘A’ Occupational Safety, Health and Environment Unit 2004: 4) It is then explained that it is through a system of ‘line management’ that the University’s statutory requirements are expected to be met. In University ‘A’ formal responsibilities for issues of fieldworker safety are delegated to Heads of Departments. It is therefore for the Head of Department to ensure that the risk assessment for the fieldwork is made and to ensure that safe systems of work have been established for all staff and students. Frequently the Head of Department will delegate this duty to a particular member of staff as Departmental Safety Officer, or to different research managers – PhD supervisors and Principal Investigators (Bloor, Fincham and Sampson 2007-06).”

A number of authors have stated that researchers can be negatively affected emotionally and physically by research on sensitive issues (Alexander et al. 1989; Burr 1995; Cowles 1988; Dunn 1991; Gregory, Russell and Phillips 1997; Lee 1995; McCosker, Barnard and Gerber 2001). Some of the possible negative outcomes include gastrointestinal problems (Dunn 1991), insomnia and nightmares (Cowles 1988; Dunn 1991; Etherington 1996), headaches (Dunn 1991), exhaustion and depression (Ridge, Hee and Aroni 1999) and threats to physical safety (Langford 2000; Lee 1995). (Dickson-Swift et al. 2006: 857) (Bloor, Fincham and Sampson 2007-06).”

“There are two manifestations of resistance to researchers documented in the literature. One relates to unwillingness on the part of potential research participants to cooperate, and to be obstructive, and the other relates to unco-operativeness on the part of those connected with research participants – for example ‘gate keepers’. For anthropologists the separation of these two sites of resistance is often complicated, as in a study of a particular community there might be no distinction between a participant and a gate keeper (Bloor, Fincham and Sampson 2007-06:32).”

The process of ‘pain by proxy’ described by Moran-Ellis (Moran-Ellis 1997: 181) appears to have resonance for many researchers. The emotional strain of having to deal with distressing situations or narratives can be acute. It should be noted that there is also a literature concerned with the emotional impact of disturbing data on those not directly involved with the gathering of the data. Transcribers and PIs have been singled out as particularly vulnerable to this effect (McCosker et al. 2001). Hochschild’s description of ‘deep acting’ (Hochschild 1983: 42-3), may mask levels of upset or even trauma suffered by researchers who feel their professional integrity would be brought into question if such upset were acknowledged. However, increasingly there is recognition that the issue of emotional well-being is of great importance to researchers, research institutions and the integrity of qualitative research itself (Bloor, Fincham and Sampson 2007-06:34).

“With regard to PhD students, several contributions highlighted the ambiguous position of research students when it comes to the requirements of PhD research and risk to well-being. It is often the case that a precondition of PhD funding in the social sciences is that it is original research. In some instances this means that the specific research arena has not been previously entered. Therefore the potential risks in such research arenas are, to certain extent, untested. In these circumstances it is inevitable that PhD students become their own risk assessors and the least experienced in research can find themselves in the most exposed positions when it comes to potential harm (Bloor, Fincham and Sampson 2007-06:34).”

“There was discussion of what one contributor called ‘re-entry shock’. This was described in relation to both returning to a research site, but also adjusting back to a ‘normal’ life after extended periods of field research. One researcher reported the isolation they felt when trying to readjust to their life after particularly intense fieldwork. The final area of discussion in the emotional impact involved the possible damage done by the misrepresentation of results, particularly in popular media. Once again the need for specialist training and awareness programmes to be provided through institutions was highlighted (Bloor, Fincham and Sampson 2007-06:45).”

Sampson, Helen; Bloor, Michael; Fincham, Ben. “A Price Worth Paying? Considering the `Cost’ of Reflexive Research Methods and the Influence of Feminist Ways of `Doing.’ Sociology, 42:5:919-933 (2008) DOI: 10.1177/0038038508094570.

Abstract: “Drawing on analysis of relevant literature, focus groups, and web-based discussion board postings, assembled as part of an inquiry into risks to the well-being of qualitative researchers, it is argued that emotional harm is more prevalent than physical harm and may be particularly associated with reflexivity and the important influence of feminist research methods. The particular concern of feminist researchers with reflexivity, with research relationships and with the interests of research participants may make them especially vulnerable to emotional harm.”

Bloor, Michael; Fincham, Ben; Sampson, Helen. 2007-06. Qualiti (NCRM) Commissioned Inquiry into the Risk to Well-Being of Researchers in Qualitative Research.

Risk to emotional well-being of researchers involved in qualitative research, Role conflict, Anxiety, Isolation, Resistance, Unanticipated long term impact of research, Staying emotionally/psychologically safe

 

 

---

 

Commissioned Inquiry. 2006-03. “Risk to well-being of researchers in qualitative research”

Original Call for Evidence: Submissions/evidence are invited as part of an inquiry into risks to the well-being of researchers in qualitative research. Those persons submitting evidence may wish to draw our attention to lessons to be learned from experience. We are interested in submissions based on the experiences of researchers, research supervisors, members of ethics committees and anyone else involved in any aspect of the conduct and management of qualitative research. Submissions may embrace practical, regulatory and/or ethical issues and risks may include threats to mental/emotional health as well as exposure to physical hazards. The Inquiry is being conducted as part of the activities being undertaken by ‘Qualiti’, the Cardiff Node of the UK Economic and Social Research Council’s National Research Methods Centre. The aim of the inquiry is to produce guidelines for good practice of value to researchers, supervisors and other parties.

