Background:
First Nation people within Ontario, Canada experience hepatitis C through layers of access disparity, inequity, stigma, shame, fear and misinformation impacting engagement in screening and treatment.
Description:
Instead of analyzing numbers to shape treatment policy, Indigenous-led approaches sought out stories of how people felt when learning about liver health, how they accessed screening, and what issues they confronted when connecting to treatment. This relational approach focused on conversational story-based interviews, incorporating community co-designed arts and media to change awareness messaging and networking to shape positive impacts in access and equity.
Effectiveness:
This ongoing engagement project is building relational momentum through trust and connection to cultural approaches to wellness. Resulting culturally connected awareness resources are shaping a liver bundle providing tools for First Nation communities to direct programming around liver wellness based on their unique capacity. Themes from conversational interviews are shaping decisions and programming supporting increased access to screening options, additional linkages to care and policy impacts to simplify the hepatitis C cascade of care.
Conclusion:
Approaching hepatitis C from a liver wellness perspective, incorporating the seasonal traditions of regeneration, engagement, gathering, and sharing knowledge through story creates a First Nation focused initiative founded in strengths versus disparity that can positively impact goals of hepatitis C care and cure and add value to evidence-based knowledge.
Disclosure:
This project was funded in part by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, York University and University Health Network. No pharmaceutical grants were received in the
development of this study. |