Early education as community intervention: Assisting an ethnic minority to be ready for school

An early education program designed for an ethnic minority of Native Hawaiians implemented at the community rather than the individual child level of intervention is described. The program development effort is theory driven and provides an opportunity to investigate the application of neo-Vygotskian theory to an applied community educational problem. Though not specifically derived from the work of O'Donnell, Tharp, and Wilson (1993), the project reported here shares a common intellectual heritage. This paper demonstrates the parallels between the early education program developed for Hawaiian children and the applicability of the theory presented in the work of O'Donnell et al. Portions of this research were supported by Grant #40212121 and Grant #MCJ495051 from the Bureau of Maternal and Child Health and Resource Management, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services awarded to the Center of Development of Early Education, Kamehameha School, Honolulu, Hawaii 96817, and to the Early Intervention Research Institute, Center for Persons with Disabilities, Utah State University, respectively.     

Substance Use Among Native American Indian Youth: A Selected Review of Causality

The author presents a selected review of substance use causality among Native American Indian youth. A review of selected empirical research relative to substance use is given. In addition, selected examples of research-oriented implications and practical suggestions are offered.     

Place of Strength: Indigenous Artists and Indigenous Knowledge is Prevention Science

The Place of Strength (PoS) project represents an effort to Indigenize program evaluation with Indigenous communities by melding art with prevention science. We propose that Native artists as evaluators: (a) opens avenues of communication for Indigenous perspectives; (b) provides opportunities to capture spiritual, relational, and emotional impacts of prevention programming; and (c) maintains Indigenous processes, language, and values at the center of knowledge production. The New Mexico Tribal Prevention Project (NMTPP) funded seven Southwestern tribes to develop substance abuse prevention programs. In response to their expressed negative experiences with evaluation of prevention strategies, NMTPP piloted PoS. PoS shifted systematic knowledge paradigms to Tribal thought, values, and perspectives embodied in art. Art exists in Native communities as a way of documenting lifeways and historical experiences through various cultural forms. We share the process of collaborating with Native artists to document the impact of substance abuse prevention initiatives through their art within a community context. We offer concepts derived from this project as a community psychology model for re‐conceptualizing evaluation utilizing Indigenous knowledge.     

Economic indicators of mental health service utilization in rural Appalachia

This exploratory study examined the relative predictive strengths of selected economic factors (welfare cases, banking activity, unemployment, retail sales, motor vehicle sales) for utilization of mental health services (hotline calls, intake at community mental health centers and admissions at mental hospitals) over a 78-month period in rural Appalachia. Monthly data were tested for autocorrelation and adjusted for seasonality and inflation. Regression analyses indicated that (a) economic factors did account for a considerable portion of variance in mental health factors; (b) these factors predicted mental hospital admissions and hotline calls; (c) strengths of these relationships were quite consistent across the areas sampled, but the directions sometimes were different; (d) welfare factors were the best predictors of utilization; (e) Aid to Families with Dependent Children was generally the best single predictor of utilization, especially when mental health factors were lagged by 3 months. A causative model describing the decision-making process involved in the utilization of mental health services was presented. This research was supported by grant number 1R01 MH34382 01 from the National Institute of Mental Health, Division of Biometry and Epidemiology, 1980–1981. The empirical data were collected with the help of the Shawnee Mental Health Services of Marietta, Ohio, Western District Guidance Center of Parkersburg, West Virginia, the Ohio Department, the Administrative Office of the U.S. Court, the Federal Reserve Banks of Public Welfare, the West Virginia Department of Health, the West Virginia Tax DEpartment, the Administrative Office of the U.S. Court, the Federal Reserve Banks of Cleveland and of Richmond, and Parkersburg National Bank. Robert Kirkbride of Marietta College and Robert Evans of People's Bank of Marietta, Ohio, provided economic advice. The computer facilities of Marietta College were used to store and analyze data. Barrie Gardner and Lucinda Pyatt, as research assistants, collected and analyzed much of the data.     

