Pages 330-331 in N. Murphy and A. Parkinson, eds. Circumpolar Health 2012: Circumpolar Health Comes Full Circle. Proceedings of the 15th International Congress on Circumpolar Health, Fairbanks, Alaska, USA, August 5-10, 2012. International Journal of Circumpolar Health 2013;72 (Suppl 1):330-331
Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium, Anchorage, AK, USA
Institute of Social and Economic Research,
University of Alaska, Anchorage, AK, USA
Source
Pages 330-331 in N. Murphy and A. Parkinson, eds. Circumpolar Health 2012: Circumpolar Health Comes Full Circle. Proceedings of the 15th International Congress on Circumpolar Health, Fairbanks, Alaska, USA, August 5-10, 2012. International Journal of Circumpolar Health 2013;72 (Suppl 1):330-331
Arts-based cancer education grew in response to Alaska's Community Health Workers (CHWs) requests for increased cancer knowledge. Alaska's diverse village-based CHWs desired to learn more about cancer, including how to facilitate healing conversations and support increased cancer prevention and screening for people in their communities. Among Alaska Native people, cancer became the leading cause of death in the 1990s and remains so today. During cancer education course offerings, CHWs shared that the arts were traditionally an integral pathway for sharing knowledge and understanding - giving a mind, body and spirit connection to the learning experience. The arts offer a wellspring of creative energy to transform emotions, nurture healing and inspire creativity that flows into fresh understandings.