Stroke is the most common serious neurological condition worldwide. Members of the Black population are at an increased risk of suffering a stroke due to several risk factors which are more prevalent in this racial group. The purpose of this qualitative research study is to describe how African-Caribbean stroke survivors, who live in Canada, understand their illness and manage their care during the early recovery period. Eight participants who were of African-Caribbean origin who were living in Canada and recovering from a stroke were interviewed. Results of the study indicate that participants were not knowledgeable about the risk factors for stroke, they did not recognize the warning signs of a stroke as a medical emergency, and they did not always follow treatment regimes recommended by their physicians. Participants in the study described stroke as a catastrophic event, resulting in feelings of intense fear, being out of control, uncertainty, yearning for their old self, and feelings of detachment from their own body. Motivating factors in their recovery from stroke were the support of family, their own individual personal determination, and the acceptance of the illness by the participants. Nurses and physiotherapists were valued by the participants due to the role they played in improving their functional abilities. Participants expressed a desire for nurses to become knowledgeable about the African-Caribbean culture, in order to provide them with education pertaining to diet as well as steps they can take to reduce their risk of having another stroke. Responding to the care needs of this population will require individualized nursing care which considers the influence of culture on how the illness is perceived. / Thesis (Master, Nursing) -- Queen's University, 2010-04-30 09:59:56.286

This dissertation research is the study of cultural resource management initiatives and the extent to which archaeological surveys and excavations include or exclude African Caribbean contemporary and historic communities, throughout these processes. Varying types of archaeological sites identified by archaeologists, along with community inclusionary measures are examined to determine as to the degree to which archaeological surveys and excavations are reflective of historic and contemporary African Caribbean communities. Data were collected through archival research, interviews and surveys and analyzed qualitatively to examine the degree to which stakeholders, particularly those who have been historically marginalized, have been incorporated into these processes. It was anticipated that changes in nationalistic identities and the emergence of an African Caribbean middle class would bring about a shift in the focus of cultural resource management initiatives, away from those associated with colonialist Europeans and Americans towards those associated with African Caribbean communities. A comprehensive examination of economic, political, social and cultural conditions provides the framework for an examination of historic and contemporary factors that have influenced the emergence of African Caribbean middle class communities. The data suggest that shifts in cultural resource management initiatives do occur as African Caribbean middle classes emerge from European colonialist societies. However, in some cases, the emergence of this middle class has been delayed. The data also suggest that archaeological surveys and excavations are still conducted without comprehensive community inclusionary measures or the inclusion of aspects of community based site significance. History, memory, and identity are key components of community-based concepts of tangible resources and as indicated in this study, differ greatly from resources as defined historically by colonialist and currently by archaeologists.

Statement of problem: Ottawa Public Health has expressed the need for accurate and complete data/information on HIV in the Black community from Africa and the Caribbean (ACB) in Ottawa. Method of investigation: A mixed methods approach was done. The first phase was a descriptive analysis of HIV diagnoses in the ACB population in Ottawa between 2005-2010. The second phase used qualitative interviews with people living with, and not living with HIV in ACB communities in Ottawa. Results: HIV diagnosis rates were higher in ACB in comparison to the non-ACB population. The issues that emerged from interviews touched on HIV-related stigma, the exacerbating effect of HIV, essential gaps in current programs and HIV-related services for ACB communities. Conclusion: The HIV diagnosis rates in the ACB communities in Ottawa provide reason for concern. OPH’s approach to reducing HIV rates in ACB communities must attempt to incorporate understandings of the cultural context of HIV in the ACB communities for the betterment of HIV-prevention programming.

