141st APHA Annual Meeting

In This section

292460
Resilience in American Indian community-based public health

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Nicolette Teufel-Shone, PhD , Associate Professor, University of Arizona, Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health (UA MEZCOPH), Tucson, AZ
Priscilla Sanderson, PhD, CRC , Health Sciences and Applied Indigenous Studies, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ
Mark Bauer, PhD , Uranium Education Program, Diné College, Shiprock, NM
Rebecca Drummond, MA , Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
Julie Tippens, MA, MPH , Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
Community-based participatory research (CBPR) has become a popular approach in working with underserved and minority populations. The approach suggests that research processes and associated public health interventions will benefit from the combined skills and assets of the community and research institution. Yet, does this approach perpetuate a deficit model by asking the community, “What problems do you want to address?” The Center for American Indian Resilience (CAIR) is working with American Indian communities and American Indian researchers to ask, “What are our strategies for success?” American Indians have succeeded in the face of adversity, yet paths of collective resilience, the capabilities of communities to thrive in adverse circumstances, remain under-researched and under-utilized by public health scholars and practitioners. CAIR builds on longstanding partnerships among the Arizona American Indian communities, Diné College, Northern Arizona University, and the University of Arizona to (1) document indicators of resilience, (2) enhance the applicability of resilience models in health promotion, and (3) bolster community-academic partnerships by incorporating resilience models into CBPR activities. CBPR augments current resilience research by incorporating grounded accounts of strategies to promote wellbeing through emic perspectives, making both findings and public health interventions more salient to American Indian communities.

Learning Areas:
Assessment of individual and community needs for health education
Diversity and culture
Planning of health education strategies, interventions, and programs
Public health or related research

Learning Objectives:
Demonstrate the need for assets-focused resilience research to enhance public health programs and interventions with American Indian communities. Identify ways community-based participatory research (CBPR) can move from deficit and problem-focused inquiry toward asset and capability-focused research and practice.

Keywords: Community Assets, Native Americans

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: With graduate training in anthropology and nutrition, I have collaborated for more than 20 years with Native American tribes in Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Mexico contributing to the understanding the relationship between cultural behaviors and health outcomes. I collaborate with Diné College on the Navajo Nation, to teach research/evaluation in health promotion. 2007 with my partners in the Hualapai Nation, I was awarded the Local Impact Award by the National Indian Health Board.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.