Beyond deficit: ‘strengths-based approaches’ in Indigenous health research

This article seeks to understand the conceptual basis of strengths-based approaches as currently presented in health research. It proposes that three main approaches exist: ‘resilience’ approaches concerned with the personal skills of individuals; ‘social-ecological’ approaches, which focus on the individual, community and structural aspects of a person’s environment; and ‘sociocultural’ approaches, which view ‘strengths’ as social relations, collective identities and practices.