May 9, 2022
Positionality allows a person to reflect on their view of the world, issues, and experiences and the factors that have affected how they view various scenarios and their accessibility to services (Holmes, 2020). These factors can include things like the colour of our skin, being born in a middle or upper-class family, being able-bodied, etc. Sometimes a person can recognize that they are affected by these factors like a disability that makes receiving certain services more difficult (Nixon, 2019). But usually, more privileged people do not recognize factors that give them an unearned advantage over others; an example of this includes racial discrimination and Indigenous communities facing racial discrimination in healthcare.
My positionality statement is as follows:
I grew up in a white upper-middle-class franco-anglophone family. My mother is very proud of her franco-Canadian background and I only started to speak English in grade 4. The community where I grew up had primarily government workers and it definitely felt like everyone had access to sporting activities, art classes, and other activities to help learn new skills. For me, growing up school and organized sports were prioritized, I did years of competitive gymnastics, but was also involved in dance, baseball, and skating. Having this priority followed me into my post-secondary experience where I studied Sciences and Human Kinetics while learning about personal training and cheerleading. After completing my schooling, I branched away from my family and moved to northern Alberta. Here, I have gotten the most worldly experience from the various communities and transient populations with whom I interact through work and personal relationships.
I currently work in neurology and many of the patients who receive my care are in need of more services than what is offered at our northern hospital. Due to communities being in rural and remote regions, they often travel very far for simple diagnostic testing or even blood work. Being able to offer more healthcare services at our hospital is a goal for the future, with the hopes to improve patient quality of life.
This move has opened my eyes to the degrees of inequality that exist in our healthcare system simply due to the geographic location of healthcare services and surrounding cities.
Andree Marcille
Holmes, A. G. D. (2020). Researcher positionality--A consideration of its influence and place in qualitative research--a new researcher guide. Shanlax International Journal of Education, 8(4), 1-10. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1268044.pdf
Nixon, S. A. (2019). The coin model of privilege and critical allyship: Implications for health. BMC Public Health, 19(1), 1-13. https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/track/pdf/10.1186/s12889-019-7884-9.pdf