Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youth require appropriate, effective, and accessib... more Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youth require appropriate, effective, and accessible sexual health services. Sexual minority youth living in large urban, multicultural cities have a complex range of service needs. As part of the Toronto Teen Survey, focus groups were conducted with 80 service providers from 55 agencies in the Greater Toronto Area to elicit their input concerning the changing service needs of LGBT youth, their increasing complexity as a client group, and obstacles to working effectively with them. Issues that arose in the focus groups included addressing the needs of LGBT youth across a large city that includes suburban areas, the need to address the specific service needs of transgender youth, and the intersection of racial and ethno-cultural diversity with sexual orientation. Service provider recommendations focused on the need for improved education and training and policy change at the agency level.
The internet is a useful medium for assisting HIV positive youth. Youth need a dedicated website ... more The internet is a useful medium for assisting HIV positive youth. Youth need a dedicated website to access information, services, and social support to help manage their HIV.York's Knowledge Mobilization Unit provides services and funding for faculty, graduate students, and community organizations seeking to maximize the impact of academic research and expertise on public policy, social programming, and professional practice. It is supported by SSHRC and CIHR grants, and by the Office of the Vice-President Research & Innovation. kmbunit@yorku.cawww.researchimpact.c
Health Tomorrow: Interdisciplinarity and Internationality, 2013
Because web-based campaigns are an important part of health promotion campaigns for youth, this r... more Because web-based campaigns are an important part of health promotion campaigns for youth, this research examines sexual health websites aimed at youth and explores the messages on HIV/AIDS for their relevance and accessibility for youth with disabilities. The researchers’ underlying understanding of disability is that it is socially constructed and that people with disabilities experience social exclusion. We used a directed content analysis method to analyze 21 websites that met our inclusion criteria based on our indicators of accessibility and relevance and for their key messages. We found that the messaging across all sites was highly consistent: sex-positive, gay-positive, and non-judgmental about youth sexual expression. However, none of the prevention information specifically considered mobility, verbal and cognitive disability, participation and information barriers faced by youth with disabilities, or their heightened sexual vulnerability. Only one site depicted disability...
Sexual health education in schools is a controversial topic. In 2015 an updated version of the se... more Sexual health education in schools is a controversial topic. In 2015 an updated version of the sex education program was introduced to schools in the Province of Ontario, Canada. The curriculum received strong criticism from some parents and lobby groups. Similar objections led to the Ontario Liberal government withdrawing the previous sex education program update in 2010. Public debates about the appropriateness of the new curriculum are primarily concerned with the extent to which parents were consulted. Absent from these discussions are the opinions of the curriculum’s target group: students. What do young people have to say about their sexual health education, and how can this information be used to provide more effective programs in schools? In this article we draw on the findings of the Toronto Teen Survey (TTS) (N = 1,216) to discuss youth responses to questions about their experience with sexual health education and the relevance of this information for school-based sexual h...
African diasporic and North American Indigenous communities have both been greatly impacted by th... more African diasporic and North American Indigenous communities have both been greatly impacted by the colonization of the Americas. Historic and contemporary relations between these communities have been fraught with complex commonalities, contradictions and conflicts. These communities have remained connected across time and space through their shared and distinct histories of resistance and oppression. Both communities have suffered the embodiment of systemic violence in the form of elevated rates of communicable and chronic diseases such as HIV. This paper examines the decolonizing potential of collaboration between these two communities in their response to HIV. It begins by unpacking the history of racialized subjugation faced by Indigenous and African, Caribbean and Black communities in the Americas, with a focus on Canada. This background contextualizes empirical findings of an arts-based intervention that explored notions of identity, resistance and solidarity building between ...
