Colleen Patterson

1. National Aboriginal Health Organization
The Use of Social Media
for Sexual Health Promotion among
First Nations, Inuit and Métis youth
Colleen Patterson, Senior Communications Officer
Workshop:
Building and Enhancing Capacity for Hepatitis C Prevention
Venue: International Development Research Centre (IDRC)
150 Kent Street, Ottawa
November 4, 2010 2:40 p.m.

2. National Aboriginal Health Organization
Mission
The National Aboriginal Health
Organization advances and promotes the
health and well-being of all First Nations,
Inuit and Métis through collaborative
research, Indigenous Traditional
Knowledge, building capacity, and
community led initiatives.

3. National Aboriginal Health Organization
First Nations, Inuit and Métis
• First Nations, Inuit and Métis are recognized as
the three original peoples in Canada.
• Each population is distinct from the others and
has a unique history.
• Within Each group there is considerable
diversity.
• First Nations, Inuit and Métis are a young and
growing population.

4. National Aboriginal Health Organization
Internet Access at the
Community Level
• 88% of Aboriginal communities have access to internet
(Band Office, Community Access Points, School and
household levels)
• 49% Dial-up and 42% High Speed
• 77% had some form of access at the household level.
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5. National Aboriginal Health Organization
What is Social Media?
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6. National Aboriginal Health Organization
What is Social Media?
Simply put…
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Social Media is people
having conversations online.

7. National Aboriginal Health Organization
Hmmmm.
• Wikipedia has more than 4,000,000 articles
• 200,000,000 blogs
• Youtube has more than 100,000,000 videos
• 400,000,000 active users on Facebook
• Internet access growing in Canada
• Twitter has about 6,000,000 unique visitors to it’s site
each month. 27.3 million tweets per day (Nov. 2009)
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Blogs
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10. National Aboriginal Health Organization
Twitter!
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11. National Aboriginal Health Organization
Twitter hashtag for Hepatitis

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Twitter hashtag for HCV

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NAHO News - Youtube
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14. National Aboriginal Health Organization
Background
• In 2008 a steering committee formed
which included a number of First Nations,
Inuit, and Métis youth stakeholders,
representatives from NAHO, PHAC and
Health Canada.
• Gaining interest in user-generated content.

15. National Aboriginal Health Organization
Purpose of Youth Messaging Initiative
The First Nations, Inuit and Métis Youth STBBI
Messaging Initiative (Youth Messaging Initiative, YMI)
aims to make effective use of relevant technologies
and social media to reach and engage First Nations,
Inuit and Métis youth in Canada for sexual health
promotion and STBBI prevention.

16. National Aboriginal Health Organization
YMI History To Date
 An environmental scan was conducted in spring 2009
 NAHO hosted a workshop with First Nations, Inuit
and Métis youth from across Canada to identify
priorities and best ways to reach youth using social
media.
 Youth made recommendations for future initiatives.
 Pilot Projects were supported by PHAC and FNIHB in
2010.

17. National Aboriginal Health Organization
Key Priorities Identified by First
Nations, Inuit and Métis Youth
Through the NAHO workshop, three key
messaging priorities were identified:
• Normalizing healthy sexuality.
• Get tested (normalizing testing like any other
test, i.e. diabetes).
• Awareness building in general and recognizing
needs of different audiences.

18. National Aboriginal Health Organization
A holistic understanding of sexual
health
• First Nations, Inuit and Métis youth shared the
issues that are related to STI’s, HIV and other
bloodborne infections like Hep C that are in their
own communities.
• Stigma, education, knowledge, poverty and
support were key themes discussed by youth,
• These themes are inter-related and youth
emphasized the importance of a holistic approach.

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Inuit Sexual Health Messaging
 Ilisaqsivik Society/NAHO
 Focus group of 5 youth
 Message: access to
condoms and negotiating
safer sex.
 Youth scripted 3 scenes +
2 additional scenes
 Plain/traditional language
and messaging.
 With Guidance youth can
come up with great ideas.

21. National Aboriginal Health Organization
Findings: Lessons Learned
• Engaging First Nations, Inuit and Métis youth as
partners from concept onwards has led to an
informed approach to the development of STBBI
messaging.
• The process yielded lessons learned on what
worked and did not work well in creating social
media products.
• A good balance of mentors and professionals
supporting and working with youth to develop the
projects.

22. National Aboriginal Health Organization
Findings: Lessons Learned
 Good resources already exist, adaptation of
resources through consultation and involvement
of youth can be effective.
 Youth are interested, it’s not difficult to find
them, but long-term involvement is the
challenge.
 Needs to be a coordinating piece to regularly
engage and update youth on activities,
resources, etc.
 Males are gaining more interest in being role
models in this area.

23. National Aboriginal Health Organization
Questions or Further Discussion
NAHO
220 Laurier Ave. W.
Suite 1200
Ottawa, ON K1P 5Z9
Phone: (613) 237-9462
Toll Free: 877-602-4445
Fax: (613) 237-1810
E-mail: info@naho.ca
Web site: www.naho.ca