IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v178y2017icp87-94.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

“They treated me like crap and I know it was because I was Native”: The healthcare experiences of Aboriginal peoples living in Vancouver's inner city

Author

Listed:
  • Goodman, Ashley
  • Fleming, Kim
  • Markwick, Nicole
  • Morrison, Tracey
  • Lagimodiere, Louise
  • Kerr, Thomas

Abstract

There is growing evidence that Aboriginal peoples often experience healthcare inequalities due to racism. However, research exploring the healthcare experiences of Aboriginal peoples who use illicit substances is limited, and research rarely accounts for how multiple accounts of stigma intersect and contribute to the experiences of marginalized populations. Our research aimed to explore the healthcare experiences of Aboriginal peoples who use illicit drugs and or illicit alcohol (APWUID/A) living in Vancouver's inner city. Using Indigenous methodologies, a community research team comprised of APWUID/A led the study design, data collection and analysis. Peer-facilitated talking circles explored community members' experiences accessing healthcare services and patient-provider encounters. Using an intersectionality framework, our research demonstrated how healthcare inequalities among Aboriginal peoples are perpetuated by systemic racism and discrimination. Stigmatizing racial stereotypes were perceived to negatively influence individual attitudes and clinical practice. Participants' experiences of medical dismissal often resulted in disengagement from care or delay in care. The findings suggest healthcare providers must understand the structural and historical forces that influence racial disparities in healthcare and personal attitudes in clinical practice. Adequate clinical protocols for pain management within the context of illicit substance use are urgently needed. The valuation of Aboriginal peoples and cultures within healthcare is paramount to addressing the health gap between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Canadians.

