Understanding labour force participation, work productivity and disability in the Indigenous context: a partnership with the Nokiiwin Tribal
Indigenous individuals often find themselves in stress-inducing situations at the workplace and are not sure what they should or even could do. Resources and mental health help available to Indigenous workers is extremely limited. There are currently no culturally appropriate e-mental health approaches for Indigenous employees and managers to assist them in coping with workplace stress. Therefore, Dr. Vicki Kristman along with her research team propose to conduct a qualitative study to collect information, and use this to develop an e-mental health application that will address the following concerns:
- Provision of information on work-related mental health and mental health resources that Indigenous workers can access.
- Provision of a measure that is culturally relevant to the Indigenous population that can be used to measure current workplace psychological health.
- Provision of information related to who, among those who access the e-mental health intervention, has workplace mental health concerns. This will help the Indigenous communities to better understand the burden and the distribution of the burden within their communities.
WSPS will partner Lakehead University with the Nokiiwin Tribal Council, Indigenous community representatives, multidisciplinary researchers, health and safety practice experts, and other stakeholders representing labour, government, Indigenous workers and employers to strengthen Indigenous workplaces to increase labour force participation and productivity, and reduce work disability within the communities of the Nokiiwin Tribal Council. Once complete WSPS will disseminate study results, keep checking this page for updates.
More information about the Nokiiwin Tribal council can be found at www.nokiiwin.com.
