Shonagh McCrindle MHA, BSc
Manager, Community Engagement
Aaniish Naa Gegii Children's Health and Wellbeing Measure
CANADA
Shonagh is a graduate of the Master of Health Administration from Telfer School of Management at the University of Ottawa. She completed her program after a 6-year Sejour working frontline administration in the neurosciences division of The Ottawa Hospital. Her time in acute healthcare combined with her Undergraduate degree in Nutrition lead her to be a fierce advocate for addressing the social determinants of health.
After almost a decade living and working in the Yukon, she has returned to the Algonquin Valley near Ottawa. While she was up north, she led advocacy initiatives for neurodivergent folk and connected with many First Nation groups to advance housing, employment, healthcare rights for all. Her experience in systems change and advocating for policy alternatives have brought a well-rounded perspective to the Aaniish Naa Gegii engagement team. Her son’s ancestry is Cree from Sturgeon Lake First Nation, which brings the team’s work very close to home. She loves autumn, foraging and long walks in the forest.
Our presentation will touch on the implementation of an Indigenous wellness tool in various communities and its impact on community health and wellness, service planning, and changes in data being used for decision making. We will begin by briefly describing the measure, how it was created, how it works, and discuss its implementation success in communities.
The Aaniish-Naa-Gegii: Children's Health and Well-Being Measure (ACHWM) is a tablet-based self-reported wellness assessment app. It was developed in 2009 through collaborations between Indigenous health leaders and academic researchers, who integrated the wisdom of Indigenous children and youth. The app has been used by many First Nations, Métis and Inuit communities across Turtle Island for over a decade. The Aaniish-Naa-Gegii app guides Indigenous children (8-18 years) through a non-judgmental assessment of their wellness. The outcome sparks strengths-based conversations with local health staff/helpers. These conversations are guided by a balance chart, that is a circular diagram inspired by the medicine wheel teachings of spiritual, emotional, physical, and mental (or cognitive) health, that displays the results in a (w)holistic way.
The data generated by children using the app can be used : (a) to inform interventions and treatment planning for an individual child or youth, (b) to evaluate programs for groups of children or youth, and (c) to provide population level data to support leaders in decision-making, determining the allocation of limited resources, and supporting funding applications for their community or organization.
As the app generates wellness data for First Nation, Métis and Inuit children, we have incorporated data sovereignty principles into the framework of the Aaniish-Naa-Gegii Platform. The app and associated processes deliver on the OCAP Principles for First Nations, while also respecting and asserting the data sovereignty rights of Inuit and Métis people. Each community owns and controls their data and can access it through a website or Dashboard.