Indigenizing Academics Through Leadership, Awareness, and Healing: The Impact of Native American Health Seminar Series for Health Professionals, Students, and Community

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Authors: Patricia A. Carney, Cynthia Taylor, Rosa Frutos, Dove Spector, Erik Brodt

Publication Year: 2019

Journal: Journal of Community Health

Keywords: Cultural Sensitivity and Appropriateness; Health Disparities; Career Choice; Healing, Indigenous Health Education; Tribal Health Workforce

 

Short Abstract: Health disparities have long affected American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) populations. Transformations are needed in academia to help understand Indigenous 'ways of knowing.'

 

Abstract: Health disparities have long affected American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) populations. Transformations are needed in academia to help understand Indigenous 'ways of knowing.' Lifting the voices of AI/ANs in telling their stories could improve the education of students, faculty and the lay public. We collaborated to develop, implement and evaluate a Native American Health Seminar Series taught by AI/AN leaders on addressing health disparities among AI/AN people. A quasi-experimental mixed methods design included a 15-item survey to assess the impact of the Seminar Series on knowledge of AI/AN health issues and its influence, among students, on health career choices. During the 2018 academic year, three seminars were held and 243 participants attended. In total, 182 surveys (74.9%) were completed by faculty members, students and members of the lay public. Students (all categories combined) represented the highest participant group (48.4%), followed by the lay public at 30% and faculty at 21.6%. The highest scores on knowledge of Native health issues prior to seminar attendance were reported by those representing the lay public with a mean of 3.96 compared to 3.67 for faculty and 3.43 among students (p = 0.01), which was highly represented by Indigenous people. Increases in knowledge occurred in all participant groups. Among students, 65.6% initially indicated that they were not planning on pursuing a career in Native health. Among these, 56.9% indicated they were somewhat to extremely likely to pursue a career in Native health as a result of having attended the seminar.

 

Source: Link to Original Article.

Source: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31104200/

Type of Resource: Peer-reviewed scientific article

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