Amxsame’ su sa ‘Nawalakw (the supernatural spirit wraps around us): impacts of Kwakwaka’wakw regalia making on identity, wellness and belonging in ‘Yalis, British Columbia

2021 ◽  
pp. 117718012110584
Author(s):  
Helen Brown ◽  
Trevor Isaac ◽  
Kelsey Timler ◽  
Elder Vera Newman ◽  
Andrea Cranmer ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Action Research ◽  
Participatory Action Research ◽  
Cultural Continuity ◽  
Northwest Coast ◽  
Health And Wellness ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
Action Research Project ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Wholistic Health

In this article, we share findings from a community-based Participatory Action Research project, titled Sanala, which means to be whole in Kwak’wala—the language of the Kwakwaka’wakw (Kwak̓wala-speaking people; a First Nation from what is now called Canada). In response to community priorities, the Sanala team initiated regalia as a weekly programme where people from the ‘Namgis tribe and other surrounding Kwakwaka’wakw Nations on the northwest coast of British Columbia, Canada, come together to create regalia. Participants learn about family crests, design and sew button blankets and dance aprons, and learn oral histories belonging to individuals and families, all within the context of Kwak’wala language revitalization and regalia making. We outline the impacts of this programme on identity, belonging, wholistic health and collective wellbeing, as well as implications for Participatory Action Research and community-led research aimed at strengthening individual and collective health and wellness through Indigenous languages and cultural continuity.

scholarly journals Supporting institution-to-community transitions for people with psychiatric disabilities: Findings and implications from a participatory action research project

2014 ◽  
Vol 34 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Gossett Zakrajsek ◽  
Mansha Mirza ◽  
Nathan Kai-Cheong Chan ◽  
Tom Wilson ◽  
Mark Karner ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Action Research ◽  
Nursing Homes ◽  
Participatory Action Research ◽  
Virtual Communities ◽  
Psychiatric Disabilities ◽  
Second Phase ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
Action Research Project ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Research Project

<p><span>Despite preference for community-based living, large numbers of people with psychiatric disabilities live in nursing homes throughout the US. Community-based services for this population are limited by public policy and service system barriers. This paper summarizes these barriers and presents the second phase of a participatory action research project jointly developed by university-based researchers and two Centers for Independent Living. A qualitative case study methodology was used to understand the experiences of three individuals with psychiatric disabilities reintegrating into the community from nursing homes. Findings revealed themes of social isolation, participation in virtual communities, variability of impairment experiences and unmet needs for community supports. In addition to thematic findings, action products were generated for the benefit of community partners. These products included national best practice resources and a needs assessment survey tool. Study findings and products point to specific systems change and policy recommendations to better support community reintegration for this population. These recommendations are discussed in light of U.S. healthcare reform and broader disability advocacy efforts.</span></p>

The challenges of participation in doing community-based participatory action research: Lessons from the Kwithu Project

2016 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 198-213 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathalis G Wamba
Keyword(s):  
Action Research ◽  
Participatory Action Research ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
English Language ◽  
English Language Teaching ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
Action Research Project ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Random Group ◽  
Running Water

The Kwithu project started when a volunteer who joined Kwithu, a community-based organization in Mzuzu, Malawi (Africa), to teach English gave a diagnostic test to a random group of forty 7th and 8th graders (20 boys and 20 girls) and discovered that most of them could hardly read or write in English. The test results prompted Maureen, the Kwithu director and co-founder, the teacher and myself to meet with the headteachers of the three schools mostly attended by Kwithu children. The headteachers appreciated our concerns about the English proficiency of the children, but they advised us to focus on more urgent matters if we truly wanted to help, e.g., lack of teaching and learning materials, lack of running water in schools, hunger, teacher qualifications, etc. This advice shifted our initial inquiry goal—from English language teaching—to a community-based participatory action research project designed to address the school conditions in Luwinga. In this paper, I describe the community-based participatory action research inquiry and I reflect on the process of participation.

scholarly journals Shifting Gears: Lessons Learnt From Critical, Collaborative, Self-Reflection on Community-Based Research

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lulza Olim de Sousa ◽  
Emerentia Antoinette Hay ◽  
Schalk Petrus Raath ◽  
Aubrey Albertino Fransman ◽  
Barend Wilhelm Richter
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Action Research ◽  
Participatory Action Research ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
Action Research Project ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Community Based Research ◽  
Self Reflection

This article reflects the learning of five researchers in higher education in South Africa who took part in a participatory action research project to educate teachers how to integrate climate change issues into their teaching and learning. It was the first time any of the researchers had used participatory action research. We are all from natural science backgrounds and now involved in education for sustainable development. We had been trained in more traditional, objective, and researcher-driven methodologies grounded in a positivist paradigm. The purpose of this article is to share our learning about the changes we had to make in our thinking and practices to align with a participatory paradigm. We used reflective diaries to record our journey through the action research cycles. A thematic analysis of our diaries was supplemented by recorded discussions between the researchers. The analysis revealed that, while it was challenging to begin thinking in a different paradigm, we came to appreciate the value of the action research process that enabled teachers to integrate climate change issues into their teaching in a participatory way. We also concluded that we require more development to be able to conduct participatory research in a manner true to its values and principles. The conclusions we came to through our collaborative reflections may be of value to other researchers from similar scientific backgrounds who wish to learn what shifts in paradigm, methods, and processes are needed to be able to conduct community-based research in a participatory way.

