A CONVERSATIONAL ANALYSIS OF COMMUNITY HEALTH NURSES AND SYSTEMS CHANGE IN FIRST NATIONS COMMUNITIES

Community-based health services for Indigenous communities are undergoing considerable change in Northern and Western Canada. This study aimed to explore the status of community health nurses’ (CHNs) leadership knowledge, levels of change agency and the leadership implications in changing Indigenous nursing contexts, which reflect the different paradigms of First Nations Health Authority and Health Canada models of care. Six stories (three CHNs and three Stakeholders) were framed with the Conversational Method espoused by Kovach (2010). Each conversation was situated within the image of the two contrasting health model “trees” alongside corresponding analogies to issues identified by the participants. The use of ceremony as a deep way of inculcating lessons learnt is offered. My journey from a linear approach to data analysis to an Indigenous one is threaded throughout this thesis, and the leadership implications and possible alliances for the individual nurse, nursing education and nursing policy are presented.