Co-creating better healthcare experiences for First Nations children and youth: The FIRST approach emerges from Two-Eyed seeing

Abstract

To achieve health, Indigenous people seek a life that balances mental, spiritual, emotional, and physical wellness, yet the scope of these four dimensions is not typically considered in the Western-based health system. Indigenous people experience ongoing pain and hurt in all these dimensions as a result of a colonial legacy that persists in current-day policy and care contexts. Exploring ways to support Indigenous people to embrace ways of being well and reducing chronic pain has not been a priority area in health research. This community-based, qualitative study in four First Nations communities involved conversation sessions with 188 First Nations children, youth, parents, and Elders and 32 professionals who practice in those communities. The purpose was to gather perspectives related to pain expression, care experiences, and the strategies to improve the healthcare encounter. Thematic analysis was used to identify a more culturally thoughtful approach for clinicians to consider when First Nations people seek care. Two-Eyed Seeing consisting of four iterative steps was used to co-create the FIRST approach validating for community members that their perspectives were heard and providing a clinical approach for culturally safe practices with children, youth, and families. An overarching theme in the results was a clearer understanding about how pain and hurt translate into participants' health experiences and their desire to have their knowledge reflected in their health care. Participants describe experiencing pain and hurt in all four dimensions of health and from a historical, cultural, and spiritual identity, as well as from a community, family, and individual perspective. The FIRST approach captures Indigenous knowledge relating to Family, Information, Relationship, Safe-Space, and Two-Eyed treatment in the healthcare encounter. Considerations of this approach in clinical practice could enhance respectful and trusting relationships, knowledge exchange for better care experiences, and potentially improvement of culturally sensitive outcomes for Indigenous people.