The Culture is Prevention Project: Measuring Culture As a Social Determinant of Mental Health for Native/Indigenous Peoples

Abstract

Programs serving American Indian (AI) youth are an important component of maintaining cultural identity and healthy lifestyles. The current research took a community-engaged approach to evaluate an urban AI youth after-school program that has transitioned into a culturally grounded prevention program. Ways to create a successful research collaboration between AI communities and academics is discussed as well as implications for understanding the importance of culturally-grounded programs for AI youth who reside in urban areas. Overall, the cultural and health components that are integrated into the after-school program were highlighted as primary strengths because they help foster a healthy lifestyle and deeper connection to the heritage/culture for the youth who participated. disconnect from native lands, family members, language, and culture (Brown,

The Health Effects of a Cherokee Grounded Culture and Leadership Program

“…This finding is congruent with the philosophy of culture as prevention/treatment, which asserts that connection to or immersion in Indigenous culture has health-promoting impacts for Indigenous people and communities. In short, "culture is a social determinant of mental health/well-being for Indigenous/Native peoples" [61]. Connection and identity represent the foundation for the profound impacts of culture, which was precisely what this program worked to restore and strengthen.…”

“…Therefore, it is time to elevate Indigenous knowledge and principles of health and well-being into health care delivery. In fact, Indigenous culture within medical settings is acceptable to healthcare professionals [79], is cost-effective [80], and is more effective than Western care alone for addressing health care risks amongst Indigenous populations [60,61]. Given this information coupled with the knowledge of the deep disparities that exist for Indigenous versus non-Indigenous communities on many health indicators, it is medically neglectful to not utilize Indigenous culture and community in all healthcare interventions with this population.…”

Hope and culture: Relationships and implications for research, clinical and organizational practices

“…Participants found strength in family relationships, spirituality, helping others, and coming together as a cultural community. A similar study conducted by Masotti et al (2020) in California measured culture in 3 sub-scales: Identity, traditions, and spirituality. This study demonstrated a definite link between cultural connectedness, mental health, and well-being using hope measures, concluding that culture is a strong social determinant of positive mental health and well-being for Indigenous Native groups in the United States.…”

The Culture is Prevention Project: measuring cultural connectedness and providing evidence that culture is a social determinant of health for Native Americans

“…Peters et al, developed the Wicozani instrument (9 items) as an Indigenous measure of ‘overall health and well-being’ [ 17 ], and Walls et al, developed a ‘social-cultural integration’ measure [ 18 ]. In addition to these, King et al, (2019) and Masotti et al, (2020) adapted and validated the Canadian Cultural Connectedness Scale for use in an urban dwelling diasporic Native/Indigenous California community [ 19 , 20 ].…”

“…Issues identified included: i) the lack of culturally informed methods to evaluate, from an Indigenous/Native perspective, the positive outcomes of culture-based programs to improve health and well-being; and ii) interest in providing an approach that recognized the relationship between Native American/Indigenous culture and health [ 19 , 20 ]. The Culture is Prevention Project evolved into a 6-phased community-based participatory research (CBPR) program (See Table 1 ).…”