Suchergebnisse

OBJECTIVE: Sexual orientation change efforts (SOCE), or "conversion therapy," are pseudoscientific practices intended to suppress or deny sexual attraction to members of the same gender/sex. There are currently no data available to inform estimates of the prevalence of SOCE exposure in Canada. The objective of this study is therefore to describe the prevalence, social–demographic correlates, and health consequences of SOCE among Canadian sexual minority men. METHODS: Sex Now 2011 to 2012 was a cross-sectional nonprobability survey of Canadian sexual minority men. Respondents were asked about lifetime SOCE exposure. We estimated prevalence of SOCE exposure by sociodemographic characteristics and examined psychosocial health outcomes among those exposed to SOCE. RESULTS: Of N = 8,388 respondents, 3.5% (95% confidence interval, 3.2% to 4.1%) reported having ever been exposed to SOCE. Exposure to SOCE was higher among gay men (as compared with bisexual men), transgender respondents (as compared with cisgender respondents), those who were "out" about their sexuality (as compared with those who were not "out"), Indigenous men (as compared with White men), other racial minorities (as compared with White men), and those earning a personal income <$30,000 (as compared with those earning ≥$60,000 CAD). Exposure to SOCE was positively associated with loneliness, regular illicit drug use, suicidal ideation, and suicide attempt. CONCLUSIONS: SOCE exposure remains prevalent and associated with substantial psychosocial morbidity among sexual minority men in Canada. All levels of government in Canada should consider action to ban SOCE. SOCE survivors likely require intervention and support from the Canadian health-care system.

We present the ethical challenges and lessons learned over the course of a four-year community-based participatory research (CBPR) project conducted on sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in Greenland. Specifically discussed is Inuulluataarneq—the "Having the Good Life" study. Inuulluataarneq is an interdisciplinary international, collaborative CBPR study involving the University of Toronto in Canada, the Greenlandic Medical Research Council, the Centre for Primary Care in Nuuk, the University of Greenland, local health partners and communities in Greenland, the Statens Serum Institut in Denmark, and Montana State University in the United States. Inuulluataarneq is the first CBPR project implemented in Greenland. Ethical issues discussed are: (1) the complexity of working with multiple institutional review boards on an international health research project using a CBPR framework; (2) unexpected influences on health policy; and (3) the dynamic of balancing community decision making and practices with academic research requirements and expectations. Inuulluataarneq's primary contribution to understanding ethical issues when conducting research in the Arctic involves an acceptance of the time, patience, and dedication of researchers and community partners it takes to discuss, understand, and process differing ethical viewpoints and procedures.

AbstractOur current knowledge about the health status and developmental process and outcome of Indigenous Sámi children and youths in the high north (Northern Norway, 68 degrees latitude) is scarce. The present longitudinal study, labeled the Arctic Childhood Study, aims to fill major knowledge gaps related to this topic with a special focus on the incidence of violence, abuse, and neglect as well as protective factors. The project will be implemented based on the conceptual framework for Indigenous methodology. The study is highly relevant for the Indigenous population of the Arctic and sub-Arctic regions of Norway as rates of violence are higher as compared to the majority population residing in the same area or farther south. The study applies a mixed methods design that include process evaluations of the pilot study, combines qualitative and quantitative data collection methods, and applies Indigenous collective-informed research. Research activities include a scoping review of abuse and neglect among youth in the Arctic, languages translations of the I-Cast questionnaires, piloting of the Norwegian and Sámi questionnaire packages, and use of focus group discussions. The main study uses a longitudinal cohort study design and school-based surveys in order to explore how relationships between child maltreatment, mental and somatic health, resilience and coping, social, family, and school function, and culturally specific experiences. Participants will be recruited from lower and upper secondary schools in the Arctic and sub-Arctic areas of Norway where the majority of the Indigenous Sámi people lives. The planned participants include adolescents ranging from 12 to 19 years and will follow these individuals every 3 years until age 24. Pending written consent and funding, data will be connected to current national registers. Optionally and pending ethical approval, the study will incorporate the use self-administered, non-invasive buccal swabs in order to collect bio-samples from the participants for genetic analyses and examine genetic mediators related to methylation profiles. The design of the study, the strong focus on Indigenous methodology, the involvement of Sámi youth, and non-Sámi youth is intended to produce new knowledge about the repercussion of violence for the normal development and health status among Sámi and non-Sámi youth in the high north. The study connects individual characteristics with cultural risk and protective factors in order to provide families, advocacy groups, school professionals, the health sector, administrators, and policymakers a more evidence informed basis for initiating early identification and prevention programs in child and adolescent health sectors in Norway. The hope is that the information will provide a better foundation for formulating culturally sensitive prevention strategies aimed at reducing occurrences of violence in Sámi society, and provide new knowledge about factors and mechanisms that may enable more culturally appropriate and effective interventions for use in the Sámi community.

Understanding how coupled adults arrange food-related labor in relation to their daily time allocation is of great importance because different arrangements may have implications for diet-related health and gender equity. Studies from the time-use perspective argue that daily activities such as work, caregiving, and non-food-related housework can potentially compete for time with foodwork. However, studies in this regard are mostly centered on individual-level analyses. They fail to consider cohabiting partners' time spent on foodwork and non-food-related activities, a factor that could be helpful in explaining how coupled partners decide to allocate time to food activities. Using 108 daily time-use logs from seventeen opposite-gender couples living in Toronto, Canada, this paper examines how male and female partners' time spent on non-food-related activities impact the total amount of time spent on foodwork by coupled adults and the difference in time spent on foodwork between coupled women and men. Results show that both male and female partners took a higher portion of foodwork when their partner worked longer. When men worked for additional time, the couple-level duration of foodwork decreased. Without a significant impact on the gender difference in foodwork duration, women's increased caregiving duration was associated with a reduction of total time spent on foodwork by couples. An increase in caregiving and non-food-related chores by men was associated with an increased difference in duration of foodwork between women and men, which helped secure a constant total amount of foodwork at the couple level. These behavioral variations between men and women demonstrate the gender differences in one's responsiveness to the change of partners' non-food-related tasks. The associations found among non-food-related activities and foodwork are suggestive of a need to account for partners' time allocation when studying the time-use dynamics of foodwork and other daily activities.