Historical loss: Implications for physical activity levels in American Indian adults

Abstract

Purpose To investigate the relationship between daily thoughts about historical loss and daily levels of moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) in American Indian (AI) adults residing on the Blackfeet reservation in Browning, Montana. Methods The study was designed and conducted using a community‐based participatory research framework and ecological momentary assessment. Over a period of 1 week, 100 AI adults (mean age = 42.18, SD = 14.92) reported how often they thought about historical loss at the end of each day. During this week‐long period, all participants wore a wrist‐accelerometer to passively and objectively measure levels of physical activity. Findings We found that Blackfeet AI adults who reported thinking about historical loss more frequently over the course of the week had lower average levels of MVPA over the course of the week compared to Blackfeet AI adults who reported thinking about historical loss less frequently (B = –10.22, 95% CI = –13.83, –6.60). We also found that on days when Blackfeet AI adults thought more about historical loss compared to their weekly average, they had fewer minutes of MVPA compared to their weekly average of minutes of MVPA (B = –0.87, 95% CI = –1.48, –0.27). Conclusions Our data indicate that thoughts about historical loss are linked to lower levels of MVPA. Given high incidence of chronic health conditions linked to physical inactivity in AIs, more work is needed to identify the mechanisms through which thoughts about historical loss may inhibit physical activity in this population.

Resilience and health in American Indians and Alaska Natives: A scoping review of the literature

“…For American Indians and Alaska Natives, historical trauma manifests in high incidence of future trauma exposure (Beals et al, 2002;Manson et al, 2005;Robin et al, 1997), intergenerational trauma (Cromer et al, 2018) and is further compounded by experiences of ongoing racism and discrimination (Akinade et al, 2023;Herron & Venner, 2022;Solomon et al, 2022). Historical trauma is also related to a constellation of psychological, biological, physiological, and behavioral outcomes, named as the historical trauma response (Brave Heart, 1998), which contributes to inequities in mental and physical health (Gone et al, 2019, John-Henderson & Ginty, 2020, 2022a, 2022b. Based on these relationships, health interventions rooted in culture have been suggested and utilized to address the health consequences of historical trauma (Gone & Calf Looking, 2011;Gone, 2013;.…”