Coming Home: The Reintegration of Native Yup'ik Soldiers/Veterans into their rural communities

该奖项是根据2009年《美国复苏和再投资法案》(公法111-5)资助的。这项研究探索了阿拉斯加原住民士兵和从中东战场返回的退伍军人在重新融入位于阿拉斯加西南部育空-库斯科维姆三角洲的农村与世隔绝的社区时自杀的潜在和多重风险。阿拉斯加土著社区--尤其是尤皮克社区--的自杀率是全美最高的，年轻的土著男子的自杀率最高(Perkins，2006)。就中东战场上的退伍军人以惊人的速度自杀而言，这些本土士兵/退伍军人正在回到一个双重紧张的社会和情感景观中(Tanielian，2008)。此外，可能阻碍士兵和退伍军人获得必要的行为和心理健康服务的两个主要因素是获得护理的机会和寻求护理的意愿。这项探索性研究有三个关键目标：第一，调查土著士兵和退伍军人在谈判这种双重风险环境时所使用的多种策略。其次，考察这些年轻的土著男子中的一些人面临的斗争如何影响他们的日常生活经验，即与他们的家庭、他们的同龄人和他们的社区的社会关系。最后，探讨在什么情况下，这些年轻的土著成年人可以或不可以选择为被描述为“看不见的战争创伤”寻求帮助(Tanielian，2008)。研究人员的假设是，如果没有一种具有文化敏感性的、以社区为基础的护理模式--一种中间立场--可以作为桥梁，在根本不寻求任何护理之间，即“独自行动”和积极参与以证据为基础的医疗护理，以应对自杀意念和相关的抑郁症、创伤后应激障碍、药物滥用等问题，这些农村社区的本土士兵/退伍军人面临双重自杀风险，因为他们不仅与他们的同龄人隔离(Messinger 2008)，而且与他们的家人和社区隔绝(Lifton，1973；附录C)。这项研究试图理解在社会、文化和历史背景下的中间立场的参数可能是什么。这一阶段的研究有助于我们以新的方式理解这些年轻的阿拉斯加原住民士兵/退伍军人所面临的社会和情感问题的复杂性，这使得更多平淡无奇的社区研究方法通常忽略了更深入的见解。尽管许多社区研究现在在其研究设计中纳入了人种学的成分，但它通常由快速反应技术来界定，通常需要在村庄停留一周左右，从而减少了对嵌入当地历史的当地生活的社会生活的理解。这项研究不仅探讨了有自杀危险的个人的生活经历，而且将他们置于他们的家庭、他们的历史、他们的社区和他们的文化的背景中。在这样做的过程中，这样做的优势和弱点都会显现出来，这可能会为在这种情况下接触和接触人们提供新的方式。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).This research explores the potential and multiple risks of suicide for Native (Yup'ik) Alaskan soldiers and veterans returning from the Middle East war theatre as they reintegrate into their rural isolated communities located in the Yukon - Kuskokwim Delta of southwest Alaska. Native Alaskan communities in general - and Yup'ik communities in particular - have some of the highest suicide rates of anywhere in the United States and young Native men are at the greatest risk (Perkins 2006). Insofar as veterans from the Middle East war theatre are committing suicide at an alarming rate these Native soldiers/ veterans are returning to a doubly charged social and emotional landscape (Tanielian, 2008). Moreover, two of the primary factors that can inhibit soldiers and veterans from obtaining the needed behavioral and mental health services are access to care and willingness to seek care. The exploratory study has three key objectives; first, to investigate the multiple strategies utilized by Native soldiers and veterans to negotiate this dual risk environment. Secondly, to examine the particular ways in which the struggles that some of these young Native men face affect their everyday lived experience, that is social relations with their families, their peers and their community. Lastly, to explore under what circumstances these young Native adults may or may not choose to seek help for what has been characterized as the "invisible wounds of war" (Tanielian, 2008). The researcher's hypothesis is that without a culturally - sensitive, community - based modality of care - a middle ground - that can serve as a bridge between not seeking any care at all, ie., "going it alone" and actively engaging with evidenced based medical care for suicide ideation and associated problems of depression, PTSD, substance abuse, these Native soldiers/veterans in rural communities are doubly at risk for suicide as they are isolated - not only from their military peers ( Messinger 2008) - but also from their families and their community (Lifton, 1973; Appendix C). This study seeks to understand what the parameters of that middle ground might look like that is at once socially, culturally and historically contextualized.This phase of the research contributes to our understanding of the complexity of the social and emotional problems faced by these young Native Alaska soldier/veterans in new ways that allows for more in depth insights usually missed by more prosaic community research methods. Although many community studies have now incorporated an ethnographic component into their research design, it is usually delimited by rapid response techniques, which usually involved a stay in village a week or so, thus mitigating an understanding of a locally lived social lives embedded within local history. This study not only explores the lived experiences of individuals at risk for suicide, but places them within the context of their families, their history, their community and their culture. In doing so both the strengths as well as the vulnerabilities of such emerge that may map new ways to reach and reach out to people in such circumstances.