Weaving our Wisdom II Study: Exploring an Integrated HIV Older – On the Land, With the Land Approach to Optimizing Whole-istic Health Among Indigenous People Living with HIV and/or Other STBBI. (2022)

Findings from the WoW I Study suggest that IPHAs see the role of HIV Olders as an important way to bridge the gaps between culturally safe peer support that is relevant and weaves together essential western biomedical interventions with Indigenous ways of knowing, being and doing into peer support service. The WoW II Study will explore Indigenous knowledge emphasizing the development of Indigenous research and intervention methodologies that are conducted on the land, with the land. Using a triad of methodologies: Community Based Research, Two-Eyed Seeing and Indigenous Knowledges, the objectives of this research aim to: 1) Organize a series of collaborative workshops; feasibility of implementing the intervention among newly diagnosed IPHA/STBBI populations; develop tools to measure the impact of HIV Older support; and design of a future CBR proposal based on community-identified needs. These workshops will help us gain insight into the perspectives, experiences and contributions of key informants and stakeholders. (2) Review academic and grey literature on the current state of Indigenous approaches to STBBI treatment and response. (3) Further develop and validate the WoW Study’s emergent ‘on the land, with the land’ methodology for use in the future CBR CIHR Operating grant submission; (4) Design a research project and develop a proposal for submission to the CIHR HIV/AIDS and STBBI Community-Based Research operating grant competition. With the aim of supporting community-driven efforts to improve health and well-being of Indigenous people living with HIV and/or other STBBI, this research seeks also to disrupt the social, structural, economic, and environmental contexts and inequities that interact to influence susceptibility to infection by amplifying and prioritizing Indigenous knowledge and experience in this area. In essence we aim to ensure that we are doing research “in a good way”.