The research proposed by Black Hills State University, Montana-Wyoming Tribal Leaders Council, and the Crow and Fort Peck Reservation Tribes will examine the relationship between cultural involvement and participation of American Indian adolescents and risk behaviors associated with significant health disparities (e.g. suicide, early pregnancy, intentional and unintentional injuries) of American Indian youth. In addition, the research will develop, implement, and evaluate interventions designed to strengthen 'cultural resiliency' of young Indian people for reducing risk behaviors. The """"""""cultural resilience"""""""" model suggests that young people who have the opportunity to understand their roles and value to their culture and community and who have support and a strong relationship with their family and community will have greater capabilities for making positive life decisions. The research is also designed to permit analysis of individual, family, and community factors that are associated with the likelihood of risk behaviors.
The specific aims of the proposed project include: 1. Develop and implement a Tribally-based and culturally-appropriate intervention to strengthen """"""""cultural resiliency"""""""" of young people and to integrate values and strategies for sexual responsibility into a program that emphasize Tribal history, culture, values, gender roles, and strong families to prepare youth for Tribal ceremonies of passage to adulthood. 2. Implement a well-designed evaluation, utilizing appropriate comparison group strategies, which will provide evidence on the impact on risk behaviors of the interventions to strengthen cultural resiliency of young Indian people and on the individual, family, and community factors that are associated with the likelihood of adolescent risk behaviors. This proposed Research project will produce results that are relevant to advancing public health by increasing understanding of the role of cultural attachment and involvement as a 'protective' factor for Indian adolescents and of the potential of interventions that are intended to strengthen cultural resiliency to reduce adolescent risk behaviors that contribute to health disparities. There is little well-supported evidence on the effects of cultural resiliency on American Indian adolescent risk behaviors, nor is there evidence on the extent to which culturally-appropriate and community-based interventions may be effective and produce positive outcomes for youth, including reduced risk behaviors.
Showing the most recent 10 out of 16 publications
