Ava Baker - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Ava Baker

Research paper thumbnail of Diving beneath the surface: the NWT Aquatics Program and implications for Aboriginal health

This paper examines the most popular and longest running physical activity and safety program in ... more This paper examines the most popular and longest running physical activity and safety program in Canada’s North: the NWT Aquatics Program. In particular, we focus on three ways in which the Program touches Aboriginal health: physical activity and health promotion; drowning and individual and community health; and community health-related outcomes derived from leadership development. While these three areas are undoubtedly important to the facilitation of health in Northern communities, the Program’s approach is tied tightly to Euro-Canadian, Southern-based understandings of water safety knowledge, health promotion, and leadership. As such, it is necessary to build understanding about the ways in which the Program can better reflect Northern Aboriginal peoples’ lived experiences and ways of knowing and thus address their health needs.

Research paper thumbnail of Cultural Safety: A Framework for Interactions between Aboriginal Patients and Canadian Family Medicine Practitioners

International Journal of Indigenous Health, 2013

Current approaches for non-Aboriginal family medicine practitioners encountering Aboriginal patie... more Current approaches for non-Aboriginal family medicine practitioners encountering Aboriginal patients are based in cultural sensitivity, which is an inadequate model to satisfy the obligation of family medicine residents and physicians to Aboriginal health in Canada. In this paper, we advocate for the adoption of a cultural safety approach as a superior method for training family medicine residents in interactions with Aboriginal patients. Family medicine programs can integrate cultural safety into their curriculum by teaching residents about the colonial history of Aboriginal people to foster understanding of power imbalances. This knowledge can then be used to help family medicine residents learn to identify their own biases that may affect the care of Aboriginal patients. By advocating for family medicine practitioners to use cultural safety to challenge their own concepts of culture and to address their own worldviews, patient encounters between non-Aboriginal family physicians a...

Research paper thumbnail of ‘Don't be scared, you don't have to wear your lifejacket’: using the theory of planned behaviour to understand lifejacket usage in Tuktoyaktuk, Northwest Territories, Canada

Polar Record, 2009

ABSTRACTWater related activities result in a large number of fatalities annually throughout Canad... more ABSTRACTWater related activities result in a large number of fatalities annually throughout Canada, especially in the Canadian north, where drowning rates are up to ten times the national average. This study used participant observation, semi-structured interviews, and archival research to understand why residents of Tuktoyaktuk, Northwest Territories (NWT) rarely wear lifejackets. Three themes emerged. Firstly residents largely perceive lifejackets to be inaccessible, secondly drownings are attributed to factors other than failing to wear a lifejacket and thirdly lifejacket use is not encouraged by important individuals in the community. It is suggested that successful lifejacket promotion for this population requires drowning prevention programmes that move away from simplistic approaches that encourage people to wear lifejackets and instead must utilise an approach that addresses each component of the theory of planned behaviour (TPB).

Research paper thumbnail of “We listen to our Elders. You live longer that way”: Examining aquatic risk communication and water safety practices in Canada's North

Health & Place, 2010

This paper examines ways in which Aboriginal residents of Taloyoak, Nunavut and Tuktoyaktuk, Nort... more This paper examines ways in which Aboriginal residents of Taloyoak, Nunavut and Tuktoyaktuk, Northwest Territories perceive aquatic-based risk communication, and how this information could be used to improve water safety. We argue that aquatic risk communication with northern Aboriginal populations can be improved by identifying and accounting for the consequences of colonialism in the context of aquatic risk communication and, in turn, decolonizing water safety programs north of the 60th parallel-Canada's North.

Research paper thumbnail of Pedagogy of the Front Float: Dialogue and Aquatics Programming in Taloyoak, Nunavut

ARCTIC, 2009

We examine the first author's experiences with aquatics programming in Nunavut through a Freirian... more We examine the first author's experiences with aquatics programming in Nunavut through a Freirian lens, arguing that one can use Paulo Freire's ideals of dialogue and collaboration to recognize recreation as a mode of social oppression and to offer ways to disrupt this oppression. Though Freire's work is almost 40 years old, his theoretical contributions have not yet been fully realized within the recent post-colonial context surrounding physical activity, and particularly aquatics programming, in Canada's North. Using this critical inquiry approach, we suggest that programmers can make aquatics offerings more collaborative and culturally relevant by recognizing the cultural and geographical context of northern communities, dialoguing with community members about aquatics programs, and adapting southern-based programs to the northern context.

