NWT RESEARCH DATABASE

Regions: Inuvialuit Settlement Region, Gwich'in Settlement Area, Sahtu Settlement Area, Dehcho Region, North Slave Region, South Slave Region, Qikiqtaaluk Region

Tags: community development, employment, needs assessment, educational resources

Objective(s): Project Goal: Health and social service providers in the North will have access to a learning resource that will help them to support communities to find their own ways to promote wellness and healthy living.

Project Description: Project Goal: Health and social service providers in the North will have access to a learning resource that will help them to support communities to find their own ways to promote wellness and healthy living. Objectives: To identify community development needs, preferences for ongoing learning and expectations for support from employers; to assess levels of competency and perform a gap analysis; and to make recommendations based on the analysis for an appropriate Northern learning resource that will meet the training gap. With permission of the Public Health Association of British Columbia (PHABC) the research team is using two survey tools. One survey is for employees and the other is for employers. These tools will be found online where the technology allows. The survey will be given via paper or telephone if the participant requests. These online surveys were tested in both Vancouver Coastal Health and Interior Health in British Columbia. The questions were tested in surveys in Nova Scotia and Ontario. Both surveys were posted on-line for a sample of staff and managers in Vancouver Coastal Health, revised and tested again with a sample of staff and managers in Interior Health. The surveys will be first tested in all territories with a sample of frontline staff and managers. Changes will be made if needed. The survey will then be posted on the employers’ website for all participants (employees and employers). An email will be sent by the employer to all public health and community wellness workers asking them to complete the survey. Participants will not be asked any personal information. The data will be seen only by the researchers. Data cannot be accessed by employers. Data will not be linked to individuals or communities or used for performance reviews. The survey participants for this learning needs assessment are public health staff (employees and employers) of territorial governments and their regions/authorities. This study does not involve local communities but the data collected will be used to create a learning module to strengthen knowledge, skills and attitudes of public health providers to work more effectively with communities. At the curriculum development stage, the research team will involve community cultural advisors to ensure that content is culturally relevant and Northern specific and that learning resources used are appropriate. The territorial government employers and/or their regions/authorities will receive the report of the findings and analysis for their respective territory. These employers will be asked to upload the report to their intranet for employees to access. Aboriginal cultural organizations and communities will receive a summary report as part of the follow-up consultations with cultural advisors who will guide content relevancy of a community development learning module for each of the territories. The fieldwork for this study will be conducted from October 16, 2013 to December 31, 2013.