Honoring our teachings: children’s storybooks as indigenous public health practice
Introduction American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) communities continue to flourish and innovate in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. Storytelling is an important tradition for AIAN communities that can function as an intervention modality. To support the needs of AIAN children and caregivers, w...
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crfrontiers:10.3389/fpubh.2024.1354761 2024-04-28T08:41:31+00:00 Honoring our teachings: children’s storybooks as indigenous public health practice Maudrie, Tara L. Grubin, Fiona Conrad, Maisie Velasquez Baez, Jocelyn Saniguq Ullrich, Jessica Allison-Burbank, Joshuaa Martin, Lisa Austin, Crystal Joyner, Joelle Ronyak, Marcella Masten, Kristin Ingalls, Allison Haroz, Emily E. O’Keefe, Victoria M. 2024 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2024.1354761 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2024.1354761/full unknown Frontiers Media SA https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Frontiers in Public Health volume 12 ISSN 2296-2565 Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health journal-article 2024 crfrontiers https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2024.1354761 2024-04-02T07:43:38Z Introduction American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) communities continue to flourish and innovate in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. Storytelling is an important tradition for AIAN communities that can function as an intervention modality. To support the needs of AIAN children and caregivers, we (a collaborative workgroup of Indigenous health researchers) developed a culturally grounded storybook that provides pandemic-related public health guidance and mental health coping strategies woven with Inter-Tribal values and teachings. Methods A collaborative workgroup, representing diverse tribal affiliations, met via four virtual meetings in early 2021 to discuss evolving COVID-19 pandemic public health guidance, community experiences and responses to emerging challenges, and how to ground the story in shared AIAN cultural strengths. We developed and distributed a brief survey for caregivers to evaluate the resulting book. Results The workgroup iteratively reviewed versions of the storyline until reaching a consensus on the final text. An AI artist from the workgroup created illustrations to accompany the text. The resulting book, titled Our Smallest Warriors, Our Strongest Medicine: Honoring Our Teachings during COVID-19 contains 46 pages of text and full-color illustrations. An online toolkit including coloring pages, traditional language activities, and caregiver resources accompanies the book. We printed and distributed 50,024 physical copies of the book and a free online version remains available. An online survey completed by N = 34 caregivers who read the book with their child(ren) showed strong satisfaction with the book and interest in future books. Discussion The development of this storybook provides insights for creative dissemination of future public health initiatives, especially those geared toward AIAN communities. The positive reception and widespread interest in the storybook illustrate how braiding AIAN cultural teachings with public health guidance can be an effective way to disseminate ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Alaska ren Frontiers (Publisher) Frontiers in Public Health 12 |
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Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health |
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Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health Maudrie, Tara L. Grubin, Fiona Conrad, Maisie Velasquez Baez, Jocelyn Saniguq Ullrich, Jessica Allison-Burbank, Joshuaa Martin, Lisa Austin, Crystal Joyner, Joelle Ronyak, Marcella Masten, Kristin Ingalls, Allison Haroz, Emily E. O’Keefe, Victoria M. Honoring our teachings: children’s storybooks as indigenous public health practice |
topic_facet |
Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health |
description |
Introduction American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) communities continue to flourish and innovate in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. Storytelling is an important tradition for AIAN communities that can function as an intervention modality. To support the needs of AIAN children and caregivers, we (a collaborative workgroup of Indigenous health researchers) developed a culturally grounded storybook that provides pandemic-related public health guidance and mental health coping strategies woven with Inter-Tribal values and teachings. Methods A collaborative workgroup, representing diverse tribal affiliations, met via four virtual meetings in early 2021 to discuss evolving COVID-19 pandemic public health guidance, community experiences and responses to emerging challenges, and how to ground the story in shared AIAN cultural strengths. We developed and distributed a brief survey for caregivers to evaluate the resulting book. Results The workgroup iteratively reviewed versions of the storyline until reaching a consensus on the final text. An AI artist from the workgroup created illustrations to accompany the text. The resulting book, titled Our Smallest Warriors, Our Strongest Medicine: Honoring Our Teachings during COVID-19 contains 46 pages of text and full-color illustrations. An online toolkit including coloring pages, traditional language activities, and caregiver resources accompanies the book. We printed and distributed 50,024 physical copies of the book and a free online version remains available. An online survey completed by N = 34 caregivers who read the book with their child(ren) showed strong satisfaction with the book and interest in future books. Discussion The development of this storybook provides insights for creative dissemination of future public health initiatives, especially those geared toward AIAN communities. The positive reception and widespread interest in the storybook illustrate how braiding AIAN cultural teachings with public health guidance can be an effective way to disseminate ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Maudrie, Tara L. Grubin, Fiona Conrad, Maisie Velasquez Baez, Jocelyn Saniguq Ullrich, Jessica Allison-Burbank, Joshuaa Martin, Lisa Austin, Crystal Joyner, Joelle Ronyak, Marcella Masten, Kristin Ingalls, Allison Haroz, Emily E. O’Keefe, Victoria M. |
author_facet |
Maudrie, Tara L. Grubin, Fiona Conrad, Maisie Velasquez Baez, Jocelyn Saniguq Ullrich, Jessica Allison-Burbank, Joshuaa Martin, Lisa Austin, Crystal Joyner, Joelle Ronyak, Marcella Masten, Kristin Ingalls, Allison Haroz, Emily E. O’Keefe, Victoria M. |
author_sort |
Maudrie, Tara L. |
title |
Honoring our teachings: children’s storybooks as indigenous public health practice |
title_short |
Honoring our teachings: children’s storybooks as indigenous public health practice |
title_full |
Honoring our teachings: children’s storybooks as indigenous public health practice |
title_fullStr |
Honoring our teachings: children’s storybooks as indigenous public health practice |
title_full_unstemmed |
Honoring our teachings: children’s storybooks as indigenous public health practice |
title_sort |
honoring our teachings: children’s storybooks as indigenous public health practice |
publisher |
Frontiers Media SA |
publishDate |
2024 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2024.1354761 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2024.1354761/full |
genre |
Alaska ren |
genre_facet |
Alaska ren |
op_source |
Frontiers in Public Health volume 12 ISSN 2296-2565 |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2024.1354761 |
container_title |
Frontiers in Public Health |
container_volume |
12 |
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1797571746587475968 |