Developing an Academic and American Indian Tribal Partnership in Education

Abstract

American Indian tribes shoulder a heavy burden in health inequities and recognize the value of partnerships with academic institutions. This paper describes a unique education model developed through a partnership between a School of Nursing and 2 Pacific Northwest tribes to provide clinical education for students. Over 3 years, students and faculty worked with 2 tribal communities to design research and implement education programs.

How Should Health Professions Schools Partner With AI/AN Communities?

“…Although numerous publications share recommendations on how to conduct tribaluniversity relationships for research, 1,5,6,7 we could find none that outline how to build a responsible tribal-university educational partnership. Here we consider the 3 key principles that have fostered the program's success: (1) the development of relationships rooted in trust and equality, (2) the commitment to a rigorous educational experience, and (3) the investment of resources by the academic institution.…”

“…8 There are nursing student equivalents of these immersion programs as well. 6 These programs represent several institutions' commitment to building the workforce of clinicians who know how to navigate the range of culturally sensitive issues and to narrow AI/AN health disparities. 8 These institutions have allowed their faculty the time it takes to engage tribal entities in the provision of education and clinical care.…”

“…8 These institutions have allowed their faculty the time it takes to engage tribal entities in the provision of education and clinical care. 6,8 They have also prioritized recruitment of AI/AN students and provided additional support for retention so that they can complete their education and enter practice. 8 Tribal-university research infrastructure requires substantial time and resources, and the same is true of clinical educational infrastructure.…”

Exploring collaboration in a community‐academic partnership

“…The coordinated relationship between participants in community agencies and a SON was characterized by reciprocal sharing, different and overlapping partner goals, unclear and evolving roles and expectations, and limited time. CAPs often struggle with: the time required to develop and sustain working partnerships; schedules of faculty, students, and the community; and the amount of personnel needed to appropriately prepare and orient community and academic partners for optimal CAP outcomes (Hood, ; Redman & Clark, ; Strickland, Logsdon, Hoffman, & Hill, ; Voss, Mathews, Fossen, Scott, & Schaefer, ). The results of this study provide many avenues for future research including exploring the impact of partnership transitions on relationship characteristics and outcomes over time; as well as, the influence of identified characteristics on CAP outcomes.…”

Untitled

“…These include an absence of organic deficits, an easy temperament combined with increased responsiveness, adaptability, an internal locus of control, a positive outlook, a social competency, an ability to solve problems, a sense of autonomy, a sense of purpose, and a sense of humour. For adolescents and adults who are members of minoritized communities, positive ethnic identity affirmation is an essential component of resilience (Garrett et al, 2014;Williams, Aiyer, Durkee, & Tolan, 2014). Protective factors are often seen as indicative of an individual's agency and essential to facilitate the process of overcoming adversity.…”