Building Health Services Research Capacity for Tribes in Montana and Wyoming

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DESCRIPTION (Provided by the Applicant): The Montana-Wyoming Tribal Leaders Council (TLC) serves 10 Tribes in Montana and Wyoming and is in the last year of its initial AHRQ M-RISP grant, under which it has built a shared resource data, other infrastructure for research, and engaged six of its Tribes in participatory research. This Competing Renewal M-RISP Application builds on those accomplishments and supports the objectives that have been identified in the TLC's Strategic Plan for Improving Health of Indian People in Montana and Wyoming: 1. Continue to build capacity at TLC and among its Tribes to address priority health issues identified by Tribes through well-designed research that produces findings that can be used to improve health; 2. Build capacity and infrastructure for Tribal participatory research focused on health promotion, prevention, and management of chronic diseases, within TLC and individual Tribes; 3. Build capacity and infrastructure within individual Tribes to support success in applying for and managing grant programs; and 4. Increase support for culturally-appropriate health programs and for the role of traditional medicine practitioners within those programs. Infrastructure development under the M-RISP Renewal will include seminars by noted health services researchers to expand knowledge and technical expertise, workshops to build research skills and capacity within Tribes and the TLC; and development of two Research Plans that will provide the foundation for future research programs on health care financing, quality, and access to care and on research focused on the factors that contribute to the high rate of unintentional injuries among Indian people and strategies to reduce injuries. In addition, three Research Studies will be conducted under the M-RISP Renewal: Research Study # 1: Evaluation of Interventions to Promote Healthy Weight Among Indian Women; Research Study # 2: Research on Factors that Contribute to Breast and Cervical Cancer Outcomes Among Indian Women in Montana; and Research Study # 3: Design and Implement a "Healthy Reservations" Model Program for System-wide Health Improvement on Reservations. The Study Principal Investigators for two of these three studies are new American Indian researchers; two of the three studies will be conducted with collaboration and participation of Tribes and Tribal staff; all three of these Research Studies build on the research conducted by the TLC under its initial M-RISP grant and will extend that research.