Native 24/7 is an exploratory research project that addresses cultural heritage and identity of American Indian/Alaska Native people. The hope is that from working directly with community members and using their words, stories and experiences, a more authentic and meaningful view of identity will emerge. Participation will involve a phone interview with a member of the CAICH research team. The interview will last approximately 15-20 minutes. Participants are asked questions about whom or what has influenced their identity, and what being American Indian/Alaska Native means to them. We will also be collecting demographic information, such as age, location and gender. Our hope is that we can use this knowledge to create a scale that will be used in multiple studies in order to identify which communities are affected by particular health disparities so that we can better tailor our interventions for those communities. For our participants' time and efforts, they will be mailed a hooded sweatshirt.
The long-term goal of the Center for American Indian Community Health (CAICH) is to reduce health disparities among American Indians (AI) through quality community-based participatory research (CBPR) and enhanced opportunities for AI students to enter the health professions through pipeline programs from high school through college and into graduate and medical school. Our specific aims are as follows: 1) To create an interdisciplinary CBPR center for health disparities research in AI communities; 2) To provide methodologic support to health disparities researchers in the Center through quality-controlled biostatistics and data management; 3) To create an educational pipeline for AI students from high school, through college, and into graduate schools in the health professions; and 4) To enlist the help of the local and regional AI communities in all parts of the research process through Community Advisory Boards and research staff.