A call for expansion and innovation in research on protective factors and suicide prevention among American Indian and Alaska Native populations.

Abstract

Jerreed Dean Ivanich served as lead for writingoriginal draft, contributed equally to conceptualization, and served in a supporting role for writingreview and editing. Katie A. Schultz served as lead for writingreview and editing, contributed equally to conceptualization, and served in a supporting role for writingoriginal draft.

Social Networks, Cultural Pride, and Historical Loss Among Non-Reservation American Indian / Alaska Native Emerging Adults

“…The continued health disparities experienced by AI/AN people in the U.S. indicate that existing evidence-based treatments are not addressing the needs of this population adequately [40]. Recent calls for innovative approaches to developing health interventions tailored for AI/AN populations suggest addressing social network factors that may be unique to AI/AN people [31,63,64]. Overall, ndings demonstrate the common attributes as well as the range of network characteristics for this population.…”

“…Urban AI/AN emerging adults have unique social in uences, strengths and challenges that should be considered when developing a customized health intervention. Interventions that are tailored for AI/AN populations, are grounded in cultural traditions, promote social connections, cultural pride, and counter feelings of historical loss are necessary to counteract health disparities that are a result of intergenerational historical trauma [31].…”

“…In addition to promoting cultural strengths, some programs also explicitly aim to reduce the negative effects of historical trauma for Indigenous populations [51,52]. Some researchers have called for expansion of AI/AN culturally-tailored interventions to include an emphasis on social networks and the role of social relationships in health [31]. An important aspect of many interventions that promote cultural strength and cultural pride is building a sense of social connectedness with other people who share the same AI/AN identity.…”

“…To counter the inter-generational experience of trauma and social fragmentation, many recent interventions have been developed to improve the health of AI/AN populations by promoting positive concepts of AI/AN identity, encouraging engagement in traditional practices and increased community involvement, and improving social connections among AI/AN people [30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42]. Health interventions have also been culturally tailored for AI/AN people living in urban areas [43][44][45][46][47].…”