“All About Us”: Indigenous Data Analysis Workshop — Capacity Building in the Canadian Alliance for Healthy Hearts and Minds First Nations Cohort
Research collaborations between non-Indigenous andIndigenous researchers primarily have been led by non-Indigenousresearchers with privileged locations in university settings. Recognitionof the importance of data sovereignty and control to enable Indigenousself-determination requires building data management and analysiscapacities among Indigenous research partners. The Canadian Alliancefor Healthy Hearts and Minds First Nations (CAHHM-FN) cohort study, acollaboration of 8 First Nations and researchers at 8 universities,convened a 3-day data management and analysis workshop.Methods:Before the workshop, participating communities were askedto develop research questions of interest regarding data collected aspart of CAHHM-FN and forward them to the coordinating team. Anagenda was created, circulated, and modified on the basis of com-munity feedback to plan the workshop. The CAHHM coordinating team, an Indigenous researcher, and a non-Indigenous biostatistician plan-ned the workshop to strike balance among Indigenous protocols forengagement, theory concerning Indigenous approaches to statisticalanalysis, and applied data analysis training.Results:Fifty participants and coordinating team members convenedfor the 3-day workshop (22 Indigenous and 28 non-Indigenous peoplefrom communities, professors, trainees, and staff). Topics includedstatistical literacy, hands-on data analysis, data security, and topics inIndigenous health research. Workshop evaluations indicated a highlevel of satisfaction and enthusiasm to hold similar future workshops.Conclusions:The Indigenous data workshop was designed to increasecapacity for data management and analysis by Indigenous communitypartners and develop new capacity for non-Indigenous partners andtrainees. It achieved this, with enthusiasm from Indigenous communitymembers to conduct future workshops.