Using a CBPR approach to develop a cultural competency program for Indian Health Service providers

APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Suzanne Christopher, PhD¹, Alma Knows His Gun McCormick², Shane Doyle, MS¹, Shaleen Old Coyote¹, Renee Littlelight¹, Lisa Sun Rhodes, BS¹, and Adina J. Smith, PhD². (1) Department of Health and Human Development, Montana State University, 318 Herrick Hall, Bozeman, MT 59717, 406-994-6321, suzanne@montana.edu, (2) Health & Human Development, Montana State University, 318 Herrick Hall, Bozeman, MT 59717-3540

Apsáalooke (Crow Indian) community members and Montana State University faculty members have been working in partnership on health projects in the Apsáalooke community since 1996. Principles of community-based participatory research have informed all work. In 2003, as part of planning for the next phase of a cervical health research grant, community members stated that working with health care providers at the Indian Health Service (IHS) and with the IHS in general should be a priority. Community members reported that there are barriers to women receiving health care that need to be addressed in order to increase Pap test rates. Northern Plaines Native American women, of whom the Apsáalooke are a part, have significantly higher rates of cervical cancer mortality than the US All-Races rate and rates for Native American women in other parts of the country. This talk will cover 1) the participatory process that community members and researchers used to decide this area as a priority; 2) the process of determining what types of data were necessary to collect and how data should be gathered in order to inform development of the provider competency program; 3) results of open-ended interviews with community women on interactions with health care providers and interviews with health care providers on interactions with women in the community and how these data were used to develop the program; 4) final components of the program for providers; and 5) implementation of the program in the community.

Learning Objectives:

Learners will

-develop an understanding of how CBPR principles can be used to develop a health provider education program
-define elements that researchers and community members determine as important in a health provider education program
-be able to describe the process used by one community-university partnership in the development of a provider education program

Keywords: Cultural Competency, Health Care Workers

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No

Recorded presentation

Building Community Capacity at the Federal, State and Local Level

The 134th Annual Meeting & Exposition (November 4-8, 2006) of APHA