A Wellness Course for Community Health Workers in Alaska: “wellness lives in the heart of the community”

Abstract

ObjectivesTo 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 designThis article describes Wellness Course development, implementation, and evaluation.MethodsFive 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.ResultsOn 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.ConclusionsLearning 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.

Impact of local anesthesia block on pain medication use and length of hospital stay in elderly indigenous patients in Alaska hospitalized for fragility fracture

“…Access to health care services is limited in many areas of Alaska requiring the use of frontline health care providers in the community to screen patients and provide protocol-based care to individuals in rural and underserved communities. [10,[13][14][15] The focus of the codeveloped multimodal care protocol was to better identify, treat, and prevent fractures, improving health outcomes and reducing complications. The multimodal care protocol standardizes care, prompting laboratory assessment (eg, vitamin D and serum calcium), screening for secondary causes of osteoporosis, and guiding pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic treatment (eg, vitamin D, calcium, bisphosphonates, improved pain control, using less narcotics, improved early mobility, etc).…”

Avaliação da efetividade da promoção da atividade física por agentes comunitários de saúde em visitas domiciliares

“…Apesar disso, entende-se que a formação dos ACS para a promoção da atividade física e os cursos de educação permanente ou de capacitação são promissores 10,11,12,13,45 . Nessa perspectiva, o processo de formação em educação profissional realizado com as ACS do distrito de Ermelino Matarazzo, apesar de não ter sido efetivo para aumentar o nível de atividade física e melhorar os estágios de mudança de comportamento da população atendida, proporcionou melhora no conhecimento das ACS acerca das recomendações de atividade física para a saúde, além da (re) significação acerca da prática de atividade física na vida pessoal e profissional, valorizando-se a possibilidade do autocuidado, transformando um conhecimento anterior mais funcionalista para uma visão mais integrada, ampla e prazerosa da prática de atividade física, bem como a importância do conhecimento adquirido influenciando a maneira como elas promoviam a atividade física para os usuários do SUS 21 .…”

“…No que diz respeito aos processos educativos, em vários países, cursos têm sido desenvolvidos com ACS para que eles promovam atividade físi-ca e alimentação saudável para a população com uso de estratégias como organização de grupos de prática de atividade física, encontros de educação em saúde e visita domiciliar 10,11,12,13 . Nos Estados Unidos, o aumento na prática de atividade física foi encontrado como resultado de estudos de intervenções promovidas por ACS por meio das visitas às populações carentes 14,15 .…”

Digital Storytelling: An Innovative Tool for Practice, Education, and Research

“…The use of digital storytelling has been documented within health care education and continuing education (Cueva et al, 2012;Cueva et al, 2013;Dupain & Maguire, 2007;Hardy, 2007;Sandars et al, 2008;Sandars & Murray, 2011;Stacey & Hardy, 2011). As Hardy (2007) emphasizes, reflection is a critical skill for health care professionals; digital storytelling supports the principles of actively engaging students in reflecting upon knowledge they have gained as well as on their experiences, rather than passively receiving information from the world.…”