Grant: Team Grant: Diabetes Prevention and Treatment in Indigenous Communities: R&W

Building on an established partnership among six Indigenous communities located in Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec, we are working together to build on community mobilization training and existing community strengths (resilience) to prevent type 2 diabetes. Using a community-engaged approach that is based in a Haudenosaunee Two Row Wampum perspective, and with consideration for a diversity of genders, we will study a community-to-community (C2C) mentorship model to prevent type 2 diabetes (T2D). Knowledge sharing activities will include community exchanges, participatory video storytelling, social media, and gatherings. Three new communities will join the project in year 2 to further extend our T2D prevention mobilization efforts. Our 5-year research seeks to understand: 1) how community resilience can best be used to promote the success of our C2C model; 2) the effects of the C2C activities on community mobilization for T2D; and 3) how the C2C model works to promote community mobilization for T2D. We will use a mix of qualitative and observational methods to achieve our objectives. Community members will be involved in all of the research phases and have contributed to designing this project. Our research will be the first to examine how community resilience can be used for T2D prevention in Indigenous communities. Findings will help identify sustainable approaches to prevent T2D that can be rippled to other communities across Canada to promote the wellness of Indigenous peoples.