Using Strategic Planning and Organizational Development Principles for Health Promotion in an Alaska Native Community

Abstract

SUMMARY Health promotion aims to support people in their efforts to increase control over factors that impact health and well-being. This emphasis on empowerment and contextual influences allows for a more holistic conceptualization of health and approaches to promoting health that are anchored in principles of community development and systems change. Piciryaratgun Calritllerkaq (Healthy Living Through A Healthy Lifestyle) is a collaboration between a Yup’ik village in rural Alaska and researchers from the University of Alaska Fairbanks. The goal was to improve nutrition, increase exercise and decrease stress. The project utilized elements of organization development and strategic planning to develop a local infrastructure and process and to promote local expertise. The project team developed goals, objectives, action and evaluation plans that integrated local traditions, Yup’ik culture, and research.

Promoting Physical Activity Among Native American Youth: a Systematic Review of the Methodology and Current Evidence of Physical Activity Interventions and Community-wide Initiatives

“…Specifically, initiatives examined multiple study regions 49–51 or a tribal community or communities in Alaska 52 , California 53,54 , New Mexico 13,55 , North Carolina 17 , Oklahoma 56–58 , or Washington 59 .…”

“…20,22–24,26–32,35,36,38,39 Three of the remaining interventions acknowledged the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) 25 , the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) 40 , and the American Medical Association 41 . About half of the community-wide initiatives were supported by the CDC (n=6; 46%) 13,49–51,55,56 ; other funding sources acknowledged included the Indian Health Service (IHS) 59 , the NIH 51,52 , the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) 57 , state governmental agencies 53,54 , and foundations 17,53,55 . Future funding initiatives could focus on developing the next generation of American Indian and Alaska Native researchers and practitioners, ensuring strong skills in conducting community-based participatory research or tribally-driven research models.…”

Assessing health in an Alaska native cultural context: The Yup’ik Wellness Survey.

“…Continuing in the spirit of community-based participatory research, we have undertaken health promotion efforts with Yup’ik communities that integrate local cultural traditions with applied research techniques. One such project is Piciryaratgun Calritllerkaq (Healthy Living through a Healthy Lifestyle), a community intervention codirected by Yup’ik community organizers and University of Alaska researchers that seeks to improve nutrition, increase exercise, and decrease stress in culturally meaningful ways (Lardon, Soule, Kernak, & Lupie, 2010). Another example of applied work in the region with similar methodological and collaborative strategies is People Awakening (Allen et al, 2006; Mohatt et al, 2004), a program designed to generate a model of Alaska Native sobriety through culturally anchored participatory action research.…”

Gender matters and the challenge for improving community health and well-being

“…The innovative aspect of the interventions is to consider the level of community as a salient for the effectiveness of the intervention itself (Green & Kreuter, 2005;Uthman, Lawoko, & Moradi, 2010). Furthermore the empowerment and contextual approach could enhance a more holistic conceptualization of health and promoting health and well-being more linking in community development and systems change (Lardon, Soule, Kernak, & Lupie, 2011). Finally, to promote the active women participation could provide a valued insight in the policies that have to deal with the gender implications.…”