Lecture
HSO@CSPS: How to train a community-engaged researcher by dr. Lucie Lévesque
On Monday, June 12th, Professor Lucie Lévesque from the School of Kinesiology and Health Studies, Queen’s University, Kingston, Canada will share a talk with us on how to train a community-engaged researcher. Using the Kahnawake Schools Diabetes Prevention Program (KSDPP) as an example. The Kahnawake Schools Diabetes Prevention Program (KSDPP) is committed to prevent type 2 diabetes in Kahnawake. They empower community members to care for their personal and family health through continual improvement of our unique diabetes prevention model based on Kanien’keha values. They collaborate with all community organizations on a shared vision of diabetes prevention activities that reach all community members.
About Kahnawake
Kahnawake is a Mohawk territory of 8000 people on the south shore of the St Lawrence River 15 kilometers from downtown Montreal. The Mohawk Nation is part of the Iroquois Confederacy whose traditional lands cover an area that includes southern Quebec and Ontario, and northern New York State. Traditional diet consisted of corn, beans and squash supplemented by foods acquired through fishing, hunting and gathering.
The current community was founded in 1680 and established at its present location in 1716. There is strong community control over politics, health and social services and education, combined with higher levels of education and acquisition of professional degrees. In the past thirty years, Kahnawake has made a strong commitment to reinforce Mohawk culture and language within community structures and the Iroquoian philosophy of participation by the people in decision-making continues to be reinforced.
Type 2 diabetes has emerged as a major public health threat to Indigenous populations in the second half of the 20th Century. Rare before the 1940’s Type 2 diabetes has become increasingly common among indigenous peoples in North America, Australia and the South Pacific Islands. In Canada, the prevalence of Type 2 diabetes among Indigenous people is two to five times greater than in the general population. The KSDPP goal is to decrease the onset of Type 2 diabetes among present and future generations. The main objectives are to increase daily physical activity, healthy eating habits, and adequate sleep among Kahnawake children. Other important objectives are to mobilize the community, to foster community empowerment and ownership through participation in all aspects of the program and to build capacity within Kahnawake to ensure sustainability of KSDPP goals, objectives and activities in the future.
About Dr. Lucie Lévesque
Dr. Lévesque leads the Community-Engaged Heath Promotion Research group in the School of Kinesiology and Health Studies. Her research focuses on program evaluation and implementation science examining community-based physical activity interventions through an ecological approach. A long-time member of the Kahnawake Schools Diabetes Prevention Project (KSDPP) research team, and frequent collaborator on Indigenous research initiatives, Dr. Lévesque has extensive experience working with Indigenous communities within a CBPR framework. Her work is founded on community engagement for the production and dissemination of action-oriented knowledge. Dr. Lévesque’s research encompasses both Indigenous and mainstream/Western science approaches and has informed the ways in which respectful and relevant research is conducted with Indigenous communities in Canada (e.g., KSDPP Code of Research Ethics; Canada’s Tri Council Policy Statement 2: Module 9 – Research Involving the First Nations, Inuit and Métis Peoples of Canada). In addition to her research with Indigenous communities, she also collaborates with public health researchers in local communities and in Latin America and the Caribbean to conduct program evaluation and research related to physical activity and health promotion.