A Wellness Course for Community Health Workers in Alaska: "wellness lives in the heart of the community".
OBJECTIVE
To develop, implement, and evaluate a culturally respectful Wellness Course with and for Alaska's village-based Community Health Workers (CHWs) to support community health promotion and disease prevention.


METHODS
This article describes Wellness Course development, implementation, and evaluation.


METHODS
Five 5-day Wellness Courses were provided for 55 CHWs from communities throughout Alaska. Fifty-two of 55 participants completed a post-course written evaluation. Post-course telephone interviews were conducted with participants (11/32) from the first 3 courses.


RESULTS
On written post-course evaluations, all participants wrote detailed descriptions of what they learned and 98% (51/52) felt more confident in their knowledge and ability to present community wellness information. As a result of course participation, 88% (46/52) of CHWs wrote ways they would support family and community wellness, and 85% (44/52) wrote ways they planned to take better care of their health. During the in-depth post-course interviews, all 11 CHWs interviewed described ways the Wellness Course increased their health knowledge, helped them in their work, and prepared them to effectively engage with their communities to promote health.


CONCLUSIONS
Learning wellness information with hands-on activities and practising health presentation and community engagement skills within the course design increased participants' wellness knowledge and skills, confidence, and motivation to provide community wellness activities. Techniques for active listening, engaging community, and using the arts and storytelling as culturally respectful health promotion are tools that when used by CHWs within their own community have potential to empower community wellness.
Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium, Community Health Aide Program, Anchorage, AK, USA. mcueva@anthc.org
Melany
M
Cueva
Teresa
T
Hicks
Regina
R
Kuhnley
Katie
K
Cueva
D000413:Alaska; D003153:Community Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D003150:Community Health Workers / Q000458:organization & administration*; D005260:Female; D006284:Health Plan Implementation; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D015397:Program Evaluation