Moving Forward Together in Aboriginal Women's Health: - Theses ...

Moving Forward TogetherJanet KellyLanguageTerminology was changed to suit the local setting, and reflected healthpractice, academic and local speech preferences. For example, the Aboriginalcommunity women named data collection, analysis and interpretation phases asscheming, and allocated specific times for this to occur. This clearly definedwhich conversations were to be included in the research, and which were toremain within the group. Similarly, using terminology such as Look andListen, Think and Discuss and Take Action enabled the research to beunderstandable and accessible for a diverse group of people, regardless of theirrole, education, professional or research background.FundingTo enable me to enhance reciprocity and reduce the risk to and/or burdens onparticipants, I obtained a Primary Health Care Bursary of $2500 to enable theprovision of catering, transport assistance, childcare and art supplies forwomen’s health programs and focus groups. I also applied for and received anadditional scholarship to enable Aboriginal women, as well as myself, to attendand co-present our findings at the 4 th International Inequities in HealthConference held in Adelaide. This became a significant capacity building andresearch dissemination activity for both the Aboriginal community women andmyself.Aboriginal Women’s Reference GroupAs advised by the Aboriginal Health Council of South Australia, I invited keylocal Aboriginal women who had an interest in Aboriginal women’s health toform an Aboriginal Reference Group to guide me throughout the entireresearch process. The group was made up of Elder women and othercommunity women, Aboriginal researchers, health service coordinators andhealth professionals. I asked the Elder women how they felt about me, a non-Aboriginal woman, doing this research as part of a PhD, as I had heard that insome parts of Canada it is considered unethical for non-Aboriginal students todo so. They replied that they felt I had earned the right to do this research; Ihad worked with community for a long time, and they saw that my heart was inthe right place. They were supportive of the research, hoped that I would118