Suggested Citation

  • Goodman, Ashley & Fleming, Kim & Markwick, Nicole & Morrison, Tracey & Lagimodiere, Louise & Kerr, Thomas, 2017. "“They treated me like crap and I know it was because I was Native”: The healthcare experiences of Aboriginal peoples living in Vancouver's inner city," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 178(C), pages 87-94.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:178:y:2017:i:c:p:87-94
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2017.01.053
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953617300606
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.socscimed.2017.01.053?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Metzl, Jonathan M. & Hansen, Helena, 2014. "Structural competency: Theorizing a new medical engagement with stigma and inequality," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 126-133.
    2. Balsa, Ana I. & McGuire, Thomas G., 2003. "Prejudice, clinical uncertainty and stereotyping as sources of health disparities," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 89-116, January.
    3. Benoit, Cecilia & Carroll, Dena & Chaudhry, Munaza, 2003. "In search of a Healing Place: Aboriginal women in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 56(4), pages 821-833, February.
    4. Burgess, Diana Jill & Crowley-Matoka, Megan & Phelan, Sean & Dovidio, John F. & Kerns, Robert & Roth, Craig & Saha, Somnath & van Ryn, Michelle, 2008. "Patient race and physicians' decisions to prescribe opioids for chronic low back pain," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 67(11), pages 1852-1860, December.
    5. Shah, B.R. & Gunraj, N. & Hux, J.E., 2003. "Markers of Access to and Quality of Primary Care for Aboriginal People in Ontario, Canada," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 93(5), pages 798-802.
    6. Shannon, Kate & Kerr, Thomas & Allinott, Shari & Chettiar, Jill & Shoveller, Jean & Tyndall, Mark W., 2008. "Social and structural violence and power relations in mitigating HIV risk of drug-using women in survival sex work," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 66(4), pages 911-921, February.
    7. Browne, Annette J., 2007. "Clinical encounters between nurses and First Nations women in a Western Canadian hospital," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 64(10), pages 2165-2176, May.
    8. Bowleg, L., 2012. "The problem with the phrase women and minorities: Intersectionality-an important theoretical framework for public health," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 102(7), pages 1267-1273.
    9. Frohlich, Katherine L. & Ross, Nancy & Richmond, Chantelle, 2006. "Health disparities in Canada today: Some evidence and a theoretical framework," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 79(2-3), pages 132-143, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Waddell, C.M. & de Jager, M.D. & Gobeil, J. & Tacan, F. & Herron, R.V. & Allan, J.A. & Roger, K., 2021. "Healing journeys: Indigenous Men's reflections on resources and barriers to mental wellness," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 270(C).
    2. Kanna Hayashi & Lianping Ti & Huiru Dong & Brittany Bingham & Andrew Day & Ronald Joe & Rolando Barrios & Kora DeBeck & M-J Milloy & Thomas Kerr, 2019. "Moving into an urban drug scene among people who use drugs in Vancouver, Canada: Latent class growth analysis," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(11), pages 1-15, November.
    3. Victoria Smye & Annette J. Browne & Viviane Josewski & Barbara Keith & William Mussell, 2023. "Social Suffering: Indigenous Peoples’ Experiences of Accessing Mental Health and Substance Use Services," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(4), pages 1-16, February.
    4. Nelson, Sarah E. & Wilson, Kathi, 2018. "Understanding barriers to health care access through cultural safety and ethical space: Indigenous people's experiences in Prince George, Canada," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 218(C), pages 21-27.
    5. Bardwell, Geoff & Ivsins, Andrew & Wallace, James R. & Mansoor, Manal & Kerr, Thomas, 2024. "“The machine doesn't judge”: Counternarratives on surveillance among people accessing a safer opioid supply via biometric machines," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 345(C).
    6. Le Grande, M. & Ski, C.F. & Thompson, D.R. & Scuffham, P. & Kularatna, S. & Jackson, A.C. & Brown, A., 2017. "Social and emotional wellbeing assessment instruments for use with Indigenous Australians: A critical review," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 187(C), pages 164-173.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ray, Lana & Wylie, Lloy & Corrado, Ann Marie, 2022. "Shapeshifters, systems thinking and settler colonial logic: Expanding the framework of analysis of Indigenous health equity," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 300(C).
    2. Lavoie, Josée Gabrielle & Forget, Evelyn L. & Prakash, Tara & Dahl, Matt & Martens, Patricia & O'Neil, John D., 2010. "Have investments in on-reserve health services and initiatives promoting community control improved First Nations' health in Manitoba?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 71(4), pages 717-724, August.
    3. Collins, Alexandra B. & Boyd, Jade & Cooper, Hannah L.F. & McNeil, Ryan, 2019. "The intersectional risk environment of people who use drugs," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 234(C), pages 1-1.
    4. Abrams, Jasmine A. & Tabaac, Ariella & Jung, Sarah & Else-Quest, Nicole M., 2020. "Considerations for employing intersectionality in qualitative health research," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 258(C).
    5. Johnston, David W. & Lordan, Grace, 2012. "Discrimination makes me sick! An examination of the discrimination–health relationship," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(1), pages 99-111.
    6. Daniel Demant & Oscar Oviedo-Trespalacios & Julie-Anne Carroll & Jason A. Ferris & Larissa Maier & Monica J. Barratt & Adam R. Winstock, 2018. "Do people with intersecting identities report more high-risk alcohol use and lifetime substance use?," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 63(5), pages 621-630, June.
    7. Theo Beltran & Amani M. Allen & Jess Lin & Caitlin Turner & Emily J. Ozer & Erin C. Wilson, 2019. "Intersectional Discrimination Is Associated with Housing Instability among Trans Women Living in the San Francisco Bay Area," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(22), pages 1-11, November.
    8. Rathert, Cheryl & Mittler, Jessica N. & Vogus, Timothy J. & Lee, Yuna S.H., 2023. "Better outcomes through patient – Provider therapeutic connections? An exploratory study of proposed mediating variables," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 338(C).
    9. Alvarez, Camila H. & Evans, Clare Rosenfeld, 2021. "Intersectional environmental justice and population health inequalities: A novel approach," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 269(C).
    10. Silvia Loi & Peng Li & Mikko Myrskylä, 2022. "At the intersection of adverse life course pathways: the effects on health by nativity," MPIDR Working Papers WP-2022-018, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany.
    11. Nicolai Fink Simonsen & Anne Sophie Oxholm & Søren Rud Kristensen & Luigi Siciliani, 2020. "What explains differences in waiting times for health care across socioeconomic status?," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(12), pages 1764-1785, December.
    12. Currie, Janet & Kurdyak, Paul & Zhang, Jonathan, 2024. "Socioeconomic status and access to mental health care: The case of psychiatric medications for children in Ontario Canada," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    13. Matshabane, Olivia P. & Campbell, Megan M. & Faure, Marlyn C. & Appelbaum, Paul S. & Marshall, Patricia A. & Stein, Dan J. & de Vries, Jantina, 2021. "The role of causal knowledge in stigma considerations in African genomics research: Views of South African Xhosa people," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 277(C).
    14. Mooney, Shelagh, 2018. "Illuminating intersectionality for tourism researchers," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 175-176.
    15. Layland, Eric K. & Maggs, Jennifer L. & Kipke, Michele D. & Bray, Bethany C., 2022. "Intersecting racism and homonegativism among sexual minority men of color: Latent class analysis of multidimensional stigma with subgroup differences in health and sociostructural burdens," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 293(C).
    16. Krebs, Emanuel & Wang, Linwei & Olding, Michelle & DeBeck, Kora & Hayashi, Kanna & Milloy, M.-J. & Wood, Evan & Nosyk, Bohdan & Richardson, Lindsey, 2016. "Increased drug use and the timing of social assistance receipt among people who use illicit drugs," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 171(C), pages 94-102.
    17. Montenegro, Roberto E. & Dori-Hacohen, Gonen, 2020. "Morality in sugar talk: Presenting blood glucose levels in routine diabetes medical visits," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 253(C).
    18. Parker, Rhiannon & Larkin, Theresa & Cockburn, Jon, 2017. "A visual analysis of gender bias in contemporary anatomy textbooks," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 180(C), pages 106-113.
    19. Warren Kealy-Bateman & Georgina M. Gorman & Adam P. Carroll, 2021. "Patient/Consumer Codesign and Coproduction of Medical Curricula: A Possible Path Toward Improved Cultural Competence and Reduced Health Disparity," SAGE Open, , vol. 11(2), pages 21582440211, June.
    20. David, Guy & Harrington, Scott E., 2010. "Population density and racial differences in the performance of emergency medical services," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(4), pages 603-615, July.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:178:y:2017:i:c:p:87-94. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.