Empowering AI/AN Health Researchers: Northwest NARCH 10 Program

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PROJECT SUMMARY: Three premises underlie the development of our NW NARCH. First, despite longstanding efforts by tribal, federal, and state health care programs, the available data show substantial disparities in health for NW American Indians and Alaska Natives (AI/ANs) compared to non-AI/AN. NW tribal leaders fear that their health status is getting worse instead of better; this fear unfortunately has been substantiated with health data that show increases in key chronic disease conditions instead of decreases over the past 20 years. Second, Indian communities distrust health research because of negative experiences with non-AI/AN researchers who did not respect tribal needs or sensitivities, even though carefully implemented health research has the potential to provide solutions to reduce, and ultimately eliminate, existing health disparities. Third, health research done by highly skilled AI/ANs who are sensitive to the culture and specific concerns of NW and other Indian communities can bridge the gap between academia and community, though currently we lack the critical mass of AI/AN researchers necessary to accomplish this task. In response to these three issues, Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board (NPAIHB or ‘the Board’) has established the NW NARCH to form a tribal-academic partnership for community-based health research focused on eliminating racial health disparities and will continue this partnership with this application. The NW Indian communities represented by NPAIHB have a long track record of coordinated efforts to improve their health status; our tribal-academic partnerships with Oregon Health & Science University and Portland State University will build a wide-reaching and multi-layered infrastructure to increase the skills of AI/AN researchers, and address health problems of critical importance to the tribes. Our Board delegates and Community and Scientific Board of Advisors have directed us to pursue three projects in this application: 1) a fellowship and internship program that will increase the numbers of tribal people who are trained to conduct health and biomedical research that will be of direct utility to tribal people, 2) continuation of our Summer Research Training Institute for American Indian and Alaska Native health professionals, so that they can develop the skills needed to function as researchers in their current roles with their tribal organizations and 3) evaluate the efficacy of a text messaging intervention designed to reduce alcohol use and alcohol-related aggression among AI/AN young men. We trust that we will have substantial impact on AI/AN communities through supporting trainees and increasing the number of rigorously trained tribal people in conducting health and biomedical research of relevance to the tribes.