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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
Suzanne Christopher, PhD, Alma Knows His Gun McCormick, Adina Smith, PhD, Vanessa Watts, BS, Amy Lowry, MS, Victoria LaFromboise, BS, and Jewel Deschamps-Gopher. Department of Health and Human Development, Montana State University, 104 Hosaeus Complex, Bozeman, MT 59717, 406-994-6321, suzanne@montana.edu
We will discuss the development, implementation, and evaluation of a training for community women serving as lay health advisors - called Messengers in this project. This training took place as part of the Messengers for Health project on the Apsáalooke (Crow) Reservation in Southeastern Montana; a community-based cervical health project. Some training goals included having the Messengers 1) develop methods and a list of settings for spreading information about cervical health, 2) be empowered to encourage other women to be concerned with their own health and to make change at individual and higher levels, 3) be familiar with cancer/health information, 4) be comfortable with other Messengers, 5) know about how to make appointments at Indian Health Service (IHS) clinics and what happens during the appointment and at follow-up, 6) be comfortable discussing health information and sensitive issues in a group and one-on-one situation, and 7) be comfortable with their own health. The training was developed to be appropriate to the Apsáalooke culture including limiting the amount of lecturing, using talking circle activities, using ceremony and prayer, and recognizing the knowledge and wisdom of the participants. Additionally, it was important in the training that we talked about community-level and culturally sensitive issues. Examples at the community level included tribal politics and feelings about and past experiences with IHS. Culturally sensitive issues included using the word cancer, talking about body parts, and talking cross-gender about health. The evaluation was also designed in the context of Apsáalooke culture.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Cervical Cancer, Community-Based Public Health
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.