Indigenizing CBPR: Evaluation of a Community-Based and Participatory Research Process Implementation of the Elluam Tungiinun (Towards Wellness) Program in Alaska

The process that community based participatory research (CBPR) implementation takes in indigenous community contexts has serious implications for health intervention outcomes and sustainability. An evaluation of the Elluam Tungiinun (Towards Wellness) Project aimed to explore the experience of a Yup'ik Alaska Native community engaged within a CBPR process and describe the effects of CBPR process implementation from an indigenous community member perspective. CBPR is acknowledged as an effective strategy for engaging American Indian and Alaska Native communities in research process, but we still know very little about the experience from a local, community member perspective. What are the perceived outcomes of participation in CBPR from a local, community member perspective? Qualitative methods were used to elicit community member perspectives of participation in a CBPR process engaged with one Yup'ik community in southwest Alaska. Results focus on community member perceptions of CBPR implementation, involvement in the process and partnership, ownership of the project with outcomes observed and perceived at the community, family and individual levels, and challenges. A discussion of findings demonstrates how ownership of the intervention arose from a translational and indigenizing process initiated by the community that was supported and enhanced through the implementation of CBPR. Community member perspectives of their participation in the research reveal important process points that stand to contribute meaningfully to implementation science for interventions developed by and for indigenous and other minority and culturally diverse peoples.     

Introduction to the special section: The development of infant mental health home visiting in Michigan state government

This issue of the Infant Mental Health Journal presents the first papers from a tripartite evaluation study of state-sponsored infant mental health home visiting program in Michigan, United States. This series of studies has been led by Kate Rosenblum PhD and Maria Muzik MD, Department of Psychiatry, the University of Michigan and faculty from the Michigan Collaborative for Infant Mental Health Research for the State of Michigan, Department of Health and Human Services, Mental Health Services for Children, to fulfill the requirements of state legislation (State of Michigan Act No. 291, Public Acts of 2013) that required that all home visiting programs meet certain requirements to be established as an evidence-based practice. In this introduction, we provide a historical context for the delivery of infant mental health home visiting through the community mental health system in the state of Michigan.     

The Path of Good Medicine: Understanding and Counseling Native American Indians

This article presents a brief overview of Native American cultural values, beliefs, and practices concerning the tribe, elders, family, and spirituality. Native American Indian communication style, humor, and cultural commitment are briefly discussed and recommendations are given for counseling with Native American Indians.     

Teaching Tradition: Diverse Perspectives on the Pilot Urban American Indian Traditional Spirituality Program

Many urban American Indian community members lack access to knowledgeable participation in indigenous spiritual practices. And yet, these sacred traditional activities remain vitally important to their reservation‐based kin. In response, our research team partnered with an urban American Indian health center in Detroit for purposes of developing a structured program to facilitate more ready access to participation in indigenous spiritual knowledge and practices centered on the sweat lodge ceremony. Following years of preparation and consultation, we implemented a pilot version of the Urban American Indian Traditional Spirituality Program in the spring of 2016 for 10 urban AI community participants. Drawing on six first‐person accounts about this program, we reflect on its success as a function of participant meaningfulness, staff support, mitigated sensitivities, and program structure. We believe that these observations will enable other community psychologists to undertake similar program development in service to innovative and beneficial impacts on behalf of their community partners.     

The Older Native American Indian With Disabilities: Implications for Providers of Health Care and Human Services

This article presents a review of the literature as regards the older Native American Indian, as well as a report of health care and human service needs based on a recent study of urban Native American Indians with disabilities in the Denver metropolitan area.     

Making the Invisible Visible: Identifying and Articulating Culture in Practice‐Based Evidence

This study describes a conceptual tool, labeled the “culture cube,” developed to identify and articulate the cultural underpinnings of prevention and early intervention projects in five priority populations (i.e., African American, Asian Pacific Islander, Latino, Native American, and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and Questioning), participating in the California Reducing Disparities Project Phase 2 (CRDP Phase 2). The culture cube was developed for evaluation of these practice‐based evidence services (PBEs) for three purposes: (a) to focus attention on revealing and articulating more fully the operative worldview and culturally grounded frameworks underlying PBEs, explicitly identifying the links between cultural beliefs and values, community needs, and intervention design; (b) to guide the methods used to assess and evaluate PBEs so that the outcome indicators and process measures are conceptually consistent, community defined, and culturally centered; and (c) to invite communities to use their own indigenous epistemological frameworks to establish credible evidence. After reviewing the literature in this area and describing the theoretical framework for the culture cube, we describe its development, application, and the response to its use in the initial stages of the California Reducing Disparities Project‐Phase 2.     

