Family as the Conduit to Promote Indigenous Women and Men's Enculturation and Wellness: "I wish I had learned earlier"

Partner and social support in childbearing and rearing in a Gulf Coast Native American community

Objective

This study sought to understand the roles of partners in pregnancy, childbirth, and childrearing in Indigenous communities. It explores supportive and unsupportive attitudes in the relationships mothers experienced, and how these relationships affected their lives.

Background

Settler colonialism has negatively impacted Indigenous communities. However, little research has explored how it has influenced partner and social support during the perinatal time period.

Methods

Through 31 semistructured interviews with women from a tribe in the southeastern United States, participants described their experiences with supportive and unsupportive partners and how that shaped their experiences during pregnancy, childbirth, and childrearing.

Results

Participants described themes of (a) supportive and unsupportive partner relationships, (b) importance of partner support in childbirth, and (c) mothers as primary caregivers.

Conclusion

Results suggest that women experienced a wide range of partner relationships, and they relied more on their female family members to provide support during this time, rather than counting on their male counterparts.

Implications

Health care providers may want to take these findings into consideration when approaching their patient's care. These findings indicate that the impacts of settler colonialism continue to impact family relationships for the participants in this study.

"We have to … work for wholeness no matter what": Family and culture promoting wellness, resilience, and transcendence

Sociocultural, mental, behavioral, and physical factors are interrelated associates of chronic health conditions-such as diabetes, obesity, and cardiovascular disease-all of which are disproportionally high and drive much of the mortality and morbidity for Indigenous peoples. Indigenous worldviews conceptualize health holistically, with inseparability across social, spiritual, cultural, familial, mental, behavioral, physical, and social dimensions of wellness. Food, family, and culture are fundamental to Indigenous wellness. The purpose of this article is to use the Framework of Historical Oppression, Resilience, and Transcendence (FHORT) conceptualization of relational wellness to honor urban and rural U.S. Indigenous perspectives that highlight the intersections of family, culture, physical health, spiritual, and mental health to promote resilience and wellness. This research focused on interconnections between wellness, culture, health, and family. Thirty-one critical ethnographic interviews used a life-history approach with methodology following an Indigenous toolkit for ethical and culturally sensitive research strategies, such as building upon cultural strengths, engaging in long-term, relational commitments with communities, incorporating storytelling and oral history traditions, centering Indigenous methodologies and preferences, working with cultural insiders, and prioritizing the perspectives of Indigenous peoples. Emergent themes included: (a) roots of Indigenous wellness: cultural values promoting balance and connection; (b) practicing resilience: family transmission of health information; and (c) wholistic mental wellness and resilience, with the subtheme culture and wellness. Interventions can be developed in collaboration with tribes for optimum efficacy and cultural relevancy and can approach wellness holistically in culturally relevant ways that center foodways, culture, family, and spirituality.

"Take care of your families, take care of one another": Indigenist families and foodways

Objective

The purpose of this research was to examine how families and foodways have evolved over time and how they may present promising promotive factors for resilience, health, and wellness.

Background

Because food is central to family, social relationships, and healthy living, Indigenist foodways may promote family resilience and offset inequities.

Method

Pragmatic horizon analysis of data drawn from 31 critical ethnographic interviews on food and family in the Southeast and Northwest, including both urban and rural reservation tribal contexts, resulted in emergent themes related to food and families.

Results

Themes included (a) foodways fostering family connectedness: "The fresh vegetable is how I remember my grandpa"; (b) tight-knit extended families and communities: "The community where I grew up … everybody knew each other, so everybody … pitched in"; (c) family and community celebrations nurturing cohesion: "The family I have, I can always count on. I can trust each one of them"; and (d) families fostering healing: "Sit down and talk to somebody … that you can trust."

Conclusion

Participants explained how foodways promoted family resilience by bringing families and communities together. Indigenist foodways fostered continuity and healing through food preparation and processing and through feasts and gatherings.

Implications

Foodways were described as fundamental to family resilience and community connectedness. Subsistence fostered exercise, eating locally sourced foods, and family resilience. Interventions are needed to promote Indigenist foodway sovereignty while first understanding how culture, history, and food inform wellness and community well-being.

The importance of community support for women in a Gulf Coast Indigenous tribe

Purpose –

Community support is an integral aspect of health and well-being for Indigenous peoples. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the valuable role of community support for Indigenous women specifically, who experience reproductive health disparities at alarming rates. This study helps fill an important gap in Indigenous scholarship by centering the resilience of women and Indigenous tribes and by using a framework that is consistent with Indigenous holistic views of health.

Design/methodology/approach –

The data for this paper was collected as part of a larger study exploring the reproductive health experiences of a state-recognized Gulf Coast tribe. A total of 31 semi-structured interviews were conducted with individuals who identify as women and as members of this tribe using qualitative descriptive methodology. This method is recommended for research with Indigenous communities. A community advisory board with representatives from this tribe provided feedback throughout the project.

Findings –

Themes expressed by participants included Community Closeness and Support; Community Support in Raising Children; Informal Adoption Common; and Community Values of Mutual Aid and Self-Sufficiency. The findings support current literature noting the value of generational and communal ties for Indigenous peoples. Implications of this research include the need to value and support community networks in programs serving tribes, in addition to meaningfully including Indigenous communities in developing interventions.

