Suchergebnisse

The health and wellness of Indigenous peoples continue to be impacted by the harmful colonization practices enforced by the Government of Canada. While the long-term health impacts of the Indian Residential School (IRS) system are documented, empirical evidence elucidating the relationship between the IRSs and the risk of offspring experiencing other collective childhood traumas, such as the Sixties Scoop (1950-1990) and the inequities within the child welfare system (CWS), is needed. Through an online study, we explored the links between familial (parents/grandparents) IRS attendance and subsequent involvement in the CWS in a non-representative sample of Indigenous adults in Canada born during the Sixties Scoop era. The final sample comprised 433 adults who self-identified as Status First Nation (52.2%), non-Status First Nation (23.6%), and Métis (24.2%). The study found that adults with a parent who attended IRS were more likely to have spent time in foster care or in a group home during the Sixties Scoop era. They were also more likely to have grown up in a household in which someone used alcohol or other drugs, had a mental illness or a previous suicide attempt, had spent time in prison, had lower mean levels of general household stability, and tended to have lower household economic stability. Moreover, the relationship between parental IRS attendance and foster care was explained, in part (i.e., mediated) by a higher childhood household adversity score. These findings highlight that the intergenerational cycles of household risk introduced by the IRS system contribute to the cycles of childhood adversity and increased risk of spending time within the CWS in Canada. This is the first study among Indigenous adults from across Canada to demonstrate quantitatively that being affected by the CWS during the Sixties Scoop era is linked to intergenerational cycles of risk associated with the IRS system. Corresponding author: Robyn McQuaid at Robyn.McQuaid@theroyal.ca

The well-being of Indigenous peoples continues to be affected by intergenerational effects of numerous harmful government policies, which are considered root causes for bullying and cyberbullying that exist in some communities. Despite ongoing stressors, Indigenous youth demonstrate resilience, which often appears grounded in connecting to their cultural identities and traditional practices. However, few studies have tested the direct and stress-buffering role of various aspects of culture in relation to well-being among First Nations youth. Analyses of the 2015–16 First Nations Regional Health Survey (RHS) revealed that bullying and cyberbullying were associated with increased psychological distress among youth aged 12–17 living in First Nations communities across Canada ( N  = 4,968; weighted = 47,918), and that these links were stronger for females. Feelings of community belonging were directly associated with lower distress and buffered the relationships between bullying/cyberbullying and distress. Among youth who experienced cyberbullying, those who participated in community cultural events at least sometimes reported lower distress compared to those who rarely or never participated. Those who disagreed that traditional cultural events were important reported the highest levels of distress, but perceived importance of such events failed to buffer the associations between bullying/cyberbullying and distress. These national data highlight the importance of certain culture-related variables as key factors associated with the well-being of youth living in First Nations communities across Canada.

Emerging adults, including post-secondary education students, are disproportionately affected by the social and economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. The speed with which society moved in attempt to minimize the spread of the virus left many students with uncertainty and concern about their health, mental health, and academic futures. Considering that post-secondary students are a population at risk, it is important to determine how students respond in the face of the pandemic, and what coping mechanisms or supports will result in improved mental health outcomes. This knowledge will be helpful for post-secondary institutions to understand how COVID-19 has influenced the health and well-being of their students, and may facilitate the implementation of strategies to support their students. This narrative review explores evidence on how COVID-19 has impacted students with the overall goal to provide a set of recommendations to post-secondary institutions to help meet the evolving needs of this population.