Research Partnerships with American Indians using Community-Based Participatory Research

Audience: Anyone who wishes to conduct smoking cessation research or programs in a specific community could benefit from viewing this poster.

Key Points: American Indians and Alaska Natives (AI/AN) have the highest prevalence of obesity, cigarette smoking, heart disease, cancer, diabetes, suicide and several other health outcomes compared to the majority population. Possible reasons for this include discrimination, unemployment, poverty, lack of education, lack of culturally–tailored programs, and less frequent use of health care services. To reduce health disparities and to address these issues, there is a need of strong and sustainable partnership between AI/AN communities and research institutions. In the past, researchers have used research methods which created mistrust among AI/AN, such as excluding communities in the research process, placing their own interests ahead of those of communities, and violating Institutional Review Board standards. Incorporating community-based participatory research (CBPR) methods can change the past trust issues and help build a successful partnership between AI/AN communities and research institutions. CBPR principles include: tailoring programs to meet the needs of communities and involving communities in the process of program development, implementation, evaluation, and dissemination. We have adopted CBPR approach on multiple projects, including All Nations Breath of Life, a culturally-tailored smoking cessation program. 

Educational Experience: Audience members will learn about how to apply the key features of CBPR to their work.

Benefits: The results described in this poster demonstrate the feasibility and acceptability of our smoking cessation program and how CBPR can help others to implement programs.