Broad Overview: There are risks to researchers in undertaking fieldwork. Some of these are obvious, some less so. These risks may impact on the physical, emotional or social well-being of researchers. Whilst there has been a concentration of effort in ensuring research ‘subjects’ are protected from the potentially harmful consequences of research (through ‘informed consent’ for example), there has been much less thought about protection of researchers from potential harm. It is likely too that researchers undertaking qualitative fieldwork are exposed to particular forms of risks, which arise from the characteristic emphasis of qualitative approaches on conducting research in naturalistic settings.

Qualitative researchers may experience a range of risks. Some risks relate to the physical well-being of researchers and correspond to conventional health and safety considerations in employment of all kinds. It is not difficult to think of situations in which researchers may be at risk of violence or other physical danger. Equally, researchers may become emotionally threatened, where, for example, the data being collected are distressing or the settings emotionally taxing. These different types of risk reflect the objectives of the research, the settings in which it is conducted and the characteristics of the participants in the research, both ‘subjects’ and researchers.

Researcher risks are a matter of urgent interest to a range of parties, not just researchers, but also research supervisors, research funders, insurers, ethicists, occupational health and safety personnel and others. Evidence and opinions are invited from all interested parties.

There have been past occasions where qualitative researchers have entered the field without fully understanding the implications of the research setting on their well-being. This is a situation paralleling a failure of ‘informed consent’, researchers should be able to make judgements as to the suitability of a research context with regard to ‘acceptable’ and ‘unacceptable’ risk of harm to them. Clearly, it is desirable to develop ‘good practice’ guides and recommendations to reduce risks to qualitative researchers. However, practice guides should be such that they do not threaten the integrity of the research process itself. This is especially pertinent given that much qualitative research is carried out in naturalistic settings and, more specifically, is frequently dependent upon the quality of the relationships between ‘subjects’ and researchers.

It is recognised that researcher risk may vary by gender as well as by setting. Submissions are welcomed which document and explore this gender dimension.

This inquiry aims to collate and analyse accounts of qualitative research where issues of risk may have been present to locate these accounts in the existing research methods literature and to draw out practical recommendations.

Moderated Forum: Evidence for the inquiry will be gathered via a moderated web-based forum. On this forum contributors will be asked to submit evidence under one of four topic themes. This evidence will then be placed on the website in an appropriate topic stream. It is anticipated that aside from gathering evidence this will also generate online discussion around issues arising from evidence.

Screen Teens for Most Extreme Consequence of Psychiatric Illness: Suicide

The most extreme consequence of mental illness is suicide. Acute psychiatric emergency utterly changes people, especially youth, causing extreme social isolation. Yet in 2008 mental illness remained ” a public health crisis [. . .] shrouded in misconceptions and misunderstandings. [. . .] These illnesses are serious, disabling, sometimes crippling, and all too often fatal. They deserve to be treated with respect, and those who suffer from them should not experience prejudice,” says Dr. Milliken. “If we treat both the illness and the individual with respect, without fear and in a straightforward manner, then we will legitimately look at trying to provide a range of options to help those individuals recover and resume their place in our families, our friendships, and our society, just as we do for other medical conditions.”

• “In Ontario, an estimated 530,000 children and adolescents have treatable mental illnesses, but only 150,000 are getting care.
• The youth suicide rate — 18 deaths per 100,000 — actually understates the loss of life because many kids overdose on drugs or die in violence. It also masks the staggeringly high rate — 108 per 100,000 — among aboriginal youth.
• Children wait one third longer than adults for psychiatric care in Ontario. They wait seven times as long as patients needing MRI or CT scans.
• Canada produces just 10 child psychiatrists a year (Goar 2005-02-11).”

Timeline

1958 The Canadian federal government started funding hospitals but excluded asylums (Bacic 2008-08).

1970s Canadian Federal Policies of “deinstitutionalization forced patients out of [mental health] care with no investment in community supports for [mental health] sufferers (Bacic 2008-08). Dr. Donald Milliken, president of the Canadian Psychiatric Association and a practitioner with nearly 40 years of experience, recalls his experience as a medical resident in 1970: “They gave me the keys to a ward and said, ‘There are 100 patients in there. Discharge 50.’ G&M”

2005-02-11 Senator Michael Kirby, head of the committee examining Canada’s mental health system met with “30 child psychiatrists, medical researchers, mental health advocates and parents at a
roundtable on kids and mental health, organized by business leaders and hosted by Scotiabank. [. . . ] Canada has the “worst adolescent suicide rate among the world’s leading industrial powers. Every year, 300 kids between the ages of 10 and 19 kill themselves [C]anada is doing an abysmal job — worse than the United States, Japan, Israel, Bulgaria, Belarus or Ukraine — of addressing the root causes of teen suicide (Goar 2005-02-11).”

