Collaborative Design Process to Develop a Health Education Intervention: The Ööqalat' Qa'tsit Yesni Curriculum

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Health Education
• Indigenous Health

Background:

• Type 2 Diabetes (T2D) is increasingly recognized as a risk factor for certain cancers.
• Cancer education is crucial for diabetes care, particularly for Indigenous populations with high T2D rates.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe the development and pilot methods of the Ööqalat' Qa'tsit Yesni (Living a Strong Life) Curriculum.
• To increase participant knowledge of cancer and T2D, including prevention, management, and early detection.

Main Methods:

• Community-based participatory research and the Community Health Workers Praxis and Patient Health Behavior Framework guided the project.
• A tribal-university workgroup managed all project stages.
• Participants with diagnosed T2D or pre-diabetes (ages 18-75) were recruited using purposeful sampling.
• A pretest-post-test design assessed knowledge changes.

Main Results:

• Results regarding participant knowledge changes will be published in a future study.

Conclusions:

• The Ööqalat' Qa'tsit Yesni project utilized a community-based participatory research tribal-university partnership.
• The collaborative process yielded a health education curriculum.
• This curriculum has the potential to advance community-engaged health promotion in Indigenous communities.