Youth and adult community member beliefs about Inupiat youth suicide and its prevention.

Abstract

Objectives. To better understand youth and adult community members' perceived causes and possible preventative steps to address the high Inupiat youth suicide rates in Northwest Alaska. Study Design. A five-item, open-ended survey focusing on community members' perceptions of suicide causes, warning signs, and protective factors was administered in the twelve Native villages served by the Maniilaq Association, a native non-profit organization. Methods. A total of 382 surveys were completed. Qualitative answers were assigned to categories by two reviewers. Main categories are described reflecting the percentages of all response categories and those of youth and adult respondents. To discern whether the difference in proportion between adult and youth respondents was significant, a two-tailed z test was used to compare the two category proportions with their respective sample sizes. Results. The results showed that villagers believe that a community-based approach is most beneficial. Many risk factors for suicide were associated with alienation, and prevention strategies were linked to increased communication and connection with others, their culture and spirituality. The results also show that different perspectives are held by adults and youth. Adult respondents identified boredom as the primary reason for suicide. This-according to adult survey responses-can be addressed through programs offering young people activities, education, and a sense of culture. In contrast, the majority of young people attribute suicide to stress. The young respondents answers highlight the need for adults to talk to them about their everyday lives and their futures so that they receive the guidance and support they need to navigate difficulties that arise. Conclusions. These differing adult and youth conceptions of youth suicide prevention need to be aligned in order to create effective youth suicide prevention strategies for Inupiat and other Native populations. (Int J Circumpolar Health 2006;65(5):448-458.)

Correlates of Suicidality: Investigation of a Representative Sample of Manitoba First Nations Adolescents

“…Despite the long held belief by researchers and indigenous peoples alike of the positive relationship between traditional culture and mental well-being (Johnson & Tomren, 1999;Kirmayer et al, 2000;Strickland, Walsh, & Cooper, 2006;Wexler & Goodwin, 2006;Wolsko, Lardon, Hopkins, & Ruppert, 2006), the topic has not been extensively studied quantitatively. With regard to suicide, Chandler and colleagues have found that those FN communities in B.C.…”

Youth-Led Participatory Video as a Strategy to Enhance Inuit Youth Adaptive Capacities for Dealing with Climate Change

“…Communication and interaction within one's family and community are known protective factors (Mohatt et al, 2004;Wexler and Goodwin, 2006;Kral et al, 2011); whether this protective nature extends to communication and interaction between communities is less clear, but it may be likely. For example, in an adaptation context, despite great variability across northern communities with respect to the changes being experienced, the existing challenges faced, and the ways in which people can best adapt, there is still much that can be learned from one another about best practices in adaptation (Ford and Pearce, 2012).…”

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“…The opportunity to be meaningfully involved in their community, whether through research projects or community programs, is one of the many protective factors known to enhance circumpolar Indigenous youth resilience to a variety of stresses, including climate change challenges (Mohatt et al, 2004;Allen et al, 2006;Ford et al, 2012;DeCou et al, 2013;Petrasek MacDonald et al, 2013b). Other protective factors that promote Indigenous youth resilience and have been identified by community-based research across the North include positive role models, community connectedness, continuous communication and interaction, connecting generations, belief in self, sense of purpose, staying busy, community pride, and cultural traditions and practices (Mohatt et al, 2004;Allen et al, 2006;Wexler and Goodwin, 2006;Bals et al, 2010;Wexler, 2014;Wexler et al, 2014). These known protective factors are synonymous with key characteristics of strong adaptive capacity.…”

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