2006-05 Senators Michael Kirby and Wilbert Joseph Keon tabled the Canadian Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology report entitled “Out of the Shadows at Last: Transforming Mental Health, Mental Illness and Addiction Services in Canada.”

2006-12-28 “In the United States, suicide is the third-leading cause of death among persons 15 to 19 years of age. In 2005 alone, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 16.9% of U.S. high school students seriously considered suicide, and 8.4% had attempted suicide at least once during the preceding year (Friedman 2006-12-28).”

2008 The Globe and Mail printed a week-long series entitled “Breakdown: Canada’s mental health crisis.” “Columnists André Picard, Dawn Walton and Elizabeth Renzetti examined critical aspects of Canada’s mental health crisis, including how one-third of general hospital beds are filled with mentally ill patients, how 70 per cent of people with severe mental illness are working despite their illness, and how jails and penitentiaries have become warehouses for the mentally ill [. . . ] “Canada still doesn’t have a coherent strategy for treating the mentally ill,” says Ed Greenspon, The Globe and Mail’s editor-in-chief.” (Bacic 2008-08)

Who’s Who

Jennifer Chambers, co-ordinator of the Empowerment Council, an advocacy group for Canadian Association of Mental Health patients.

Anita Szigeti, lawyer for the Empowerment Council, an advocacy group for Canadian Association of Mental Health patients.

Vahe Kehyayan, director of the Psychiatric Patient Advocacy Office.

Simon Davidson, chief of psychiatry at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario.

Senator Michael Kirby, heads of the committee examining Canada’s mental health system.

Donald Milliken, past-president of the Canadian Psychiatric Association.

Richard Guscott, a Hamilton psychiatrist who specializes in treating children with mood disorders.

Jean Wittenberg heads the infant psychiatry program at Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children.

Peter Szatmari, a specialist in autism who heads the psychiatry division at McMaster University.

Nasreen Roberts, director of adolescent in-patient and emergency services at Queen’s University.

Webliography and Bibliography

Bacic, Jadranka. 2008-08. “Landmark series on Canada’s mental health crisis gets people talking.” Canadian Psychiatric Aujourd’hui.

CPA. 2008-10. “Youth and Mental Illness.” Canadian Psychiatric Association.

Goar, Carol. 2005-02-11. “Tackling the issue of teen suicide.” TheStar.com

Friedman, Richard A. 2006-12-28. “Uncovering an Epidemic — Screening for Mental Illness in Teens.” New England Journal of Medicine. 355:26:2717-1719

Kirby, Michael J. L.; Keon, Wilbert Joseph. 2006-05. “Out of the Shadows at Last: Transforming Mental Health, Mental Illness and Addiction Services in Canada.” The Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology.

Expert Jury on Public Policy by Consensus: Institute of Health Economics

The Institute of Health Economics partnered with … to host a Consensus Development Conference in Calgary on October 9-10, 2008 on diagnosis and treatment of depression.

“The purpose of a Consensus Development Conference is to evaluate available scientific evidence on a health issue and develop a statement that answers a number of predetermined questions. A group of experts present the evidence to a panel, or “jury”, which is an independent, broad-based, non-government, non-advocacy group. The jury listens to and questions the experts. The audience is also given the opportunity to pose questions to the experts. The jury convenes and develops the consensus statement, which is read to the experts and the audience on the morning of the final day. The statement is widely distributed in the Canadian health care system (BUKSA Final Program 2008-10).”

…..

“According to most recent estimates, nearly 1.2 million Canadians aged 15 and older suffer from depression.[1] With approximately 4% of Canadians reporting having had a major depressive episode within the past 12 months,[2] depression is the most prevalent mental health condition in Canada, and is projected to be the leading cause of burden of disease in high-income countries by the year 2030.[3]”

Bibliography and Webliography

1. Canadian Council on Social Development. A Profile of Health in Canada. Retrieved June 10, 2008, from http://www.ccsd.ca/factsheets/health/.
2 Gilmour. H., Patten, S. (2007). Depression at work. StatsCan Perspectives, November, 19-33.
3 Mathers, C.D., & Loncar, D. (2006). Projections of Global Mortality and Burden of Disease from 2002 to 2030. PLoS Medicine, 3(11), e442.
4 Beaudet, M.P., & Diverty, B. (1997). Depression an undertreated disorder? StatsCan Health Reports, 8(4), 9-18.
5 Wang, J.L. (2007). Depression Literacy in Alberta: Findings From a General Population Sample. The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 52(7), 442-9.

Objectives
• To develop a consensus statement on how to improve prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of depression in adults.
Participants will be able to:
• Describe the various types of depression and prevalence in Canada and Alberta
• Outline the key impacts of depression on individuals, families and society (including workplace)
• Outline the risk factors of depression including genetics, childhood experiences and relation to substance abuse
• Outline the most appropriate ways of diagnosing depression
• Describe the current treatments for depression and what evidence is available for their safety and effectiveness
• Describe the obstacles for effective management of depression
• Identify key research gaps in the field of depression