N-NURSE Navajo Nursing Pathway of Mentorship

Authored by Ursula Knoki-Wilson, CNM, MSN, MPH

The curriculum model uses the Navajo Philosophy of the Four Directions and Sacred Mountains that border Navajoland to organize the content and educational resource materials. One major theme of the curriculum is to use the Navajo concept of Ke’, a word for relationships. Using Ke’, Nurses can foster positive working environments where ‘nurses nurture nurses’.

Another cultural modality in the Navajo Nursing Mentorship project is the use of Navajo stories about the sacred ceremonial basket representing Navajo genesis as an ‘intervention wheel’. The Navajo ceremonial basket is woven in a circular direction from the center outward signifying the emergence of the Dineh (as Navajos prefer to call themselves) into a world of physical transformation including the four sacred mountains, a rainbow pathway using the color red, and clouds to denote heavenly bodies. The essence of Navajo philosophy of “Hozho” embodies the idea of striving for balance and harmony together with beauty and order.

The Navajo philosophy also discourages a person to enclose him or herself, and therefore the basket has an opening. Or doorway to receive all that is good/positive and allows the bad/negative to exit. Navajo basket stories surrounded by the Sacred Mountains in the east, south, west and north prescribe steps for healthy and peaceful living through one’s life cycle.