Grant: Travel Awards - Institute Community Support

Participants of the Kahnawake Schools Diabetes Prevention Project (KSDPP) Community Mobilization Training (CMT) for Diabetes Prevention were invited to take part in a talking circle that was focused on how participants from each community defined wellness. It is well known, and well documented that Indigenous conceptualizations of wellness differ from Western conceptualizations, yet Western measures are still being used within Indigenous communities to quantify health and wellness. By exploring and creating a unique framework of wellness driven by the members of each community completing the KSDPP CMT, using the method of concept mapping, this activity will provide a basis for strategic planning related to further community mobilization efforts, and also evaluation of efforts to improve wellness in their community along the way. The concept map is created based on how participants sort statements about wellness into themes and rate statements about wellness according to its importance and the possibility of achieving it. With this information communities will be able to create their own tools to quantify their community health and wellness. In the past, information from concept maps have also been used to advocate for policy change, and additional funding.