Alaska Natives (alaska + native)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Honoring children, mending the circle: cultural adaptation of trauma-focused cognitive-behavioral therapy for American Indian and Alaska Native children

JOURNAL OF CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 8 2010
Dolores Subia BigFoot
Abstract American Indians and Alaska Natives are vulnerable populations with significant levels of trauma exposure. The Indian Country Child Trauma Center developed an American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) adaptation of the evidence-based child trauma treatment, trauma-focused cognitive-behavioral therapy. Honoring Children, Mending the Circle (HC-MC) guides the therapeutic process through a blending of AI/AN traditional teachings with cognitive-behavioral methods. The authors introduced the HC-MC treatment and illustrated its therapeutic tools by way of a case illustration. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Clin Psychol: In Session 66:1,10, 2010. [source]


Breast cancer incidence among American Indian and Alaska Native women: US, 1999,2004,,§

CANCER, Issue S5 2008
Phyllis A. Wingo PhD
Abstract BACKGROUND. Breast cancer is a leading cause of cancer morbidity and mortality among American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) women. Although published studies have suggested that breast cancer rates among AI/AN women are lower than those among other racial and ethnic populations, accurate determinations of the breast cancer burden have been hampered by misclassification of AI/AN race. METHODS. Cancer incidence data from the National Program of Cancer Registries and the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program were combined to estimate age-adjusted rates for the diagnosis years 1999 through 2004. Several steps were taken to reduce the misclassification of AI/AN race: linking cases to Indian Health Service (IHS) patient services database, restricting analyses to Contract Health Service Delivery Area counties, and stratifying results by IHS region. RESULTS. Breast cancer incidence rates among AI/AN women varied nearly 3-fold across IHS regions. The highest rates were in Alaska (134.8) and the Plains (Northern, 115.9; Southern, 115.7), and the lowest rates were in the Southwest (50.8). The rate in Alaska was similar to the rate among non-Hispanic white (NHW) women in Alaska. Overall, AI/AN women had lower rates of breast cancer than NHW women, but AI/AN women were more likely to be diagnosed with late-stage disease. CONCLUSIONS. To the authors' knowledge, this report provides the most comprehensive breast cancer incidence data for AI/AN women to date. The wide regional variation indicates an important need for etiologic and health services research, and the large percentage of AI/AN women with late-stage disease demands innovative approaches for increasing access to screening. Cancer 2008;113(5 suppl):1191,202. Published 2008 by the American Cancer Society. [source]


Prostate cancer incidence among American Indian and Alaska Native men, US, 1999,2004,,§

CANCER, Issue S5 2008
Jeffrey A. Henderson MD
Abstract BACKGROUND. American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) men experience lower incidence of prostate cancer than other race/ethnic populations in the US, but racial misclassification of AI/AN men threatens the validity of these estimates. To the authors' knowledge, little is known concerning prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing in AI/AN men. METHODS. The authors linked cancer registry data with Indian Health Service enrollment records to improve race classification. Analyses comparing cancer incidence rates and stage at diagnosis for AI/AN and non-Hispanic white (NHW) men for 6 geographic regions focused on counties known to have less race misclassification. The authors also used Behavioral Risk Factors Surveillance System data to characterize PSA testing in AI/AN men. RESULTS. Prostate cancer incidence rates were generally lower in AI/AN than in NHW men for all regions combined (rate ratio of 0.68). However, regional variation was noted among AI/AN men, with incidence rates (per 100,000 population) ranging from 65.7 in the Southwest to 174.5 on the Northern Plains. The rate of distant stage disease was somewhat higher among AI/AN (7.8) than NHW (6.2) men. Nationally, AI/AN men were less likely than NHW men to have undergone recent PSA testing (48.4% vs 58.0%), with prominent regional variation in screening rates noted. CONCLUSIONS. Prostate cancer incidence rates and the proportion of men with recent PSA testing were lower for AI/AN men than for NHW men. However, incident rates and rate of distant stage varied by region more for AI/AN than for NHW. Further research is needed among AI/AN men to evaluate strategies for better understanding the causes of the regional variation in prostate cancer incidence. Cancer 2008;113(5 suppl):1203,12. Published 2008 by the American Cancer Society. [source]


Honoring children, mending the circle: cultural adaptation of trauma-focused cognitive-behavioral therapy for American Indian and Alaska Native children

JOURNAL OF CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 8 2010
Dolores Subia BigFoot
Abstract American Indians and Alaska Natives are vulnerable populations with significant levels of trauma exposure. The Indian Country Child Trauma Center developed an American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) adaptation of the evidence-based child trauma treatment, trauma-focused cognitive-behavioral therapy. Honoring Children, Mending the Circle (HC-MC) guides the therapeutic process through a blending of AI/AN traditional teachings with cognitive-behavioral methods. The authors introduced the HC-MC treatment and illustrated its therapeutic tools by way of a case illustration. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Clin Psychol: In Session 66:1,10, 2010. [source]


Cultural and spiritual coping in sobriety: Informing substance abuse prevention for Alaska Native communities

JOURNAL OF COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 5 2001
Kelly L. Hazel
Culture and spirituality have been conceptualized as both protecting people from addiction and assisting in the recovery process. A collaborative study, utilizing focus group and survey methods, defined and examined cultural and spiritual coping in sobriety among a select sample of Alaska Natives. Results suggest that the Alaska Native worldview incorporates a circular synthesis and balance of physical, cognitive, emotional, and spiritual processes within a protective layer of family and communal/cultural beliefs and practices embedded within the larger environment. Cultural-spiritual coping in sobriety is a process of appraisal, change, and connection that leads the person toward achieving an overarching construct: a sense of coherence. Cultural and spiritual processes provide important areas for understanding the sobriety process as well as keys to the prevention of alcohol abuse and addiction. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. [source]


