Challenges in Public Health Research With American Indians and Other Small Ethnocultural Minority Populations

Abstract

As a result of the historical legacy of conquest, colonization, and cultural destruction, indigenous peoples often represent just a small segment of the population in many countries throughout the world. In the United States, American Indians/Alaska Natives are not only one of the smallest minority groups in the nation, but are also very culturally diverse. Disparities in health outcomes often occur along racial and ethnic lines, and culture can play an important role in shaping health behavior. Research on the distribution and patterning of disease and risk behaviors among population subgroups is critical for advancing evidence-based public health policy and practice. This article provides a brief overview of key challenges in conducting behavioral health research with American Indians at both community and population levels. Many of the issues raised also apply to other small ethnocultural minority groups.

Keywords :

• American Indian/Alaska Native
• Native American
• indigenous
• behavioral health
• public health
• epidemiology
• historical trauma
• Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR).

THE AUTHORS

Jan Gryczynski, M.A., is a Research Associate at Friends Research Institute in Baltimore, Maryland, where he is working on several studies examining interventions for substance abuse and infectious diseases for underserved minority groups. His research interests include evaluation of behavioral health interventions and service delivery practices. His work has also examined the role of social, cultural, and policy factors in shaping health behavior and outcomes. He is currently a doctoral student in the Department of Public Policy at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

Jeannette L. Johnson, Ph.D., was a Senior Research Scientist at Friends Research Institute in Baltimore, MD, at the time of this writing. In the past, she was a Professor at the University of Buffalo, School of Social Work. Her research has centered on the effects of substance abuse in individuals, their families, and the communities in which they live. She is especially noted for her cross-cultural research in measurement. She has conducted research with high-risk youth at the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism where she studied children at risk for alcohol and other drug-related problems. She was a co-investigator of the “Native American Prevention Project Against AIDS and Substance Abuse,” a 6-year federally funded grant designed to develop culturally relevant prevention curricula with adolescent Native Americans in the Southwest. Previously, she was a Project Officer at the National Institute on Drug Abuse where she worked with community based AIDS prevention projects; she was also the Project Director for the Panel on High Risk Youth at the National Academy of Sciences. She has presented workshops for and about children of alcoholics throughout the United States, Europe, New Zealand, and Australia. She is a Contributing Editor for several journals and the author and co-author of many professional publications. She has co-edited a book entitled “Resilience and Development: Positive Life Adaptations.” She holds a Bachelor's degree in psychology from the University of California at Berkeley and a Doctoral degree in psychology from the University of Vermont. Her paternal grandmother was from the Huron tribe in Southeastern Canada. She is a member of the Editorial Board of Substance Use and Misuse.