Improving Aboriginal Maternal Health by Strengthening Connection to Culture, Family and Community
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Participants and Methods
2.2. Data Collection and Community Engagement
2.3. Data Analysis
2.4. Ethics
3. Results
3.1. The Function of Smoking in Women’s Lives
3.1.1. Normalisation
Key thing about smoking is the normalisation of it for children growing up—if everyone smokes around you then that’s your norm.P009
Everybody smokes, kids start smoking really young with their brothers and sisters, at about six some start, then they get addicted can’t give it up when they want to play football or have a baby, young girls have babies young around fifteen, maybe eighteen.P014
3.1.2. Stress and Trauma
People smoke more when stressed,P006
The women and girls here have a lot of stressors. We lost one of our young men a few weeks ago he was killed in a car accident on the way back from town. Everybody gets sad, there is a lot of grief for mothers and for grandmothers and young girls too, they miss him. We need to have somewhere safe here where women can go, where they can come together and yarn and share stories and help each other.P024
3.1.3. Boredom and Lack of Purposeful Activity
We used to play lots of music, drums, ukulele, singing, performance. Dance hip hop.P015
We used to do cooking, dying our hair, camps.P015
We used to go out on country, on Fridays we would collect traditional bush medicine.P016
We used to have our own bakery and markets on Saturday morning.P017
We used to take the girls out to a special place, talk to them about culture and family.P022
It’s important to keep the Aboriginal playgroup going now that [stakeholder] is leaving. …Young girls need to be in a routine every day… need to take young women out to other communities to see what’s working well.P012
3.1.4. Link with Alcohol and Socialising
Keep that bad feeling away”, but at the same time drinking made things worse as sometimes it would bring about that bad feeling, and then I would feel bad about drinking.P007
3.1.5. Link with Yarning and Stories
3.2. Stories About Quitting
3.2.1. Feeling Stressed and Cranky from Withdrawal
It’s really hard, the baby Doctor, when she came here last time she told me I have to give up for the baby, I feel really bad, yeah I feel it and shame and all and worry all the time. I don’t want my baby to be born premmy, or have weak lungs. I am slowing down and I want to give up smoking but it’s really hard, it makes me stressed when I try to stop.P024
You see women yelling at their kids when they run out of smokes.P004
Women smoke because of stress. They get into arguments then have a smoke to calm down, I don’t think people realise what happens to them when they stop smoking—the withdrawal.P014
He just has them on the table.P002
It’s hard when people smoke around you, My partner, he tried to quit, he gets cranky. He need that smoke.P005
3.2.2. Not Sure How to Quit
3.2.3. Going Cold Turkey
I don’t want my children to even know what smoking is I tell my family to smoke outside, I don’t want my daughter to even look at them smoking…. My little daughter tells them “don’t smoke in her house”.P001
I want to quit because I have a lot of things on my mind.P007
they have had enough of it, don’t’ wanna be like that, [they have] seen too much of it.P004
3.3. What Women Want
3.3.1. Women Want to Know the Facts about Smoking in a Culturally Relevant Way
It’s really good to have these community days with Wirraka Maya, involving the school and everyone and the old people, having a BBQ with roo tails and special fun games to show young kids and parents the dangers of smoking. These things will maybe stop the young kids from six up to ten or eleven from smoking. It’s good for the kids at school to learn their rights too you know to have smoke free homes so they don’t get sick or start smoking—they can take their photos home (pointing to the smoke free home photo booth with the kids lined up) and put them up on the fridge to show people who comes to their house not to smoke…
Yeah I won’t smoke ever or let people smoke around me for my baby.P024
3.3.2. Women Want Action to Prevent Young People from Taking Up Smoking
3.3.3. Women Want Greater Connection to Culture
“It feels better to be on country—feels more better in your body”P007
We need books and information about the effects of smoking and drinking for Martu written in Martu.P022
Need to have KJ rangers take 10 to 20 teenagers out bush and get healthy food turkey, goanna, kangaroos, honey ants.P022
3.3.4. Recognition of Diversity Amongst Aboriginal People
It is the negative stereotypes that perpetuate people feeling bad about themselves and feeling low and that contributes to the racism.P001
the importance of there being more than one story—that there were many stories…we can make our own story.P001
3.3.5. Safe Places for Women’s Business
Women smoke less when painting, smoke worse when drinking.P006
They need a plan. They need help to learn how to look after their kids and home; they need to learn how to refuse entry to people going there, they need support with the cleaning.P012
4. Discussions
4.1. Many Women Are Taking Positive Steps Towards Smoking Cessation
4.2. Smoking Needs to be Addressed as Part of Holistic Antenatal Care in Pregnancy
4.3. Creating Safe Women’s Places
4.4. Many Women Quit on Their Own
4.5. Many Women Were Unaware of Support Available to Them
4.6. Limitations
5. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Wyndow, P.; Clifton, E.; Walker, R. Improving Aboriginal Maternal Health by Strengthening Connection to Culture, Family and Community. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2020, 17, 9461. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17249461
Wyndow P, Clifton E, Walker R. Improving Aboriginal Maternal Health by Strengthening Connection to Culture, Family and Community. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2020; 17(24):9461. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17249461
Chicago/Turabian StyleWyndow, Paula, Elaine Clifton, and Roz Walker. 2020. "Improving Aboriginal Maternal Health by Strengthening Connection to Culture, Family and Community" International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 17, no. 24: 9461. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17249461