Oral

Through its Environmental Justice and Community-based Participatory Research Program, the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) has fostered partnerships among community groups, researchers and health care providers to meet the environmental health needs of the community. Historically, affected communities have not had an active role in identifying and defining problems and risks related to environmental health and in shaping future research approaches to such problems. Additionally, there has been a tense relationship between researchers and Native American and Alaska Native communities. Through these two NIEHS-funded programs, projects have established methods to insure community participation with researchers and health care providers in developing responses and setting priorities for intervention strategies. In this session, presenters will describe their projects and how they have fostered partnerships to meet the needs of Native American and Alaska Native communities.

Session Objectives: 1. Describe the importance of, and strategies for, building trusting relationships between university research teams and Native American/Alaska Native communities. 2. Discuss the public health and policy outcomes of these partnerships. 3. Assess how partnership and capacity building can lead to community-based participatory research projects.

CE Credits: CME, Health Education (CHES), Nursing