Publication Date
2024
Document Type
Dataset
Publisher
Edith Cowan University
School or Research Centre
School of Arts and Humanities
Description
Background: Within the context of a growing sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) population in Australia, the problem of alcohol and other drug (AOD) use by SSA youth has been reported in recent studies. Although evidence from other sociocultural contexts indicate that SSA cultural values could be protective against youth AOD use, not much is known about what pertains in the Australian context. The core justification for conducting this study is grounded on the awareness that people may perceive and conceptualize their heritage cultural values based on the sociocultural context in which they find themselves (Akkuş et al., 2017).
Objectives: To explore SSA cultural values from the perspectives of SSA Australians, and to explore how these cultural values may influence AOD use among SSA Australian youth.
Method: A convenience sample of 18 SSA Australians in Perth which comprised 9 community leaders (aged 35 – 74; 4 females, 5 males) and 9 youth (aged 18 – 30; 4 females, 5 males) were engaged in one-on-one interviews. The participants were from diverse SSA backgrounds including Nigeria, Kenya, South Sudan, Zimbabwe, Guinea, Sierra Leon, Ghana, Liberia, Congo, Burundi, Rwanda, and Zambia.
Results: We found that SSA cultural values among our participants revolve around communality, and they include family, respect, and tradition. While the predisposing risk factors for SSA youth AOD were associated with communality and family, the identified protective factors are associated with all the identified cultural values.
Conclusion: There is the need for further studies to understand how SSA Australian youth adapt their SSA heritage cultural values in AOD use within the Australian sociocultural context.
DOI
10.25958/vv2c-na63
Research Activity Title
Cultural values and substance use among Sub-Saharan African youth in Australia: A qualitative study
Research Activity Description
The aim of the research project is to explore the conceptualization of sub-Sahara Africa (SSA) values among youth and leaders from SSA backgrounds in Australia and to test how they adapt these relevant values in their acculturation experiences, and Alcohol and other Drugs (AOD) use, and their mental health outcomes.
The specific objective of this study was to:
Qualitatively explore the conceptualization of African cultural values and religiosity based on the conception of Afrocentric worldview among community leaders and youth from SSA backgrounds in Western Australia, and further explore the extent to which these values influence AOD use and mental health among the youth.
Methodology
Semi structured one to one interviews
Start of data collection time period
2023
End of data collection time period
2023
File Format(s)
Word documents and pdf files
File Size
4.21 MB
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Citation
Kenin, A. (2024). Qualitative interviews. Edith Cowan University. https://doi.org/10.25958/vv2c-na63
(RQ2) SSA Values and AOD use.html (13 kB)
(RQ1) SSA Values.html (13 kB)