New data will help health providers

Page 6

The latest figures from the Regional Longitudinal Health Survey show that smoking rates among First Nations people in Canada is dropping, but we'll have to wait until the end of 2005 for researchers to tell us why.

Statistics from the 2002-03 survey put the rate of smoking among First Nations people age 20 and over at 57.6 per cent, down 4.4 per cent from survey figures for 1997 and 1991 when the rate was at 62 per cent.

Smokers make up only 26 per cent of the general Canadian population, but Jane Grey, national co-ordinator of the survey is encouraged by the decreased rate of Aboriginal smoking.

"To me that is good news. Something is working."

The statistics are from the preliminary results of the adult portion of the survey, released in September to coincide with the 2004 First Ministers' Meeting on Health. Preliminary survey results from the health survey portions dealing with children and adolescents are expected to be released in the late spring or early summer, with the detailed survey results expected in late 2005.

Those detailed results will contain a lot more than numbers, Grey explained. The section on smoking, for instance, will include information on why people who stopped smoking decided to quit.

"It might give us a good indication of what helped the smoking rates go down," she said.

"We'll be able to report among adolescents, when did they begin smoking? ... In the results from 1997, children were smoking. The age of 16 seemed to be the critical age when individuals started smoking. So with the new results, we're going to be able to report on whether that's changed or not."

The children's portion of the survey will report on smoking rates during pregnancy, she added.

These types of detailed survey results will provide valuable information for people working to get smoking rates down within their own communities by showing them what types of programs or approaches have been successful in getting people to quit.

The final survey will provide information on a lot more than smoking, however. The questionnaires used for the survey included a range of questions dealing with health, wellnessand more. A total of 22,603 surveys were completed by First Nation people from across the country for the latest sampling, answering questions on language use, education, employment, income, housing, water quality and services available in the home. Participants were also asked questions about physical injuries, diabetes, physical activity, nutrition, dental care, use of and access to health services, and use of traditional medicines and healers.

Other questions dealt with alcohol and drugs, HIV, sexuality, pregnancy, mental health, community wellness, culture, spirituality and religion, and the impacts of residential schools.

The longitudinal health survey is designed to gather information about the health of First Nations people from across the country. The goal is to conduct surveys every four years, using the information gathered to help First Nation people improve their health and living conditions.

"It's a powerful survey in the sense that you'll be able to track over time the change in the health of First Nations across the country." Grey said.

What makes the survey different than other research done about First Nation people in the past is that this process is being done by First Nation people for First Nation people.

"This is all under First Nation control, so what we do is we do our own analysis and our own interpretation of that data, versus non-Aboriginals doing it on our behalf. So this way it means a lot more because it's information about our people for our people," Jane Grey said.

"We believe in what we call the First Nation principles of OCAP, and that refers to ownership, control, access and possession," she said. "It's not the government that drives what happens with the data or where it's going to go, it's First Nations themselves that are controlling where thatinformation is going to be used and how it's going to be used."

Grey said plans are in the works to hold a national research conference in the late fall, during which the national report on the findings from the 2002-03 survey will be released, along with 10 reports looking at the findings from a regional perspective.