Factors enabling health in Aboriginal-non-Aboriginal cultural encounter in the Yukon.

The purpose of this study is to understand how holistic health is maintained in circumstances of cultural encounter. Although Canadian Government and Aboriginal definitions of health focus on holistic health, most of the research on health in cultural encounters focuses on ill-health. This study focuses on the social determinants of health rather than of ill-health. I interviewed three healthy Yukon First Nation women who had experienced a cultural encounter with non-Aboriginals in order to understand the unique nature of their experience and how they had maintained their health through that experience. I used a chain sampling method to find my interviewees. Since I was seeking a mutual understanding between myself and the Aboriginal participants who had experienced the cultural encounter, I situated the study in the Constructivism theoretical framework and used a qualitative methodology. I found certain common themes in the accounts of these women. They had all started from a position of physical, mental, emotional and cultural strength. They had all experienced diverse cultural lifestyles and languages in their homes and communities. Their parents' preparation and vision had built a bridge which lessened the impact of the cultural encounter. They employed certain skills which they had learned at home to cope with innovation, including modelling, balancing, actively integrating and focusing on the positive. They maintained contact with their homes or found ways to reconnect mentally and physically when separated. I hope this research will achieve my goal of deepening understanding of cultural encounter by both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people and how health may be maintained throughout it.