Grant: Travel Awards - Institute Community Support

Type 2 diabetes mellitus is a large burden on the healthcare system, as it uses many resources and affects all major organ systems of an individual. In First Nations communities in Canada, rates of diabetes are much higher than in non-native populations, and though interventions have been proposed and been in place for years, incidence keeps rising. Community mobilization is necessary for interventions to succeed in the long-term; currently many mobilization processes are poorly understood and conducted. In order to better understand why community mobilization succeeds or fails, we will examine the use of the Community Readiness Model tool within the Transformation of Indigenous Primary Healthcare Delivery (FORGE-AHEAD) project (PI: SB Harris, UWO). Objectives: 1) To understand what a community needs to mobilize around diabetes prevention. 2) To determine what the Community Readiness Model tool contributes to the process of community mobilization. This will be a case-study comprised of qualitative interviews and observations, examined through content analysis. Data collection will occur in a First Nations community recruited within the FORGE-AHEAD project. All community members who responded to the CRM tool survey will be invited to participate. We will learn whether a formal tool is helpful to advance community mobilization, and what helps and impedes mobilization processes for improved health interventions. Though this project focuses on diabetes in indigenous communities, it has further application for health interventions in any community setting. It will provide practical information about future intervention planning and implementation, to increase the likelihood of success.