A Wellness Course for Community Health Workers in Alaska: “wellness lives in the heart of the community”
Objectives. To develop, implement, and evaluate a culturally respectful Wellness Course with and for Alaska's village-based Community Health Workers (CHWs) to support community health promotion and disease prevention. Study design. This article describes Wellness Course development, imple...
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2012
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.3402/ijch.v71i0.19125 https://doaj.org/article/8e4bded5b5a446e0ab859b8fe49ae4ba |
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:8e4bded5b5a446e0ab859b8fe49ae4ba 2023-05-15T15:12:19+02:00 A Wellness Course for Community Health Workers in Alaska: “wellness lives in the heart of the community” Katie Cueva Regina Kuhnley Teresa Hicks Melany Cueva 2012-08-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.3402/ijch.v71i0.19125 https://doaj.org/article/8e4bded5b5a446e0ab859b8fe49ae4ba EN eng Taylor & Francis Group http://www.circumpolarhealthjournal.net/index.php/ijch/article/view/19125/pdf_1 https://doaj.org/toc/2242-3982 doi:10.3402/ijch.v71i0.19125 2242-3982 https://doaj.org/article/8e4bded5b5a446e0ab859b8fe49ae4ba International Journal of Circumpolar Health, Vol 71, Iss 0, Pp 1-6 (2012) Alaska Native Community Health Workers health education Community Health Aides/Practitioners adult education health promotion and disease prevention Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 article 2012 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.3402/ijch.v71i0.19125 2022-12-31T10:39:18Z Objectives. To develop, implement, and evaluate a culturally respectful Wellness Course with and for Alaska's village-based Community Health Workers (CHWs) to support community health promotion and disease prevention. Study design. This article describes Wellness Course development, implementation, and evaluation. Methods. Five 5-day Wellness Courses were provided for 55 CHWs from communities throughout Alaska. Fifty-two of 55 participants completed a post-course written evaluation. Post-course telephone interviews were conducted with participants (11/32) from the first 3 courses. Results. On written post-course evaluations, all participants wrote detailed descriptions of what they learned and 98% (51/52) felt more confident in their knowledge and ability to present community wellness information. As a result of course participation, 88% (46/52) of CHWs wrote ways they would support family and community wellness, and 85% (44/52) wrote ways they planned to take better care of their health. During the in-depth post-course interviews, all 11 CHWs interviewed described ways the Wellness Course increased their health knowledge, helped them in their work, and prepared them to effectively engage with their communities to promote health. Conclusions. Learning wellness information with hands-on activities and practising health presentation and community engagement skills within the course design increased participants’ wellness knowledge and skills, confidence, and motivation to provide community wellness activities. Techniques for active listening, engaging community, and using the arts and storytelling as culturally respectful health promotion are tools that when used by CHWs within their own community have potential to empower community wellness. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Circumpolar Health International Journal of Circumpolar Health Alaska Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic International Journal of Circumpolar Health 71 1 19125 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Alaska Native Community Health Workers health education Community Health Aides/Practitioners adult education health promotion and disease prevention Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 |
spellingShingle |
Alaska Native Community Health Workers health education Community Health Aides/Practitioners adult education health promotion and disease prevention Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Katie Cueva Regina Kuhnley Teresa Hicks Melany Cueva A Wellness Course for Community Health Workers in Alaska: “wellness lives in the heart of the community” |
topic_facet |
Alaska Native Community Health Workers health education Community Health Aides/Practitioners adult education health promotion and disease prevention Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 |
description |
Objectives. To develop, implement, and evaluate a culturally respectful Wellness Course with and for Alaska's village-based Community Health Workers (CHWs) to support community health promotion and disease prevention. Study design. This article describes Wellness Course development, implementation, and evaluation. Methods. Five 5-day Wellness Courses were provided for 55 CHWs from communities throughout Alaska. Fifty-two of 55 participants completed a post-course written evaluation. Post-course telephone interviews were conducted with participants (11/32) from the first 3 courses. Results. On written post-course evaluations, all participants wrote detailed descriptions of what they learned and 98% (51/52) felt more confident in their knowledge and ability to present community wellness information. As a result of course participation, 88% (46/52) of CHWs wrote ways they would support family and community wellness, and 85% (44/52) wrote ways they planned to take better care of their health. During the in-depth post-course interviews, all 11 CHWs interviewed described ways the Wellness Course increased their health knowledge, helped them in their work, and prepared them to effectively engage with their communities to promote health. Conclusions. Learning wellness information with hands-on activities and practising health presentation and community engagement skills within the course design increased participants’ wellness knowledge and skills, confidence, and motivation to provide community wellness activities. Techniques for active listening, engaging community, and using the arts and storytelling as culturally respectful health promotion are tools that when used by CHWs within their own community have potential to empower community wellness. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Katie Cueva Regina Kuhnley Teresa Hicks Melany Cueva |
author_facet |
Katie Cueva Regina Kuhnley Teresa Hicks Melany Cueva |
author_sort |
Katie Cueva |
title |
A Wellness Course for Community Health Workers in Alaska: “wellness lives in the heart of the community” |
title_short |
A Wellness Course for Community Health Workers in Alaska: “wellness lives in the heart of the community” |
title_full |
A Wellness Course for Community Health Workers in Alaska: “wellness lives in the heart of the community” |
title_fullStr |
A Wellness Course for Community Health Workers in Alaska: “wellness lives in the heart of the community” |
title_full_unstemmed |
A Wellness Course for Community Health Workers in Alaska: “wellness lives in the heart of the community” |
title_sort |
wellness course for community health workers in alaska: “wellness lives in the heart of the community” |
publisher |
Taylor & Francis Group |
publishDate |
2012 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3402/ijch.v71i0.19125 https://doaj.org/article/8e4bded5b5a446e0ab859b8fe49ae4ba |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic Circumpolar Health International Journal of Circumpolar Health Alaska |
genre_facet |
Arctic Circumpolar Health International Journal of Circumpolar Health Alaska |
op_source |
International Journal of Circumpolar Health, Vol 71, Iss 0, Pp 1-6 (2012) |
op_relation |
http://www.circumpolarhealthjournal.net/index.php/ijch/article/view/19125/pdf_1 https://doaj.org/toc/2242-3982 doi:10.3402/ijch.v71i0.19125 2242-3982 https://doaj.org/article/8e4bded5b5a446e0ab859b8fe49ae4ba |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3402/ijch.v71i0.19125 |
container_title |
International Journal of Circumpolar Health |
container_volume |
71 |
container_issue |
1 |
container_start_page |
19125 |
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1766343012858724352 |