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The Aboriginal ActNow Health Promotion Initiative: The Role of Context
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| Presenter(s):
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| Kim van der Woerd, Reciprocal Consulting, kvanderwoerd@gmail.com
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| Donna Atkinson, University of Northern British Columbia, datkinson@unbc.ca
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| Abstract:
The health status of First Nations, Métis and urban Aboriginal peoples in British Columbia (BC) is widely recognized as unacceptable and unsustainable compared to BC’s non-Aboriginal population. Aboriginal ActNow is an endeavour to improve the personal and community health through a multi-year, partnership-based, community-oriented health promotion initiative. Aboriginal ActNow brought together three organizations (First Nations Health Society, Métis Nation BC, and BC Association of Aboriginal Friendship Centres) to support healthy living projects in communities across BC. This presentation reviews a comprehensive process and outcome evaluation of Aboriginal ActNow’s program. Preliminary findings suggest that relationship building is one of the most important factors in the success of Aboriginal-specific health promotion initiatives. Other lessons learned in the development and implementation of the program include the importance of working within a community context, and using wholistic, community-oriented, strength-based approaches that address underlying social determinants of First Nations, Métis and urban Aboriginal health.
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Deconstructing and Rebuilding Evaluation Practices With Indigenous Communities: Examples From the Canadian Context
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| Presenter(s):
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| Larry K Bremner, Proactive Information Services Inc, larry@proactive.mb.ca
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| Abstract:
This paper will provide a basis for generating discussion among evaluators and others working with Indigenous communities. The paper will begin with a brief presentation grounding the discussion in both evaluation theory and practice. However, the focus will be on effective and promising evaluation practices in First Nations, Aboriginal, and Inuit communities in Canada. The paper will draw upon the author’s experiences working in a range of urban, remote and Northern communities to answer questions such as: How do different world views affect evaluation theory and practice? What appear to be promising approaches for de-colonizing evaluation practice? What are the considerations for Indigenous and non-Indigenous evaluators working with these communities? The paper will conclude with reflections on what can be considered “quality” evaluation in various cultural contexts.
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A Journey Toward Understanding Evaluation Quality and Complexity in Aboriginal Communities: A Discussion of Three National Evaluation Initiatives
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| Presenter(s):
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| Jill Anne Chouinard, University of Ottawa, jchou042@uottawa.ca
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| Katherine Moreau, University of Ottawa, kmoreau@cheo.on.ca
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| Abstract:
We have been fortunate in the past year to have had the opportunity to work on three separate evaluation initiatives in Aboriginal communities, in the areas of mental health, youth suicide and educational-based programs. All three evaluation initiatives were based on principles of participatory, community-based methodologies that reflect the cultural context of the communities and recognize the inherent right of Aboriginal people to be agents of research. As such, all three evaluations were designed to involve community members in all stages of the evaluation, from the development of culturally appropriate assessment methods, to data collection, analysis and the interpretation of findings. In this paper, we discuss our experiences in attempting to apply participatory, community-based and culturally appropriate methodologies in these settings, the challenges we faced and the obstacles we navigated through, as well as the lessons that we learned along the way.
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