Project Name:
Because She Cares: Perform ACB KT
Funding Dates:
2017 - 2018
Status:
Completed
Principal Investigators:
Lori A. Chambers (Ph.D. Candidate) (Student PI). Sarah Greene, Ph.D. (PI). Marvelous Muchenje, and Ms. W. Murombedzi (Co-Is) and Mrs. V. Pierre-Pierre (Principal Knowledge User).
Description:
This project will apply CIHR funding towards two (2) performance-based research forums where we invite African, Caribbean and Black (ACB) community members who are also representatives from HIV/AIDS service and allied organizations (AASOs), AASOs workers, researchers, advocates, and people living with HIV to dialogue on HIV-related employment of ACB immigrant women living with HIV. The proposed forums will disseminate and exchange knowledge deriving from the Because She Cares study, which used culturally-integrated performance narrative methods to gather, interpret and share ACB women's narratives of HIV-related employment as caring work.Because She Cares: Perform ACB KT evolved from a qualitative research study, entitled, “Because She Cares: Poetic Retellings of HIV Caring Work (hereafter “Because She Cares Study”). Ten (10) African immigrant women living with HIV shared their stories of employment in AIDS service and allied organizations (AASO). Study findings illuminated the possibilities and challenges of AASO employment as caring work for African immigrant women employees living with HIV. It also illustrated how African immigrant women workers strategized ways to translocate "back home" care strategies reminiscent of homeland ways of caring for each other.
Purpose and Objectives:
This project applied CIHR funding towards two (2) performance-based research forums where we invited African, Caribbean and Black (ACB) community members who are also representatives from HIV/AIDS service and allied organizations (AASOs), AASOs workers, researchers, advocates, and people living with HIV to dialogue on HIV-related employment of African immigrant women living with HIV. These forums disseminated and exchanged knowledge deriving from the Because She Cares study, which used culturally responsive performance and poetic narrative methods to gather, interpret and share ACB women's narratives of HIV-related employment as caring work.
Method:
Qualitative Research; Knowledge Translation (KT); Arts-Based Methods; Performance Narrative Inquiry; Poetic Inquiry
Population:
African, Caribbean and Black (ACB) Women; People living with HIV (PLHIV)
Region:
Toronto, ON
Start and End Date:
September 2017 – August 2018
Results:
The Because She Cares study was translated and disseminated as a one-hour spoken word play and poetry anthology/summary report that conveyed key study findings: "This is my life": The possibilities and challenges of AASO employment as self-care for ACB women living with HIV; "I take care of my family and myself too": The ways in which AASO employment is community care and finding ways to balance the "multiple hats" of community care work; "Certain rules I must follow": The labours of AASO employment for ACB immigrant women, including intersecting systems of stigma and discrimination due to gender identity, ethnicity, race, immigration status, nativity, ability, HIV-stigma among other intersecting social positionings;"Be somebody tomorrow": Future aspirations of employment that includes and transcends from current AASO employment ambitions; "Listen to her": Recommendations for "care-full" AASO employment as offered by ACB women living with HIV. The play, “Because She Cares: A Critical Poetic Re-Telling”, was performed at two events in Toronto, ON, of which 80 people attended. Six (6) non-professional performers identified as African, Caribbean and Black with current or prior experiences of AASO employment performed in the play. In post-performance discussions, audience members discussed 1) the resonance of play themes to the experience of ACB women living with HIV; 2) using of culturally-responsive arts-based approaches in HIV research; and 3) next steps for Because She Cares. Audience members commended the utility of arts-based knowledge translation and its utility for HIV research. They also noted that the plays' themes resonated with the experiences of ACB women living with HIV, and that the labours of AASO employment, particularly HIV-stigma and intersecting oppressions demanded greater discussion. The audience recommended developing Because She Cares into a community-based intervention performed amongst people who work in AASOs.
Project Indicators and Outcomes:
Funding Sources:
CIHR