THE HEALTH BELIEF MODEL

     The creation of the infographic presented is to help promote the issue of increased later stage diagnosis of breast cancer and poorer outcomes from breast cancer for Indigenous women in Ontario, such as higher rates of mortality, when compared to their non-Indigenous peers (Mazereeuw et al., 2017; Sheppard et al., 2010). 

    Breast cancer is closely connected to the colour pink as this was the reason behind choosing pink as the main colour.  Incorporating Indigenous aspects such as icons that reflect Indigenous women and Indigenous items, like a feather, were also used.  A poster that is easy to follow and shares the required important information as a task due to space constraints.  Ultimately, creating an Infographic that would resonate with Indigenous people would best be created with Indigenous people, but as a first step, attempts were made to be mindful of aspects that would resonate with this group of targeted persons for intervention.

     The focus of this health promotion initiative is really centred on working with the Indigenous community to have shared decision making in creating strategies that are likely to increase uptake of breast cancer screening in Indigenous women between the ages of 50-74. Strategies that incorporate shared decision making are more likely to be successful within the Indigenous community (Mazereeuw et al., 2017).

Reference

Mazereeuw, M., Yurkiewich, A., Jamal, S., Cawley, C., Jones, C., & Marrett, L. (2017). Cancer risk factors and screening in First Nations in Ontario. Health Promotion and Chronic Disease Prevention in Canada. 37(6). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5650013/

Sheppard, A., Chiarelli, A., Marrett, L., Mirea, L., Nishri, E. D., Trudeau, M., & Aboriginal Breast Cancer Study Group. (2010).  Detection of Later Stage Breast Cancer in First Nations Women in Ontario, Canada. Canadian Journal of Public Health.  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6973584/