NWT RESEARCH DATABASE

Regions: Inuvialuit Settlement Region, Gwich'in Settlement Area, North Slave Region

Tags: Indigenous health, organizational learning, learning health systems

Objective(s): To gather information that organizations can use to improve how they support our health and wellness.

Project Description: This licence has been issued for the scientific research application No. 5778. The purpose of this study is to gather information that organizations can use to improve how they support health and wellness. This study will help the research team understand how organizations can learn from communities, specifically Gwich’in and Tli?cho communities. This study is being done as a collaboration between Gwich’in Tribal Council (GTC), Tli?cho Government (TG), the Northwest Territories (NWT) Department of Health and Social Services (HSS), NWT Health and Social Services Authority (NTHSSA) and University of Toronto. The research questions for this project are: 1.How do organizations learn from the knowledges and evidence within communities? 2.What does ‘learning organization’ mean to Gwich’in and Tli?cho communities? 3.What does ‘learning health system’ mean to Gwich’in and Tli?cho communities? This study will inform health system capacity building to learn from and apply knowledges and evidence in a way that improves patient experience and care for Indigenous peoples. The NWT organizations will each receive their respective results from the study, giving them insight into how to improve their own programs and services. These results will be particularly important to guide their relationships with the communities they serve and meet public commitments such as the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action. Three organizations will be the focus of research: Gwich’in Tribal Council, Tli?cho Government and Government of NWT. Each organization will be studied to see how they learn from communities in their different roles to support the health and wellness of NWT residents. The research team will focus the data collection and analysis on three program areas: medical travel, the public health response to COVID-19, and on-the-land healing. These focus areas will allow the team to explore organizational and system learning from different perspectives. The research team will collect information using different methods. Working with Gwich’in and Tli?cho Elders and research assistants as well as community partners, the research team will review literature in a way that combines Indigenous and western ways of knowing. Interviews of 1 to 2 hours will be done with people living in 2 NWT communities and with people working in the 3 organizations. With permission, the interviews will be audio recorded. The interviews will gather information about situations when the organizations learned from or with community and how different things make this learning easier or more difficult. Talking circles of 2 to 4 hours will be done with people living in the same 2 NWT communities and with people working in the 3 organizations. The talking circles will gather information about situations when the organizations learned from or with community and what people think a ‘learning organization’ should look like. Documents like websites, policy, newspaper articles and other publications will be reviewed for evidence to answer the research questions. Data collection and analysis are planned to be finished in late 2022, when results will be shared with all communities and organizations collaborating in this study. Interviews and talking circles will take place in Tsiigehtchic, Inuvik, Behchoko, Yellowknife and possibly Whatì. These communities were selected with guidance from the teams organizational and community partners. Please note: discussions are still ongoing to confirm the Tli?cho community partners. At this time, the research team has only been able to have preliminary discussions with Tli?cho Government staff. Due to the COVID-19 outbreak in NWT that began in the summer of 2021, discussions with Tli?cho communities had to be postponed. The research team is committed to engaging and listening to Tli?cho communities before research begins. The research team have established a steering group comprising Indigenous Elders, community leaders and partner/case organization representatives to guide and help carry out the research. Project progress and results will be communicated with NWT communities and health system decision makers, care providers and scholars in different ways. If public health restrictions permit, in-person gatherings with partner organizations and communities will be held to present and discuss study findings. The team will also pursue broadcasting summaries of the results on local community radio. The organizations involved in this research will be given progress updates throughout and at the conclusion of research, including recommendations. All knowledge holders (participants) involved in the research will be provided with their own audio recordings, transcripts, and a final summary of results if they wish to receive them. All communities will also receive the final reports and any results summaries. The project team will ensure that findings are presented at in-person gatherings in each community when public health safety measures permit. The team would also like to bring research findings to life through mixed audiovisual media (e.g., videos, community radio). Working with local talent, the team would like to produce short audiovisual products that recognize Indigenous community contributions to organizational learning in healthcare; document Indigenous people’s experiences with health services; and encourage continued discussion about Indigenous and western ways of understanding health and healthcare. With the steering group, the team will prepare journal articles (with co-authorship by Elders, steering group members and/or other NWT partners, as appropriate) and co-present findings at national and international conferences. Credit will be given to all partners in any publications or presentations. In addition to her PhD dissertation, Crystal Milligan will prepare a study brief for circulation among health system policy and practitioner audiences. The fieldwork for this study will be conducted from: January 01 - December 31, 2024