A Recess Evaluation with the Players: Taking Steps Toward Participatory Action Research

This qualitative study, part of a Canadian national study of fathers’ involvement, opened up First Nations and Métis fathering as a new area of inquiry. Conversational interviews with 80 Indigenous fathers illuminated the socio-historical conditions that have shaped Indigenous men’s experiences of learning to be a father and becoming a man in the context of changing gender relationships and the regeneration of circles of care. Indigenous fathers’ experiences unfold in a socio-historical context fraught with difficulties. However, the study findings suggest cultural strengths and sources of resilience unseen in research and community programs driven by Euro-western perspectives. This research can inform efforts to reduce systemic barriers and reconstitute positive father involvement following disrupted intergenerational transmission of fathering in Canada and elsewhere.     

A Psychology of Indigenous Healing in Southern Africa

Converging lines of evidence from various scientific disciplines consistently point to humanity's African roots. In this context, the term “indigenous healing” is used to refer to universal forms of healing that began in Africa and were developed further both locally and internationally. This article examines the notion of a psychology of indigenous healing and suggests that investigations continually reveal essential structures and practices of a perennial psychology underlying modern scientific, academic and professional forms of this discipline. Examination of such structures and practices illuminates an original psychological theme in Southern African indigenous healing involving recognition of Spirit as Source of Self that extends into transpersonal realms. Related themes include ancestral consciousness, familial and communal spirituality, healers and specializations, illness prevention, health promotion and various forms of empathy. The need for future in depth research into such psychological themes and issues is identified and explicated.     

Indigenous Healing Practices in Malawi

One of the most important areas of African culture in which the significant presence of traditional beliefs can be seen is through sickness and healing. In many traditional cultures, illness is thought to be caused by psychological conflicts or disturbed social relations that create a disequilibrium expressed in the form of physical or mental problems. In Malawi, traditional healing has been practised for centuries even before colonialisation. It is said that about 80 per cent of the population utilise traditional healers and medicine for their health needs. This paper sets out several of the issues and controversies that surround traditional healing and medicine in Malawi. An overview of the traditional Malawian theory of illness, the diversity of healing practices for somatic and psychosocial disorders, the socio-cultural context of healing and cultural interpretations of disease and intervention are provided. The problem of efficacy and scientific validation of traditional medicine is discussed.     

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.     

Everyday antiracism in interpersonal contexts: Constraining and facilitating factors for ‘speaking up’ against racism

Everyday conversations among non‐Indigenous Australians are a significant site in which racism towards Indigenous Australians is reproduced and maintained. This study explores the possibilities of everyday antiracism by asking how people negotiate racist discourses in interpersonal contexts. Twelve first year psychology students (10 female, 2 male, aged 18–50) who had completed a compulsory Indigenous studies course were recruited as participants. Semi‐structured interviews were thematically analysed for the constraints and facilitators for responding to racism in everyday contexts. As constraints against speaking up, participants offered ‘social expectations to fit in’, ‘fear of provoking aggression and conflict’, assessments of ‘the type of relationship’, whether they ‘could make a difference’ and the ‘type of racism’. As a facilitator for speaking up, participants reported they were confident in challenging erroneous statements when they felt well informed and authoritative about the facts. The research suggests that everyday antiracism requires a preparedness to deal with possible discomfort and ‘bad feeling’ which participants reported avoiding. The paper concludes with suggestions for stimulating critical thinking and intergroup dialogue in relation to everyday antiracism. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Theory to social action: A university‐based strategy targeting prejudice against Aboriginal Australians

The level of racism in Australia against Aboriginal Australians is well documented. This has an extremely detrimental effect on the health and wellbeing of Aboriginal Australians. One part of the solution may be anti‐prejudice strategies, but to date few strategies that include a pre‐test and a post‐test assessment have been conducted in Australia. The present study describes the interventional qualities of a cultural psychology unit at an Australian university. Results indicated that after a 6‐week period, students reported a significant reduction in prejudice, acceptance of false beliefs about Aboriginal Australians, and the perception that Aboriginal Australians unfairly receive preferential or special treatment. The article concludes that cultural psychology units have the potential to be an effective way of developing acceptance of cross‐cultural differences.     