Health Tomorrow: Interdisciplinarity and Internationality, 2017
Centering the narratives of the intersectional struggles within the HIV movement for Indigenous s... more Centering the narratives of the intersectional struggles within the HIV movement for Indigenous sovereignty, Black and People of Colour liberation, and LGBTQ rights tirelessly fought for by Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour communities legitimates their lives and legacies within the movement; and the relevance of a focused response to the HIV epidemic that continues to wreak devastation in these communities. The recent political push for a post-HIV era solely centers the realities of middle-class white, gay men and has genocidal implications for Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour communities.Keywords: HIV/AIDS; Black, Indigenous and People of Colour communities; Social Movements; Narrative
Community engagement is considered a cornerstone of health promotion practice. Yet engagement is ... more Community engagement is considered a cornerstone of health promotion practice. Yet engagement is a fuzzy term signifying a range of practices. Health scholarship has focused primarily on individual effects of engagement. To understand the complexities of engagement, organizations must also consider relational, structural, and/or organizational factors that inform stakeholders’ subjective understandings and experiences. Community engagement processes are not neutral; they can reproduce and/or dismantle power structures, often in contradictory or unexpected ways. This article discusses diverse stakeholders’ subjective experiences and understandings of engagement within the HIV sector in Toronto, Canada. In our study, a team of community members, service providers, and academics partnered with three HIV community–based organizations to do this work. We used photovoice, a participatory and action-oriented photography method, to identify, document, and analyze participants’ understanding...
Introduction. This article reports on the micro-, meso-, and macro-level impacts of sharing digit... more Introduction. This article reports on the micro-, meso-, and macro-level impacts of sharing digital stories created by Indigenous youth leaders about HIV prevention activism in Canada. Method. Eighteen participants created digital stories and hosted screenings in their own communities to foster dialogue. Data for this article are drawn from individual semistructured interviews with the youth leaders, audio-recordings of audience reflections, and research team member’s field notes collected between 2012 and 2015 across Canada. Data were coded using NVivo. A content analysis approach guided analysis. Results. The process of sharing their digital stories had a positive impact on the youth themselves and their communities. Stories also reached policymakers. They challenged conventional public health messaging by situating HIV in the context of Indigenous holistic conceptions of health. Discussion. The impact(s) of sharing digital stories were felt most strongly by their creators but rip...
BackgroundTaking Action II is a community-based participatory action research project that adopte... more BackgroundTaking Action II is a community-based participatory action research project that adopted a strengths-based approach to thinking about Indigenous youth HIV prevention activism. Eighteen diverse Indigenous youth leaders produced digital stories about Indigenizing HIV prevention during the summer of 2012 at a week-long retreat. Youth were interviewed twice: right after they created their stories and again after community screenings. In the summer of 2013, youth reunited to collaboratively analyze the themes and meanings of their stories. Seven overlapping themes emerged that demonstrated how youth see HIV in the context of their lives' and community. The stories make connections between HIV and structural violence, culture and relationships. In particular, in the context of HIV prevention, they focus on (1) the role of family and elders, (2) traditional sacred notions of sexuality, (3) the importance of education, (4) reclaiming history, (5) focusing on strength, (6) Indi...
Gateways: International Journal of Community Research and Engagement, 2016
This article explores the ways in which (a) Indigenous youth involved in an HIV intervention took... more This article explores the ways in which (a) Indigenous youth involved in an HIV intervention took up and reclaimed their cultures as a project of defining ‘self’, and (b) how Indigenous ‘culture’ can be used as a tool for resistance, HIV prevention and health promotion. Data were drawn from the Taking Action Project: Using arts-based approaches to develop Aboriginal youth leadership in HIV prevention. ‘By youth, for youth’ HIV education and awareness workshops were facilitated in six Indigenous communities across Canada, incorporating traditional and contemporary art forms to explore how youth perceived the links between structural inequality and HIV vulnerability. Over 100 youth participated, with 70 partaking in individual interviews to reflect on their experiences at the workshops. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim and analysed using NVivo software. Indigenous youth understood culture as a complex construct that included reconnecting to land, body, history, com...
Cultivating and supporting Indigenous peer youth leaders should be an important part of Canada’s ... more Cultivating and supporting Indigenous peer youth leaders should be an important part of Canada’s response to HIV. This paper examines how a group of Indigenous youth leaders took up the notion of leadership in the context of HIV prevention. Taking Action II was a community-based participatory action research project. Eighteen Indigenous youth leaders from across Canada were invited to share narratives about their passion for HIV prevention through digital storytelling. One-on-one semi-structured interviews were conducted with participants after they developed their digital stories, and then again several months later. A thematic analysis of the interviews was conducted to identify major themes. Youth identified qualities of an Indigenous youth leader as being confident, trustworthy, willing to listen, humble, patient, dedicated, resilient, and healthy. A number of key examples and challenges of youth leadership were also discussed. In contrast to individualized mainstream ideals, In...
