Violence against women study ongoing in North

Page 9

First Nations women living in the Cariboo Regional District will have an opportunity to participate in a multicultural research project entitled Risk HIV/AIDS and Violence Against Women in a Rural Context.

Williams Lake Canadian Mental Health Association CMHA) employees Sheila Dick and Debra Burns and Dr. Colleen Varcoe, associate professor at the University of Victoria School of Nursing, are conducting the 17-month, $149,000 study that began Oct. 15.

Dick, member of the Shuswap nation, is working on a master's degree in education and counselling and is a CMHA counsellor for violence in relationships and sexual abuse.

Burns has a psychology degree and has done sexual assault counselling and facilitated women's employment programs.

The groundwork for the project started when a higher percentage of sexual assaults and an increase in the reported cases of HIV/AIDS in the local area identified a connection between HIV/AIDS risk, violence, and rural living.

The researchers will begin by contacting 25-to-30 women willing to participate in the program. An invitation is extended in an information brochure stating "if you have lived with, or are currently living with violence and would like to participate in finding a solution to these serious issues, then we would like to hear your ideas."

Varcoe said they are "especially interested in women from reserves participating because of the unique challenges they face. First Nations women contend with more poverty, limited access to education and higher levels of violence than any other Canadians."

The women will be asked to share their expertise in understanding the problem, not the details of their personal story. Burns said, "the purpose is not to find out how many people are infected but rather to look for a relationship between violence and risk."

" We are not coming in as experts; the survivors are experts in their own lives. We will ask key questions and listen," Dick said. " We are relying on the participants to help us come up with something designed for rural women."

An interview may include questions such as: Have you ever worried about contracting HIV/AIDS? What do you think would make you feel safer? What do you feel the community could do to assist outreach workers?

Listening to first-hand responses will "put control into the hands of the people that need the help," Dick said.

Varcoe said this will help to "create something constructive from an otherwise painful experience.

" Believing their voices can be heard will empower women," Burns added, "and we will have an idea of what would make them feel safer."

The researchers said the privacy of women will be safeguarded. Interviews are confidential, and information that could identify participants will be destroyed.

Interview data will be presented to focus groups in the community. The results from each focus group will be consolidated to provide recommendations, which will be presented to the community, mental health workers and policy-makers. This is an opportunity to "make visible the futility of 'simple' HIV/AIDS prevention strategies, draw more attention to violence, its health effects and economic roots, and encourage more comprehensive approaches to harm reduction for women living with violence," said Varcoe.

Dick said "we have to be more loving and accepting by removing the stigma. That's what is exciting for me, we are opening the way for people to talk."

The recommendations will be passed on to other rural communities in Canada. For more information call 250-398-8220.