Assessment of Risk and Protection in Native American Youth: Steps Toward Conducting Culturally Relevant, Sustainable Prevention in Indian Country.

Background: This study constitutes a building block in the cultural adaptation of Communities That Care (CTC), a community-based prevention system that has been found to be effective in reducing youth problem behaviors.

Methods: Using the data from the CTC normative survey dataset that consists of more than quarter million youth nationwide, this study examines the reliability and validity of scores derived from the Communities That Care Youth Survey (CTC-YS), one of the primary assessment tools for gathering community data on risk and protective factors related to problem behaviors including substance use. The reliability and criterion validity analyses are conducted overall for the nationwide sample of youth as well as for the student subsample of Native American youth.

Mentoring the Mentors of Underrepresented Racial/Ethnic Minorities Who are Conducting HIV Research: Beyond Cultural Competency.

The majority of literature on mentoring focuses on mentee training needs, with significantly less guidance for the mentors. Moreover, many mentoring the mentor models assume generic (i.e.

Project həli?dx(w)/Healthy Hearts Across Generations: development and evaluation design of a tribally based cardiovascular disease prevention intervention for American Indian families.

American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) populations are disproportionately at risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD), diabetes, and obesity, compared with the general US population. This article describes the həli?dx(w)/Healthy Hearts Across Generations project, an AIAN-run, tribally based randomized controlled trial (January 2010-June 2012) designed to evaluate a culturally appropriate CVD risk prevention program for AI parents residing in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. At-risk AIAN adults (n = 135) were randomly assigned to either a CVD prevention intervention arm or a comparison arm focusing on increasing family cohesiveness, communication, and connectedness.

Indian boarding school experience, substance use, and mental health among urban two-spirit American Indian/Alaska natives.

Background: Systematic efforts of assimilation removed many Native children from their tribal communities and placed in non-Indian-run residential schools.

Objectives: To explore substance use and mental health concerns among a community-based sample of 447 urban two-spirit American Indian/Alaska Native adults who had attended boarding school as children and/or who were raised by someone who attended boarding school.

Method: Eighty-two respondents who had attended Indian boarding school as children were compared to respondents with no history of boarding school with respect to mental health and substance use.

Finding middle ground: negotiating university and tribal community interests in community-based participatory research.

Community-based participatory research (CBPR) has been hailed as an alternative approach to one-sided research endeavors that have traditionally been conducted on communities as opposed to with them. Although CBPR engenders numerous relationship strengths, through its emphasis on co-sharing, mutual benefit, and community capacity building, it is often challenging as well. In this article, we describe some of the challenges of implementing CBPR in a research project designed to prevent cardiovascular disease among an indigenous community in the Pacific Northwest of the United States and how we addressed them.

BODIES DON'T JUST TELL STORIES, THEY TELL HISTORIES: Embodiment of Historical Trauma among American Indians and Alaska Natives.

Increasingly, understanding how the role of historical events and context affect present-day health inequities has become a dominant narrative among Native American communities. Historical trauma, which consists of traumatic events targeting a community (e.g.

Perceptions of child neglect among urban American Indian/Alaska native parents.

A survey of 101 American Indian/Alaska Native (AIAN) parents in Los Angeles was conducted to explore perceptions of child neglect among urban AIAN parents and factors associated with perceptions. Participants rated substance abuse by parents as the most serious type of neglect. Providing material necessities and providing adequate structure were ranked as the least serious types of neglect.

Historical trauma in American Indian/Native Alaska communities: a multilevel framework for exploring impacts on individuals, families, and communities.

Over multiple generations, American Indian communities have endured a succession of traumatic events that have enduring consequences for community members. This article presents a multilevel framework for exploring the impact of historically traumatic events on individuals, families, and communities. The critical connection between historically traumatic events and contemporary stressors is also discussed at length.

"My spirit in my heart": identity experiences and challenges among American Indian two-spirit women.

Many Native women embrace the term two-spirit to capture their sexuality and gender expression. By analyzing the narratives of five two-spirit women who are Native activists, we explored contemporary understandings of the concept and what it means for Native communities. The incorporation of the identity within indigenous worldviews, its manifestation in terms of (be)coming out, and the triple stressors of heterosexism, racism, and sexism emerged as key themes.

Interpersonal violence in the lives of urban American Indian and Alaska Native women: implications for health, mental health, and help-seeking.

Objective: We surveyed American Indian/Alaska Native (AIAN) women in New York City to determine the prevalence of 3 types of interpersonal violence among urban AIAN women and the behavioral health and mental health factors associated with this violence.

Methods: Using a survey, we questioned 112 adult AIAN women in New York City about their experiences with interpersonal violence, mental health, HIV risk behaviors, and help-seeking. The sampling plan utilized a multiple-wave approach with modified respondent-driven sampling, chain referral, and target sampling.

The traumatic impact of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and the potential protection of optimism.

This study examined the impact of the September 11 terrorist attacks on graduate and undergraduate students and the role of optimism in posttraumatic distress. A sample of 457 students who attended courses at three schools of social work (Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Washington) participated in the study. A quarter of them had a known person as an immediate victim of the attacks.

Hope, meaning, and growth following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Positive psychologists found the increase of seven character strengths that encompass the so-called theological virtues, including hope and spirituality, in Americans after the September 11, 2001, attacks. Little is known about how they may affect post-September 11, 2001, mental health. Using multivariate analysis, this study investigated the relationship of hope and spiritual meaning with depression and anxiety in a sample of 457 students 3 months after September 11, 2001.

Substance use among American Indians and Alaska natives: incorporating culture in an "indigenist" stress-coping paradigm.

Objectives: This article proposes a new stress-coping model for American Indians and Alaska Natives (AIs) that reflects a paradigmatic shift in the conceptualization of Native health. It reviews sociodemographic information on AIs, rates of substance abuse and related health outcomes, and the research supporting the model's pathways.

Observations: Although health outcomes among AIs are improving, large disparities with other racial and ethnic groups in the United States remain.