Can CBT Be Effective for Aboriginal Australians? Perspectives of Aboriginal Practitioners Trained in CBT

The objective of the study was to investigate whether high and low intensity versions of cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) might be an effective therapeutic approach for enhancing the mental health of Aboriginal Australians. Five university‐educated Aboriginal counsellors received in‐depth training in CBT. Over the following year, they used CBT strategies with their clients, and met 10 times as a participatory action research group. The group addressed three key questions: (a) Does CBT appear to be useful for Aboriginal Australians? (b) If so, what elements of CBT are perceived to be effective? (c) What adaptations might be made to CBT to enhance its effectiveness with Aboriginal Australians? The resulting qualitative data were transcribed and analysed. Counsellors perceived CBT to be very useful for their Aboriginal clients and for themselves. They reported that it enhanced their clients' well‐being, their own clinical skills, and their own well‐being, and it reduced burnout. The qualities of CBT that were perceived to be effective were its adaptability, pragmatic here‐and‐now approach, capacity for low‐intensity interventions, safe containing structure, promotion of self‐agency, and valuable techniques. It was suggested that the prime requirement for adaptations to CBT were that they would need to fit different social and cultural contexts.     

The Family Resilience Inventory: A Culturally Grounded Measure of Current and Family-of-Origin Protective Processes in Native American Families

The purpose of this article is to introduce the Family Resilience Inventory (FRI) and present findings on initial efforts to validate this measure. The FRI is designed to assess family resilience in one's current family and in one's family of origin, enabling the assessment of family protective factors across these generations. The development of the FRI was the result of many years of ethnographic research with Southeastern Native American tribes; yet, we believe that this scale is applicable to families of various backgrounds. Items for the FRI were derived directly from thematic analysis of qualitative data with 436 participants, resulting in two 20-item scales. Due to missing data, eight cases were removed from the 127 participants across two tribes, resulting in an analytic sample size of 119. Conceptually, the FRI is comprised of two factors or scales measuring distinct dimensions of family resilience (i.e., resilience in one's current family and resilience in one's family of origin). The results of the confirmatory factor analysis supported the hypothesized two-factor structure (X²(644) = 814.14, p = .03, X²/df = 1.10, RMSEA = .03, CFI = .97, TLI = .96). Both the subscales and the total FRI scale (α = .92) demonstrated excellent reliability. The results also provided preliminary evidence of convergent and discriminant validity. This measure fills a gap in the absence of community-based, culturally grounded, and empirical measures of family resilience. The examination of family resilience, which may occur across generations, is an exciting new contribution of the FRI.     

The role of cultural and spiritual expressions in affirming a sense of self,place, and purpose among young urban,Indigenous Australians

This article sets out to discuss the impact that urban living has had on the lives of young Indigenous people. It will seek to discover some of the problems that occur when there is a meeting of two cultures, in this case the Indigenous culture of Australian Aboriginal people and the mainstream culture that has been derived largely from west European traditions which, in turn, was born out of Western Christian perspectives. As well, it will explore the challenges faced by minority groups who live in pluralist contexts when they attempt to hand on their ways to their young people, in particular, the difficulties faced by urban Indigenous Australians who try to ensure that their young people will develop knowledge about their cultural and spiritual heritage. Finally it will examine how the rights of young Indigenous people need to be protected so that they can continue to develop their particular identity and at the same time take their place with pride and integrity in the pluralist social context that defines Australia today.

Many Australians understand that Aboriginal people have a special respect for nature. The identity we have with the land is sacred and unique. Many people are beginning to understand this more. Also there are many Australians who appreciate that Aboriginal people have a very strong sense of community. All persons matter. All of us belong and there are many more Australians who understand that we are people who celebrate together.

What I want you to know about is another special quality of my people. I believe it is most important. It is our most unique gift. It is perhaps the greatest gift we can give to our fellow Australians. In our language it is the quality called dadirri. It is inner, deep listening and quiet, still awareness.

Dadirri recognizes the deep spring inside us. We call on it and it calls to us. This is the gift that Australia is thirsting for. It is something like what you call ‘contemplation’. (Ungunmerr, 2003 Ungunmerr, Miriam‐Rose. 2003. “Dadirri—The spring within”. In Dadirri: the spring within—the spiritual art of the Aboriginal people from Australia’s Daly River region, Edited by: Farrelly, E. vii–ix. Darwin, NT, , Australia: Terry Knight and Associates.  [Google Scholar])