The Cultural Self as Locus for Assessment and Intervention With American Indians/Alaska Natives

The author compares mental health services from Anglo‐American and Native perspectives, focusing on the cultural self as a suggested locus for greater credibility and increased use of these services. Cultural competence is recommended as a model for community‐specific policy for the design and implementation of services to increase the probability of generalization to various tribal settings. Cultural competence of Anglo‐American providers with this population is discussed.     

Acute care treatment services (acts): A model program for providing acute psychiatric services in a homelike environment in an institutional setting

The Acute Care Treatment Services (ACTS) Program at Anna Mental Health and Developmental Center in Anna, Illinois, offers a unique, homelike environment for many of the institution's acute recipients. The relaxed, natural environment (i.e., pleasant cottages free from the disturbing behaviors often displayed by chronically mentally ill recipients) aims to stabilize acute recipients, expedite their return to the community, and reduce the likelihood of their later rehospitalization by linking them with necessary community mental health resources. Chisquare analyses demonstrated significantly fewer subsequent hospitalizations for ACTS recipients after their second readmission than that of statewide comparison groups. The viability of treating acute mental illness in a natural setting on an institution's grounds is discussed.     

Cultural Competence When Working With American Indian Populations: A Couple and Family Therapist Perspective

This article focuses on treating the underrepresented American Indian and Alaska Native population in therapy. The lack of literature on this topic may impede the ability of couple and family therapists (CFTs) to work effectively with members of this group. Issues such as the underutilization of therapy, dropout rates, culturally syntonic joining and assessment, religion, and spirituality are discussed. In addition, potential boundary issues of gift giving and community integration are explored. Finally, cultural strengths are addressed so they may be clinically integrated with this unique population.     

Assessment and Evaluation Issues Regarding Native American Elderly Adults

This paper will detail assessment and evaluation issues with Native American elderly adults. Recommendations and implications of such assessment and evaluation follow and include areas such as general background factors, cultural and family issues that impact assessment, problems to overcome, and finally a look into neuropsychological assessment. These issues will converge on the notion that mental health and neuropsychological assessment issues are relevant to Native American elderly, not because of the paucity of research in this area, but because Native American elderly are a fast-growing population, most in need of such vital services.     

Drug prevention in a community setting: A longitudinal study of the relative effectiveness of a three-year primary prevention program in boys & girls clubs across the nation

Tested the effectiveness of a youth drug prevention program in a community setting. Boys & Girls Clubs of America's Stay SMART program, adapted from a school-based personal and social competence drug prevention program, was offered, with and without a 2-year booster program, to 13-year-old members of Boys & Girls Clubs. Over 27 months, (a) 5 Boys & Girls Clubs offered the Stay SMART program, (b) 5 Boys & Girls Clubs offered the Stay SMART program with the booster programs, and (c) 4 Boys & Girls Clubs served as a control group. The Stay SMART program alone and the Stay SMART program with the booster programs showed effects for marijuana-related behavior, cigarette-related behavior, alcohol-related behavior, overall drug-related behavior, and knowledge concerning drug use. The Stay SMART program with the booster programs produced additional effects for alcohol attitudes and marijuana attitudes after each year of booster programs. Results suggest that a school-based personal and social competence program can be adapted effectively to a community setting and that booster programs might enhance program effects. Implications for alternative community models of prevention are discussed. At the time of the study, the parent organization was Boys Clubs of America.This research was supported by a grant from the Office for Substance Abuse Prevention, ADAMHA, Public Health Service, Department of Health and Human Services, Grant No. 1 H84 AD 00903-01.     