Indigenous communities in Canada share a common history of colonial oppression. As a result, many... more Indigenous communities in Canada share a common history of colonial oppression. As a result, many Indigenous populations are disproportionately burdened with poor health outcomes, including HIV. Conventional public health approaches have not yet been successful in reversing this trend. For this study, a team of community- and university-based researchers came together to imagine new possibilities for health promotion with Indigenous youth. A strengths-based approach was taken that relied on using the energies and talents of Indigenous youth as a leadership resource. Art-making workshops were held in six different Indigenous communities across Canada in which youth could explore the links between community, culture, colonization, and HIV. Twenty artists and more than 85 youth participated in the workshops. Afterwards, youth participants reflected on their experiences in individual in-depth interviews. Youth participants viewed the process of making art as fun, participatory, and empo...
New information technologies are creating virtual spaces that allow youth to network and express ... more New information technologies are creating virtual spaces that allow youth to network and express themselves with unprecedented freedom and influence. However, these virtual spaces call into question traditional understandings of private and public space and open up new tensions for institutions (e.g. schools and law enforcement) trying to maintain safe spaces. For adolescent health researchers, these virtual spaces provide exciting opportunities to study youth culture, but also challenge the utility of ethical guidelines designed for a non-networked world. At issue are tensions between the realities of ‘natural’ interactions that occur online, often in full public view, and creating ethical research environments. These tensions and issues will be explored within this chapter, through an overview of the Teen- Net project, a discussion of anonymity and confidentiality within social networking technologies and software (including Friendster, Facebook, and Myspace), and a discussion of ...
Young lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people labeled with intellectual disabilitie... more Young lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people labeled with intellectual disabilities have unique sexual health needs that are not being met. Denial by others of their right to pleasure and the exercise of heightened external control over their sexuality are commonplace. Current research indicates that these youth are at heightened risk for compromised sexual health. This study aimed to explore the ways in which social and environmental conditions influence vulnerability to adverse sexual health outcomes for this population. We used a community-based research approach to conduct qualitative interviews and focus groups with 10 young LGBT people (aged 17-26) labeled with intellectual disabilities. Participants reported multiple limitations on their autonomy that resulted in having sex in places where they did not feel comfortable and were unlikely to practice safer sex. Attempts by authority figures to protect youth through limits on their autonomy may be unintentionally leading to negative sexual health outcomes.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youth require appropriate, effective, and accessib... more Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youth require appropriate, effective, and accessible sexual health services. Sexual minority youth living in large urban, multicultural cities have a complex range of service needs. As part of the Toronto Teen Survey, focus groups were conducted with 80 service providers from 55 agencies in the Greater Toronto Area to elicit their input concerning the changing service needs of LGBT youth, their increasing complexity as a client group, and obstacles to working effectively with them. Issues that arose in the focus groups included addressing the needs of LGBT youth across a large city that includes suburban areas, the need to address the specific service needs of transgender youth, and the intersection of racial and ethno-cultural diversity with sexual orientation. Service provider recommendations focused on the need for improved education and training and policy change at the agency level.
The internet is a useful medium for assisting HIV positive youth. Youth need a dedicated website ... more The internet is a useful medium for assisting HIV positive youth. Youth need a dedicated website to access information, services, and social support to help manage their HIV.York's Knowledge Mobilization Unit provides services and funding for faculty, graduate students, and community organizations seeking to maximize the impact of academic research and expertise on public policy, social programming, and professional practice. It is supported by SSHRC and CIHR grants, and by the Office of the Vice-President Research & Innovation. kmbunit@yorku.cawww.researchimpact.c
Health Tomorrow: Interdisciplinarity and Internationality, 2013
Because web-based campaigns are an important part of health promotion campaigns for youth, this r... more Because web-based campaigns are an important part of health promotion campaigns for youth, this research examines sexual health websites aimed at youth and explores the messages on HIV/AIDS for their relevance and accessibility for youth with disabilities. The researchers’ underlying understanding of disability is that it is socially constructed and that people with disabilities experience social exclusion. We used a directed content analysis method to analyze 21 websites that met our inclusion criteria based on our indicators of accessibility and relevance and for their key messages. We found that the messaging across all sites was highly consistent: sex-positive, gay-positive, and non-judgmental about youth sexual expression. However, none of the prevention information specifically considered mobility, verbal and cognitive disability, participation and information barriers faced by youth with disabilities, or their heightened sexual vulnerability. Only one site depicted disability...