Research paper thumbnail of Diving beneath the surface: the NWT Aquatics Program and implications for Aboriginal health

This paper examines the most popular and longest running physical activity and safety program in ... more This paper examines the most popular and longest running physical activity and safety program in Canada’s North: the NWT Aquatics Program. In particular, we focus on three ways in which the Program touches Aboriginal health: physical activity and health promotion; drowning and individual and community health; and community health-related outcomes derived from leadership development. While these three areas are undoubtedly important to the facilitation of health in Northern communities, the Program’s approach is tied tightly to Euro-Canadian, Southern-based understandings of water safety knowledge, health promotion, and leadership. As such, it is necessary to build understanding about the ways in which the Program can better reflect Northern Aboriginal peoples’ lived experiences and ways of knowing and thus address their health needs.

Research paper thumbnail of Cultural Safety: A Framework for Interactions between Aboriginal Patients and Canadian Family Medicine Practitioners

International Journal of Indigenous Health, 2013

Current approaches for non-Aboriginal family medicine practitioners encountering Aboriginal patie... more Current approaches for non-Aboriginal family medicine practitioners encountering Aboriginal patients are based in cultural sensitivity, which is an inadequate model to satisfy the obligation of family medicine residents and physicians to Aboriginal health in Canada. In this paper, we advocate for the adoption of a cultural safety approach as a superior method for training family medicine residents in interactions with Aboriginal patients. Family medicine programs can integrate cultural safety into their curriculum by teaching residents about the colonial history of Aboriginal people to foster understanding of power imbalances. This knowledge can then be used to help family medicine residents learn to identify their own biases that may affect the care of Aboriginal patients. By advocating for family medicine practitioners to use cultural safety to challenge their own concepts of culture and to address their own worldviews, patient encounters between non-Aboriginal family physicians a...

Research paper thumbnail of ‘Don't be scared, you don't have to wear your lifejacket’: using the theory of planned behaviour to understand lifejacket usage in Tuktoyaktuk, Northwest Territories, Canada

Polar Record, 2009

ABSTRACTWater related activities result in a large number of fatalities annually throughout Canad... more ABSTRACTWater related activities result in a large number of fatalities annually throughout Canada, especially in the Canadian north, where drowning rates are up to ten times the national average. This study used participant observation, semi-structured interviews, and archival research to understand why residents of Tuktoyaktuk, Northwest Territories (NWT) rarely wear lifejackets. Three themes emerged. Firstly residents largely perceive lifejackets to be inaccessible, secondly drownings are attributed to factors other than failing to wear a lifejacket and thirdly lifejacket use is not encouraged by important individuals in the community. It is suggested that successful lifejacket promotion for this population requires drowning prevention programmes that move away from simplistic approaches that encourage people to wear lifejackets and instead must utilise an approach that addresses each component of the theory of planned behaviour (TPB).

Research paper thumbnail of “We listen to our Elders. You live longer that way”: Examining aquatic risk communication and water safety practices in Canada's North

Health & Place, 2010

This paper examines ways in which Aboriginal residents of Taloyoak, Nunavut and Tuktoyaktuk, Nort... more This paper examines ways in which Aboriginal residents of Taloyoak, Nunavut and Tuktoyaktuk, Northwest Territories perceive aquatic-based risk communication, and how this information could be used to improve water safety. We argue that aquatic risk communication with northern Aboriginal populations can be improved by identifying and accounting for the consequences of colonialism in the context of aquatic risk communication and, in turn, decolonizing water safety programs north of the 60th parallel-Canada's North.

Research paper thumbnail of Pedagogy of the Front Float: Dialogue and Aquatics Programming in Taloyoak, Nunavut

ARCTIC, 2009

We examine the first author's experiences with aquatics programming in Nunavut through a Freirian... more We examine the first author's experiences with aquatics programming in Nunavut through a Freirian lens, arguing that one can use Paulo Freire's ideals of dialogue and collaboration to recognize recreation as a mode of social oppression and to offer ways to disrupt this oppression. Though Freire's work is almost 40 years old, his theoretical contributions have not yet been fully realized within the recent post-colonial context surrounding physical activity, and particularly aquatics programming, in Canada's North. Using this critical inquiry approach, we suggest that programmers can make aquatics offerings more collaborative and culturally relevant by recognizing the cultural and geographical context of northern communities, dialoguing with community members about aquatics programs, and adapting southern-based programs to the northern context.