PIECES of My RELATIONSHIPS: The Cultural Adaptation of a Biographical Assessment Tool for Indigenous Older Adults in...

Healthcare services are rarely designed to meet the needs of Indigenous people, resulting in culturally unsafe care and assessment tools. This paper describes a collaboration between North East Behavioural Supports Ontario (NEBSO), university researchers, and Indigenous communities to adapt a biographical assessment tool used by NEBSO to be culturally appropriate and safe for Indigenous older adults (55+) in long-term care facilities in Ontario, Canada.

Over 36 months, this project applied an Indigenized, community-based participatory research (CBPR) and cultural safety framework to the adaptation process. Qualitative data sources include the guidance of an Indigenous Elder, an Anishinaabe Language Expert Group, and focus groups conducted along the North Shore of Lake Huron, Sudbury, and Cochrane, Ontario.

The adapted tool shifts the focus from personhood to relationships, includes culturally relevant domains, and supports trauma-informed approaches. Five themes were identified during the adaptation process: (1) practicing a relational approach to care, (2) valuing Indigenous language, (3) understanding Indigenous trauma, (4) respecting cultural values and understandings, and (5) addressing systemic barriers to culturally safe care.

Themes elucidated from this research process can inform future studies adapting mainstream practice tools and developing new tools for Indigenous populations. The collaboration and approach to this adaptation process demonstrated how cultural safety at systemic and practice levels can be addressed through CPBR partnerships between universities, organizations, and Indigenous communities. Findings support the need to evaluate the cultural safety of other assessments for older Indigenous adults in health care settings.