There is a paucity of literature into the first-person account of hearing voices (HV)1, particularly from diverse cultural groups. This research aimed to explore the meaning-making of African-Caribbean men who have heard voices, within a social constructionist framework. Five participants were recruited via community networks and individually interviewed. Narrative analysis was employed to illustrate both individual and collective stories of HV. Four emerging storylines were constructed: 'Storylines of the changing understandings of hearing voices over time', 'Recovery: Reformation, Redemption and Restoration', 'Storylines of family life and understandings of culture and race', and 'From Silence to Freedom: Speaking Out and Reaching Out'. Findings of this research suggest re-storying HV outside of a medical framework, with voice-hearers' meaning-making of the voices an integral part of understanding the phenomenon, in the context of psycho-social and cultural factors. Implications for de-mystifying voice-hearing, particularly in African-Caribbean communities, are considered in the context of promoting education and awareness of HV through community-based approaches, cross-cultural working and supporting the voice of expert by experience, in the hope of challenging dominant discourses attached to HV. Future research suggestions are discussed and researcher reflexivity concludes the study.

Statement of problem: Ottawa Public Health has expressed the need for accurate and complete data/information on HIV in the Black community from Africa and the Caribbean (ACB) in Ottawa. Method of investigation: A mixed methods approach was done. The first phase was a descriptive analysis of HIV diagnoses in the ACB population in Ottawa between 2005-2010. The second phase used qualitative interviews with people living with, and not living with HIV in ACB communities in Ottawa. Results: HIV diagnosis rates were higher in ACB in comparison to the non-ACB population. The issues that emerged from interviews touched on HIV-related stigma, the exacerbating effect of HIV, essential gaps in current programs and HIV-related services for ACB communities. Conclusion: The HIV diagnosis rates in the ACB communities in Ottawa provide reason for concern. OPH’s approach to reducing HIV rates in ACB communities must attempt to incorporate understandings of the cultural context of HIV in the ACB communities for the betterment of HIV-prevention programming.

This thesis explores how gender can affect experiences of health and illness, with the understanding that gender is constructed differently across the life course, and is mediated by 'race' and class relations in Britain. Research was conducted with a small sample of informants drawn from African-Caribbean community groups in east London, using focus groups and in-depth interviews. Findings are three-fold. First, participation in health research itself was problematic for informants, relating directly to their experiences of personal and institutional racism in Britain. Evidence showed that these experiences encouraged informants to use public accounts of health and illness when more structured research methods were used. In-depth interviews encouraged informants to develop more private accounts of their illness experiences. A second finding was that social relations and low social status were often implicated in private accounts as contributing factors to illness. Women and men felt that racialised experiences, especially in the workplace, were problematic for black people collectively. Older female informants also connected personal health problems to their efforts in fulfilling the more traditional expectations of women in the home, family and workplace. Finally there is evidence that women and men have developed a variety of strategies to mediate the impact that social circumstances may have on their health. Some strategies influenced the way that illness discourses themselves were constructed, whilst others focused on building self-esteem through Caribbean or Black identity, or through developing a sense of 'self. ' Besides these findings, the methodology of this study is discussed. This was developed in response to the sensitive nature of the racialised research context. Key concerns have been to develop trust and rapport with informants, and to offer them the opportunity to comment critically on this research project and its findings. It was felt that this approach enhanced the insight into informants' reporting and understandings of health and illness. Conclusions of this research have theoretical, methodological and policy implications. Most topical are implications relevant to east London's Health Action Zone strategy. There are specific recommendations for understanding the mental health needs for African-Caribbean communities, and for developing appropriate ways to involve these communities in this initiative and offering them better access to information.

The central aim of the thesis is to define the approach of EU development policy towards Africa since the end of the Cold War. It focuses on the unexplored areas of the available literature on the subject, specifically the impact of EU development policy on the domain of international development and the objective of the EU to become a prominent international actor. The thesis relies on Martha Finnemore’s Social Constructivist research. It concentrates on the dynamics maintained by the EU with the normative basis that characterises the structure and agents of international development, and assesses how it affected EU behaviour, as expressed through its development policy towards Africa in the considered timeframe.1 By doing so, the thesis exposes both the marked effect of EU development policy in the domain of international development, and the form of ‘paradise’ (model of development) the EU promoted in Africa. The empirical support in the thesis is comprised of archived data, official documents, press releases, published reports, speeches, and personally conducted interviews. Following the method of research, the thesis focuses on tracing the norms that characterise EU development policy towards Africa over time. Therein, the thesis largely confirms the identified agents as the source of the norms that define the structure of international development, and the EU as its derivative. It argues that EU development policy is currently a general projection of the normative structure of international development, specifically regarding the policy orientation of its identified agents. As a result, it contends that the EU fell short of its efforts to export its form of ‘paradise’ to Africa in the proposed timeframe as a corollary of its limitations to stand as a distinct and leading actor in the domain of international development. Thus, the thesis makes a fresh contribution to the understanding of EU development policy towards Africa and the objective of the EU to become a prominent international actor in the twenty-first century.