scholarly journals Combining respondent-driven sampling with a community-based participatory action study of people who smoke drugs in two cities in British Columbia, Canada

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sulaf Elkhalifa ◽  
Ehsan Jozaghi ◽  
Samona Marsh ◽  
Erica Thomson ◽  
Delilah Gregg ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
British Columbia ◽  
Action Research ◽  
Harm Reduction ◽  
Participatory Action Research ◽  
Illicit Drugs ◽  
Respondent Driven Sampling ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Peer Researchers

Abstract Background The smoking of illicit drugs presents a serious social and economic burden in Canada. People who smoke drugs (PWSD) are at increased risk of contracting multiple infections through risky drug practices. Peer-led harm reduction activities, and the resulting social networks that form around them, can potentially minimize the dangers associated with the smoking illicit drugs. Goal The goals of this study were to pilot test the combined approaches of respondent driven sampling with community based participatory action research in these settings and compare the attributes and social networks of PWSD in two British Columbia cities with different harm reduction programs. Methods Using community-based participatory action research (CBPAR) and respondent-driven sampling (RDS), individuals with lived drug experiences were employed from communities in Abbotsford and Vancouver as peer researchers to interview ten contacts from their social networks. Contacts completed a questionnaire about their harm reduction behaviours and interactions. Results We found that PWSD residing in Abbotsford were more likely to report engaging in harm-promoting behaviours, such as sharing, reusing, or borrowing crack pipes. However, PWSD in the Downtown East side Community of Vancouver were more likely to report engaging in harm-reducing activities, such as being trained in naloxone use and CPR. We found no differences in network sizes between the two communities, despite the population differences and harm reduction programs Conclusion The high participation rates and interactions between researchers, and peer researchers enriched the study implementation and successfully informed our results. The fact that there were no differences in network size suggests that people have similar support in Vancouver as in Abbotsford, and that drug use practices differ mainly due to availability of harm reduction programming and resources.

scholarly journals Structuration, ICTs, and Community Work

2005 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Larry Stillman ◽  
Randy Stoecker
Keyword(s):  
Action Research ◽  
Participatory Action Research ◽  
Structuration Theory ◽  
Western Region ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
Action Research Project ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Management Plans ◽  
Electronic Community ◽  
Information And Knowledge Management

This paper reports upon the outcomes of an action research project which took place with a network of neighbourhood houses (community-based organisations) in the Western Region of Melbourne, Australia. Our first aim was to engage community-based organisations, through participatory action research techniques, to develop information and knowledge management plans for an electronic community network. Our second was to integrate structuration theory and theories of participatory action research, in order to provide a new context for understanding how ICTs can be used with community-based organisations. The paper reports on the major issues found in the research, and plans developed to address those issues.

scholarly journals Critically examining a community-based participatory action research project with forced migrant youth

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Thierry R. F. Middleton ◽  
Robert J. Schinke ◽  
Deborah Lefebvre ◽  
Bahaa Habra ◽  
Diana Coholic ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Action Research ◽  
Participatory Action Research ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
Action Research Project ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Research Project ◽  
Migrant Youth

Repatriation and Decolonization

2018 ◽  
pp. 722-738
Author(s):  
Robin R. R. Gray
Keyword(s):  
Action Research ◽  
Participatory Action Research ◽  
Liturgical Music ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
Action Research Project ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Sociopolitical Context ◽  
And Control ◽  
Associated Knowledge

This chapter focuses on the efforts of Ts’msyen from Lax Kw’alaams to repatriate songs and associated knowledge products from the Laura Boulton Collection of Traditional and Liturgical Music. It provides an overview of the sociopolitical context that created the conditions for the songs to be taken from the community, including an analysis of the contributing role of Western property frameworks in the dispossession of Ts’msyen knowledge, heritage and rights. Based on a community-based participatory action research project with, by, and for Ts’msyen, this chapter offers decolonial considerations on the topics of ownership, access, and control from the vantage of Ts’msyen laws, ethics, and protocols.

scholarly journals The Syrian Canadian Sports Club: A Community-Based Participatory Action Research Project with/for Syrian Youth Refugees

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (6) ◽  
pp. 163 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel B. Robinson ◽  
Ingrid M. Robinson ◽  
Vanessa Currie ◽  
Nathan Hall
Keyword(s):  
Action Research ◽  
Participatory Action Research ◽  
Youth Sports ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
Action Research Project ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Multiple Systems ◽  
Sports Club ◽  
Multiple Data ◽  
Group Interviews

In this paper, we share the rationale, process, and results related to a community-based participatory action research (PAR) project in which we, among other things, aimed to attend to the underrepresentation of newcomer youth in community sport and recreation pursuits. By way of engaging with one rural county’s Syrian youth refugee population while also attending closely to a social ecological framework, we first identified obstacles and opportunities related to multiple systems (i.e., individual, social/interpersonal, organizational/community, public policy). Drawing upon multiple data sources (i.e., photos and photovoice, participants’ drawings and notes, participant-researchers’ field notes, and focus group interviews) to inform our subsequent plan-act-observe-reflect action research cycles, we and our Syrian youth participants co-created and implemented the Syrian Youth Sports Club. In addition to describing the rationale and process related to this Syrian Youth Sports Club, we focus herein upon the results, which primarily relate to participants’ experiences becoming (physically literate) and belonging.

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