What to know
The findings from this community assessment were used to develop a culturally grounded curriculum for Suquamish youth called “Holding Up Our Youth” that incorporated traditional values, practices, teachings, and stories to promote a sense of tribal identity and of belonging in the community.
Background
The Suquamish Tribe is a federally recognized tribe. The Suquamish reside on the Port Madison Indian Reservation in the rural Puget Sound area of Washington state. Of the tribe's more than 800 members, approximately 350 live on the reservation.
The University of Washington's Alcohol and Drug Abuse Institute and the Suquamish Tribe have a partnership. It began with an inquiry from the director of the tribe's Wellness Program. The director asked about the possibility of collaborating on the development of culturally relevant interventions on substance abuse in the community. At the same time, NIH's National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities had called for three-year planning grants. These grants were for CBPR with communities to address issues of health disparities. Following approval by the Tribal Council, an application was submitted and subsequently granted. The Healing of the Canoe (HOC) set out to reduce health disparities by
- Conducting assessments of community needs and resources
- Identifying and prioritizing the health disparities of greatest concern to the community
- Identifying strengths and resources already in the community that could be used to address concerns
- Developing appropriate, community-based, and culturally relevant interventions
- Pilot testing the interventions
Methods
The project used
- CBPR and tribal-based research approaches
- The Community Readiness model (Pleasted et al., 2005)
- Interviews with key stakeholders, and
- Focus groups from four populations identified by the Suquamish Cultural Cooperative (SCC) and the researchers
These four populations identified by SCC and researchers were the elders, youth, service providers, and other interested community members. The interested community members were recruited through flyers, word of mouth, and personal recommendations.
Results
Key stakeholders and focus group participants identified several behavioral health issues of concern. One particular concern was the prevention of substance abuse among youth. This included the need for youth to have a sense of tribal identity and a sense of belonging to the community. Participants identified three strengths/resources in their community that they thought would be critical to addressing the areas of concern. These were the (1) tribal Elders, (2) tribal youth, and (3) Suquamish culture and traditions.
Comments
The findings from this community assessment helped to develop a culturally grounded curriculum for Suquamish youth called "Holding Up Our Youth." This curriculum incorporated traditional values, practices, teachings, and stories to promote a sense of tribal identity and belonging in the community. The result was an intervention that used the canoe journey as a metaphor. This intervention provided youth with the skills needed to navigate through life without being pulled off course by alcohol or drugs. It also provided a touchpoint to culture and tradition which serve as both an anchor and compass (Pleasted et al., 2005; Thomas et al., 2010).
Applications of Principles of Community Engagement
The Healing of the Canoe (HOC) project demonstrated Principle 4 by asking the community to identify their key health issues. This principle states that communities need to "own" the issues. This means communities themselves name the problems, identify action areas, plan and implement action strategies, and evaluate outcomes.
Principle 7 emphasizes the need to build on the capacity and assets of the community. This principle is also evident in the HOC project, as it sought to identify the strengths and resources within the community. True partnership, as stressed in Principle 5, is evident at both the macro and micro levels in the HOC. A tribe member with a master's degree in social work is part of the research team and a coinvestigator.
The HOC completed stakeholder interviews and focus groups. Afterwards, they submitted a report to the SCC for review, feedback, suggestions, and approval. This was following Principle 8, which states that principal investigators must be prepared to release control to the community. Including the Suquamish Tribe in all aspects of the HOC project created the foundation for continued collaboration over time. This was done in accordance with Principle 9, which encourages long-term commitment by the engaging organization.
References
Pleasted BA, Edwards RW, Jumper-Thurman P. Community readiness: a handbook for successful change. Fort Collins (CO): Tri-Ethnic Center for Prevention Research; 2005.
Thomas LR, Donovan DM, Sigo RLW. Identifying community needs and resources in a native community: a research partnership in the Pacific northwest. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction 2010;8(2):362-373.