Sexual health education in schools is a controversial topic. In 2015 an updated version of the se... more Sexual health education in schools is a controversial topic. In 2015 an updated version of the sex education program was introduced to schools in the Province of Ontario, Canada. The curriculum received strong criticism from some parents and lobby groups. Similar objections led to the Ontario Liberal government withdrawing the previous sex education program update in 2010. Public debates about the appropriateness of the new curriculum are primarily concerned with the extent to which parents were consulted. Absent from these discussions are the opinions of the curriculum’s target group: students. What do young people have to say about their sexual health education, and how can this information be used to provide more effective programs in schools? In this article we draw on the findings of the Toronto Teen Survey (TTS) (N = 1,216) to discuss youth responses to questions about their experience with sexual health education and the relevance of this information for school-based sexual h...
African diasporic and North American Indigenous communities have both been greatly impacted by th... more African diasporic and North American Indigenous communities have both been greatly impacted by the colonization of the Americas. Historic and contemporary relations between these communities have been fraught with complex commonalities, contradictions and conflicts. These communities have remained connected across time and space through their shared and distinct histories of resistance and oppression. Both communities have suffered the embodiment of systemic violence in the form of elevated rates of communicable and chronic diseases such as HIV. This paper examines the decolonizing potential of collaboration between these two communities in their response to HIV. It begins by unpacking the history of racialized subjugation faced by Indigenous and African, Caribbean and Black communities in the Americas, with a focus on Canada. This background contextualizes empirical findings of an arts-based intervention that explored notions of identity, resistance and solidarity building between ...
Health Tomorrow: Interdisciplinarity and Internationality, 2017
Centering the narratives of the intersectional struggles within the HIV movement for Indigenous s... more Centering the narratives of the intersectional struggles within the HIV movement for Indigenous sovereignty, Black and People of Colour liberation, and LGBTQ rights tirelessly fought for by Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour communities legitimates their lives and legacies within the movement; and the relevance of a focused response to the HIV epidemic that continues to wreak devastation in these communities. The recent political push for a post-HIV era solely centers the realities of middle-class white, gay men and has genocidal implications for Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour communities.Keywords: HIV/AIDS; Black, Indigenous and People of Colour communities; Social Movements; Narrative
Community engagement is considered a cornerstone of health promotion practice. Yet engagement is ... more Community engagement is considered a cornerstone of health promotion practice. Yet engagement is a fuzzy term signifying a range of practices. Health scholarship has focused primarily on individual effects of engagement. To understand the complexities of engagement, organizations must also consider relational, structural, and/or organizational factors that inform stakeholders’ subjective understandings and experiences. Community engagement processes are not neutral; they can reproduce and/or dismantle power structures, often in contradictory or unexpected ways. This article discusses diverse stakeholders’ subjective experiences and understandings of engagement within the HIV sector in Toronto, Canada. In our study, a team of community members, service providers, and academics partnered with three HIV community–based organizations to do this work. We used photovoice, a participatory and action-oriented photography method, to identify, document, and analyze participants’ understanding...
Introduction. This article reports on the micro-, meso-, and macro-level impacts of sharing digit... more Introduction. This article reports on the micro-, meso-, and macro-level impacts of sharing digital stories created by Indigenous youth leaders about HIV prevention activism in Canada. Method. Eighteen participants created digital stories and hosted screenings in their own communities to foster dialogue. Data for this article are drawn from individual semistructured interviews with the youth leaders, audio-recordings of audience reflections, and research team member’s field notes collected between 2012 and 2015 across Canada. Data were coded using NVivo. A content analysis approach guided analysis. Results. The process of sharing their digital stories had a positive impact on the youth themselves and their communities. Stories also reached policymakers. They challenged conventional public health messaging by situating HIV in the context of Indigenous holistic conceptions of health. Discussion. The impact(s) of sharing digital stories were felt most strongly by their creators but rip...
BackgroundTaking Action II is a community-based participatory action research project that adopte... more BackgroundTaking Action II is a community-based participatory action research project that adopted a strengths-based approach to thinking about Indigenous youth HIV prevention activism. Eighteen diverse Indigenous youth leaders produced digital stories about Indigenizing HIV prevention during the summer of 2012 at a week-long retreat. Youth were interviewed twice: right after they created their stories and again after community screenings. In the summer of 2013, youth reunited to collaboratively analyze the themes and meanings of their stories. Seven overlapping themes emerged that demonstrated how youth see HIV in the context of their lives' and community. The stories make connections between HIV and structural violence, culture and relationships. In particular, in the context of HIV prevention, they focus on (1) the role of family and elders, (2) traditional sacred notions of sexuality, (3) the importance of education, (4) reclaiming history, (5) focusing on strength, (6) Indi...