For years, critics have used Black writers' interweaving of African-derived oral textual features and European written forms to reject the concept of the Great Divide between orality and writing in literacy studies. These critics primarily see the hybridized texts of writers of African descent as a model that assists in the complex union of writing and orality. My argument is that the integrationist model is not the only way, perhaps not even the most fruitful way, to read the hybridized texts of writers of African descent. I develop a reading of Anglophone African, African-Caribbean, and African-Canadian literature that sees the synthesis of orality and writing as an emergent discourse, free of the dogmatisms of textuality and of colonial literary standards, that contributes to the cultural and political aspirations of writers of African descent. In transcribing African-derived orality into writing, Black writers emphasize the ethnic component of their African identity, thereby decolonizing their literature. Consequently, the literature functions as locus or epitome of community-created culture and counter-colonial discourse, portraying the Black writer as a self-assertive community agent with the potential for forging a new historically informed identity. My introduction identifies the scope of the study, defining what constitutes African-derived oral textual features and outlining the critical theories that will be instrumental to my analysis. I also explain why I selected the writers Wole Soyinka (African), Edward Kamau Brathwaite, Louise Bennett (African-Caribbean), Lillian Allen, Marlene Nourbese Philip, and Clifton Joseph (African-Canadian) as examples of writers who have utilized orality in writing as political and cultural expression. Chapter One provides a background to pre-colonial African oral discourse. Chapters Two, Three, and Four respectively focus on Anglophone African, African Caribbean, and African Canadian poets' uses of orality in writing to reflect an eclectic cultural heritage. A brief conclusion follows these chapters. It reaffirms my primary thesis that the dynamic union of orality and writing in Anglophone African, African-Caribbean, and African-Canadian written poetry functions as the expression of a new kind of cultural and political discourse, in search of a new audience and a critical approach that requires both Africanist and European critical perspectives.

This paper describes the process of planning change in a London comprehensive school in order to raise the level of achievement of a group of African-Caribbean boys in February 1997. It looks at the level of awareness of staff and management of the need for change and their attitudes to the introduction of a mentoring program for Black boys. Firstly, I looked at how schools implement change with regards to matters not considered central to the curriculum. Secondly, I looked specifically at my current school and the priority it had given to the fact of Black boys underachievement and the changes that have evolved from this. This involved a review of literature relating to the role of the school, teachers, parents, Black boys and the teacher as researcher.

No / Previous attempts to involve African and African-Caribbean communities in a city in north England in identifying and assessing their health needs have been largely unsuccessful. A comprehensive literature review highlighted that research on Africans and African-Caribbeans is limited and uneven, and dominated by studies focusing on cardiovascular disease, diabetes, mental health and blood disorders. Health information on these communities is largely based on immigrant mortality statistics derived from national datasets. This paper highlights how participatory approaches to community participation and engagement were used in the assessment of the health needs of culturally diverse minority communities as a means of reducing health disparities. The study sought to overcome the shortcomings of traditional techniques for health needs assessment by testing a novel method of rapid participatory appraisal using a triangulation approach to ensure that all perspectives were addressed. The research adopted a mixed-methods strategy comprising distinct phases: a comprehensive review of the literature, a qualitative needs assessment involving representatives of the African and African-Caribbean communities using meta-planning, and a review of health service provision. The approach used in the study was efficient, rapid and feasible for the African and African-Caribbean people to use in obtaining data from their peers. The findings showed a convergence between areas of need identified by health providers and community members in this appraisal, and between these results and other published literature. However, there was a divergence on the extent of change necessary, with institutional responses stressing alterations within existing systems, and community members recommending the establishment of targeted services for African and African-Caribbean communities run by ethnically matched staff.