Saving time: rural Honduran women working for change

The author discusses some recommendations that arose out of field research in northern Honduras. The research included policy recommendations to the International Development Research Center Project for Participatory Research in Central America (IPCA) on gender issues. The IPCA aims to build the research capacity of small hillside farmers by involving them in the design and evaluation of appropriate agricultural technologies. The author states that women are not an "underused asset" as Ostergard (1992) contends. Women are heavily burdened workers who provide in their reproductive roles essential services for maintaining agricultural production and for sustaining the family for the next agricultural cycle and the next generations. Women's housework is hard and time-consuming. There is a need for time- and energy-saving technology for domestic chores if living conditions are to be improved. IPCA programs must develop flexible programs to fit women's needs and to include women fully in the participatory process. Useful technologies could be community mills for grinding corn and improved stoves. Cooking and grinding corn are both labor-intensive tasks. In another community outside the study area, women travel to a community mill under private ownership for corn grinding that costs about 30 cents per day. The women reported that the cost is worth the time and energy saved. The mill also serves as a community gathering place. Women could potentially pool resources and operate a cooperative mill service. Lorena stoves are popular due to reduced fuel consumption, time saved in collecting wood, savings in cooking time, and fewer respiratory problems. Decisions would need to be made about venting smoke outside or continuing to use the smoke to dry grains in lofts overhead. Men need to be made aware of women's needs and women's opportunities to engage in income generation activities owing to the time saved.     

Beyond the Belmont Principles: A Community‐Based Approach to Developing an Indigenous Ethics Model and Curriculum for Training Health Researchers Working with American Indian and Alaska Native Communities

Individuals responsible for carrying out research within their diverse communities experience a critical need for research ethics training materials that align with community values. To improve the capacity to meet local human subject protections, we created the research Ethics Training for Health in Indigenous Communities (rETHICS), a training curriculum aligned within American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) context, culture, and community‐level ethical values and principles. Beginning with the Belmont Report and the Common Rule that defines research with human subjects (46 CFR 45), the authors convened three different expert panels (N = 37) to identify Indigenous research values and principles common across tribal communities. The resulting culturally grounded curriculum was then tested with 48 AI/AN individuals, 39 who also had recorded debriefing interviews. Using a thematic analysis, we coded the qualitative feedback from the expert panel discussions and the participant debriefings to assess content validity. Participants identified five foundational constructs needed to ensure cultural‐grounding of the AI/AN‐specific research training curriculum. These included ensuring that the module was: (a) framed within an AI/AN historical context; (b) reflected Indigenous moral values; (c) specifically linked AI/AN cultural considerations to ethical procedures; (d) contributed to a growing Indigenous ethics; and (e) provided Indigenous‐based ethics tools for decision making. Using community‐based consultation and feedback from participants led to a culturally grounded training curriculum that teaches research ethical principles and procedures for conducting research with AI/ANs. The curriculum is available for free and the community‐based process used can be adapted for other cultural groups.     

“We Need to Make Action NOW,to Help Keep the Language Alive”: Navigating Tensions of Engaging Indigenous Educational Values in University Education

Despite centuries of contact and conquest, Indigenous communities persist in maintaining their cultures and psychologies. Key to this success in cultural survival is the maintenance of Indigenous languages, which contain distinct worldviews. However, Indigenous languages are at risk, with fewer and fewer fluent Elder speakers. Fortunately, there remain committed groups of community educators who carry out Indigenous language education. Current mainstream teacher education programs do not typically introduce the importance of Indigenous language education to teacher candidates, who are the next generation of K‐12 teachers. We view this as highly problematic, and thus carried out a proof‐of‐concept project in which one U.S. university's American Indian/Alaska Native teacher candidates collaborated with, and learned from, Indigenous language educators during a two‐week‐long summer institute at the university. In our article, we share three main findings, based on qualitative analyses of daily‐written student journals collected during the two‐week pilot project: (a) Indigenous language education supports the social justice vision in the American Psychological Association's Multicultural Guidelines; (b) intergenerational educational opportunities are invaluable for affirming Indigenous psychologies; and (c) Indigenous community language educators do important survivance work. Our findings provide insight into how Indigenous language education is crucial for advancing education that honors Indigenous community psychological well‐being.     

A Re-Examination of Risk and Resilience During Adolescence: Incorporating Culture and Diversity

We consider risk and resilience within the developmental contexts of youth of African, Asian, Latino, and Native American descent. Conceptual and definitional issues are explained in terms of the role that culture and diversity play in specifying risk and resilience factors for youth of African, Asian, Latino, and Native American descent. We promote a conceptual model of risk and resilience as multidimensional phenomenon. The relevance of culture and diversity in a developmental perspective of youth of African, Asian, Latino, and Native American descent is discussed in a manner that incorporates community psychology principles.