Gateways: International Journal of Community Research and Engagement, 2016
This article explores the ways in which (a) Indigenous youth involved in an HIV intervention took... more This article explores the ways in which (a) Indigenous youth involved in an HIV intervention took up and reclaimed their cultures as a project of defining ‘self’, and (b) how Indigenous ‘culture’ can be used as a tool for resistance, HIV prevention and health promotion. Data were drawn from the Taking Action Project: Using arts-based approaches to develop Aboriginal youth leadership in HIV prevention. ‘By youth, for youth’ HIV education and awareness workshops were facilitated in six Indigenous communities across Canada, incorporating traditional and contemporary art forms to explore how youth perceived the links between structural inequality and HIV vulnerability. Over 100 youth participated, with 70 partaking in individual interviews to reflect on their experiences at the workshops. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim and analysed using NVivo software. Indigenous youth understood culture as a complex construct that included reconnecting to land, body, history, com...
Cultivating and supporting Indigenous peer youth leaders should be an important part of Canada’s ... more Cultivating and supporting Indigenous peer youth leaders should be an important part of Canada’s response to HIV. This paper examines how a group of Indigenous youth leaders took up the notion of leadership in the context of HIV prevention. Taking Action II was a community-based participatory action research project. Eighteen Indigenous youth leaders from across Canada were invited to share narratives about their passion for HIV prevention through digital storytelling. One-on-one semi-structured interviews were conducted with participants after they developed their digital stories, and then again several months later. A thematic analysis of the interviews was conducted to identify major themes. Youth identified qualities of an Indigenous youth leader as being confident, trustworthy, willing to listen, humble, patient, dedicated, resilient, and healthy. A number of key examples and challenges of youth leadership were also discussed. In contrast to individualized mainstream ideals, In...
Indigenous communities in Canada share a common history of colonial oppression. As a result, many... more Indigenous communities in Canada share a common history of colonial oppression. As a result, many Indigenous populations are disproportionately burdened with poor health outcomes, including HIV. Conventional public health approaches have not yet been successful in reversing this trend. For this study, a team of community- and university-based researchers came together to imagine new possibilities for health promotion with Indigenous youth. A strengths-based approach was taken that relied on using the energies and talents of Indigenous youth as a leadership resource. Art-making workshops were held in six different Indigenous communities across Canada in which youth could explore the links between community, culture, colonization, and HIV. Twenty artists and more than 85 youth participated in the workshops. Afterwards, youth participants reflected on their experiences in individual in-depth interviews. Youth participants viewed the process of making art as fun, participatory, and empo...
New information technologies are creating virtual spaces that allow youth to network and express ... more New information technologies are creating virtual spaces that allow youth to network and express themselves with unprecedented freedom and influence. However, these virtual spaces call into question traditional understandings of private and public space and open up new tensions for institutions (e.g. schools and law enforcement) trying to maintain safe spaces. For adolescent health researchers, these virtual spaces provide exciting opportunities to study youth culture, but also challenge the utility of ethical guidelines designed for a non-networked world. At issue are tensions between the realities of ‘natural’ interactions that occur online, often in full public view, and creating ethical research environments. These tensions and issues will be explored within this chapter, through an overview of the Teen- Net project, a discussion of anonymity and confidentiality within social networking technologies and software (including Friendster, Facebook, and Myspace), and a discussion of ...
Young lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people labeled with intellectual disabilitie... more Young lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people labeled with intellectual disabilities have unique sexual health needs that are not being met. Denial by others of their right to pleasure and the exercise of heightened external control over their sexuality are commonplace. Current research indicates that these youth are at heightened risk for compromised sexual health. This study aimed to explore the ways in which social and environmental conditions influence vulnerability to adverse sexual health outcomes for this population. We used a community-based research approach to conduct qualitative interviews and focus groups with 10 young LGBT people (aged 17-26) labeled with intellectual disabilities. Participants reported multiple limitations on their autonomy that resulted in having sex in places where they did not feel comfortable and were unlikely to practice safer sex. Attempts by authority figures to protect youth through limits on their autonomy may be unintentionally leading to negative sexual health outcomes.
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