The Praxis of Indigenism and Alaska Native Timber Politics

AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST, Issue 4 2002
Kirk Dombrowski
This article addresses the most recent discourse on indigenism in Southeast Alaska that has emerged around the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971 and its subsequent revisions. It argues that one must consider the "politics of recognition" in Southeast Alaska in terms of the larger political dynamics that shape state and industry access to resources, especially commercially valuable stands of timber. In Southeast Alaska, recognition of Native claims has allowed industrial timber and pulp producers to, in effect, circumvent environmental laws aimed at curbing production, thus allowing them to continue devastating the living conditions of many Natives. Among the local responses to the manipulation of Native claims and identity, the all,Native, radical Christian churches that have taken a strong stance against the recent, corporate,sponsored, cultural revitalization are unique in their resistance to indigenist politics. [Keywords: indigenism, Alaska Natives, development, Pentecostalism] [source]


An Update on Cancer in American Indians and Alaska Natives, 1999,2004

CANCER, Issue S5 2008
Article first published online: 21 AUG 200
First page of article [source]


Cancer rates among American Indians and Alaska Natives,,

CANCER, Issue 6 2003
Is there a national perspective?
Abstract BACKGROUND Two important goals of cancer surveillance are to provide milestones in the effort to reduce the cancer burden and to generate observations that form the basis for cancer research and intervention for cancer prevention and control. Determination of the cancer burden among American Indians and Alaska Natives (AIAN) has been difficult largely due to lack of data collection efforts in many areas of the country and misclassification of racial data that results in undercounting of Native Americans. There is a revitalized commitment to improve data collection among the national agencies and organizations. METHODS Data on cancer trends from 12 areas covered by the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) Program were reviewed for incidence and death rates for 1992,2000. AIAN trends were examined and compared with trends among other racial/ethnic population groups. Reference was made to studies of disease-specific survival for nine of the SEER areas for 1988,1997. RESULTS In SEER areas, cancer incidence rates for AIAN populations appeared to be decreasing significantly for lung and breast cancers among women and for prostate cancer among men. However, death rates rose, although not significantly, over the same period, except for a significant decrease in prostate cancer. Among the cancers with rising death rates were lung cancer (AIAN women) and colorectal cancer (AIAN men). In addition, survival often was lower for AIAN populations. CONCLUSIONS Although the incidence was stable or decreased among AIAN populations, increased death rates and lower survival rates indicate the need for intensified application of cancer prevention and control measures, including screening and treatment. Difficulties in interpretation of data include small population size and substantial interregional differences in rates. Cancer 2003;98:1262,72. Published 2003 by the American Cancer Society. DOI 10.1002/cncr.11633 [source]


Ethnic and Racial Disparities in Emergency Department Care for Mild Traumatic Brain Injury

ACADEMIC EMERGENCY MEDICINE, Issue 11 2003
Jeffrey J. Bazarian MD
Abstract Objectives: To identify racial, ethnic, and gender disparities in the emergency department (ED) care for mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). Methods: A secondary analysis of ED visits in the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey for the years 1998 through 2000 was performed. Cases of mTBI were identified using ICD-9 codes 800.0, 800.5, 850.9, 801.5, 803.0, 803.5, 804.0, 804.5, 850.0, 850.1, 850.5, 850.9, 854.0, and 959.01. ED care variables related to imaging, procedures, treatments, and disposition were analyzed along racial, ethnic, and gender categories. The relationship between race, ethnicity, and selected ED care variables was analyzed using multivariate logistic regression with control for associated injuries, geographic region, and insurance type. Results: The incidence of mTBI was highest among men (590/100,000), Native Americans/Alaska Natives (1026.2/100,000), and non-Hispanics (391.1/100,000). After controlling for important confounders, Hispanics were more likely than non-Hispanics to receive a nasogastric tube (OR, 6.36; 95% CI = 1.2 to 33.6); nonwhites were more likely to receive ED care by a resident (OR, 3.09; 95% CI = 1.9 to 5.0) and less likely to be sent back to the referring physician after ED discharge (OR, 0.47; 95% CI = 0.3 to 0.9). Men and women received equivalent ED care. Conclusions: There are significant racial and ethnic but not gender disparities in ED care for mTBI. The causes of these disparities and the relationship between these disparities and post-mTBI outcome need to be examined. [source]


Methodologic Implications of Allocating Multiple-Race Data to Single-Race Categories

HEALTH SERVICES RESEARCH, Issue 1 2002
Article first published online: 18 MAR 200
Objective. To illustrate methods for comparing race data collected under the 1977 Federal Office of Management and Budget (OMB) directive, known as OMB-15, with race data collected under the revised 1997 OMB standard. Data Sources/Study Setting.,Secondary data from the 1993,95 National Health Interview Surveys. Multiple-race responses, available on in-house files, were analyzed. Study Design.,Race-specific estimates of employer-sponsored health insurance were calculated using proposed allocation methods from the OMB. Estimates were calculated overall and for three population subgroups: children, those in households below poverty, and Hispanics. Principal Findings.,Although race distributions varied between the different methods, estimates of employer-sponsored health insurance were similar. Health insurance estimates for the American Indian/Alaska Native group varied the most. Conclusions.,Employer-sponsored health insurance estimates for American Indian/Alaska Natives from data collected under the 1977 OMB directive will not be comparable with estimates from data collected under the 1997 standard. The selection of a method to distribute to the race categories used prior to the 1997 revision will likely have little impact on estimates of employer-sponsored health insurance for other groups. Additional research is needed to determine the effects of these methods for other health service measures. [source]