We are meditating and working on our beadwork, thinking, man, ‘I just made this, I never knew I could do that!': Assessing the positive impacts of an Athabascan Beading Program

Hopeful Connections is a collaborative research and intervention support program for Alaska Native cancer survivors, caregivers and loved ones. Hopeful Connections is facilitated within a long-standing partnership between The Fairbanks Native Association and the University of Alaska Fairbanks. A cornerstone of Hopeful Connections is a weekly Beading Program that brings together traditional beaders to create Athabascan beaded pins that are gifted to other survivors as a message of hope. While enjoying beading and refreshments participants openly share not only beading materials and techniques, but also health related concerns and advice.  Our presentation will discuss a mixed methods study conducted to assess the impact of the Beading Program on participants’ sense of mastery, self-esteem, and social connectedness. Through participant observation along with a single (pre- and post-6-week) group design that involved nine Alaska Native beaders completing standardized measures and a focus group, several positive impacts of beading were identified. Outcome measures revealed increases in mastery, self-esteem and social connectedness. Further, focus group participants expressed perspectives on beading, including:  Beading as a stress reliever; The importance of beading for a purpose (“Giving somebody else a pin is important to us”); How beading can impact health (“It [beading] kept me away from smoking and tobacco.”); and The potential of beading to help others (“I think suicide rates would be lower if there were supportive beading groups for young people.”).  We will conclude by discussing further research being conducted to elucidate how specific aspects of beading can be integrated into prevention and survivorship efforts.