Originality/value –

This paper centers Indigenous women's resilience, approaches the health and well-being of Indigenous tribes holistically and helps to fill an important gap in literature describing informal adoption (outside the legal system) in state-recognized Indigenous communities.

"It's Always About Sharing, and Caring, and Loving, and Giving": Decolonized and Transcendent Indigenist Foodways Fostering Health and Resilience

Centuries of historical oppression have targeted and undermined Indigenous foodways, which fundamentally disrupts the culture and wellness, yet decolonized, resilient, and transcendent Indigenist practices persist. The purpose of this research was to use the framework of historical oppression, resilience, and transcendence (FHORT) to understand foodway practices among Indigenous Peoples. Given a limited understanding of how foodways may promote health and wellness the focal research questions for this critical ethnographic inquiry were: (a) How do participants describe Indigenist foodways? (b) How do Indigenist foodways reflect decolonized values and practices? and (c) How may Indigenist foodways be promotive for health and wellness? Data were drawn from 31 participants across a rural, reservation-based Southeast (SE) region and an urban Northwest (NW) region. Reconstructive data analysis revealed the following emergent themes: (a) Indigenous Values of Generosity Expressed Through Foodways: "It's Always About Sharing, and Caring, and Loving, and Giving"; (b) Gardening, Subsistence, and Food Sharing: "You Bring Enough for Everybody to Share"; (c) Decolonized Feasts and Foodways: "Everybody Pitch in and Help as Much as They Can." Despite centuries of historical oppression, participants reported decolonized values, worldviews, and foodways that reflected unity, cooperation, sharing, and social cohesion and caring, which were promotive factors for family resilience, health, and cultural identification. This research provides promising pathways about how Indigenist foodways remain salient in daily and cultural life, reflect decolonized values and practices, and may be promotive for health and wellness within the natural world.

"We were always doing something outside. … I had a wonderful, wonderful life": U.S. Indigenous peoples' subsistence, physical activity, and the natural world

Obesity tends to be higher, whereas physical activity (PA) tends to be lower for U.S. Indigenous peoples, which drives chronic health problems and mortality. Historical oppression and nutritional colonialism have disrupted Indigenous peoples' subsistence and concomitant PA. The purpose of this research is to use the framework of historical oppression, resilience, and transcendence (FHORT) with 31 participants in a critical ethnography identifying past and present forms of PA. By examining universal themes across two tribal contexts-a Southeast reservation tribal context and an urban Northwestern context-important knowledge about promising forms of PA can inform culturally relevant and effective interventions to promote health and prevent obesity and chronic health problems. Reconstructive thematic qualitative analysis resulted in the following themes: (a) Family-Centered Physical Activity: "The Kids Would … Follow Along, Dropping Seeds and Covering it … the Seeds Grew"; (b) Staying Active in the Natural World: "When I Would Go Home [from boarding school] in the Summertime, That's When … We'll Be Back Being an Indian"; (c) Staying Active through Culture: "The Traditional Dancing … [is] a Form of Exercise"; (d) Mental Wellness in Nature: "It Seemed Like Just Sitting Out There Makes You Feel Better"; and (e) Sports and Competitions Fostering PA: "A lot … Prefer Playing Softball, Basketball, Volleyball, Nowadays". Results highlighted how participants preferred and participated in subsistence and PA growing up, how this had evolved over time, and how being outside in nature contributed to a sense of wellness and overall health.

Aspects of Wellbeing for Indigenous Youth in CANZUS Countries: A Systematic Review

Indigenous children and young people (hereafter youth) across CANZUS nations embody a rich diversity of cultures and traditions. Despite the immense challenges facing these youth, many harness cultural and personal strengths to protect and promote their wellbeing. To support this for all youth, it is critical to understand what contributes to their wellbeing. This review aims to identify components contributing to wellbeing for Indigenous youth in CANZUS nations. Five databases were searched from inception to August 2022. Papers were eligible if they: focused on Indigenous youth in CANZUS nations; included views of youth or proxies; and focused on at least one aspect of wellbeing. We identified 105 articles for inclusion (Canada n = 42, Australia n = 27, Aotearoa New Zealand n = 8, USA n = 28) and our analysis revealed a range of thematic areas within each nation that impact wellbeing for Indigenous youth. Findings highlight the unique challenges facing Indigenous youth, as well as their immense capacity to harness cultural and personal strengths to navigate into an uncertain future. The commonalities of Indigenous youth wellbeing across these nations provide valuable insights into how information and approaches can be shared across borders to the benefit of all Indigenous youth and future generations.

"It's in the family circle": Communication promoting Indigenous family resilience

OBJECTIVE

We use the Framework of Historical Oppression, Resilience, and Transcendence (FHORT) to investigate the framework's core concept of family resilience and related protective and promotive factors that contribute to greater resilience, namely communication.

BACKGROUND

Scant research has examined communication in Indigenous families; yet general research suggests that family communication is a prominent aspect of family resilience.

METHODS

In this exploratory sequential mixed-methods study with data from 563 Indigenous participants (n = 436 qualitative and n = 127 quantitative survey), thematic reconstructive analysis was used to qualitatively understand participants' experiences of family communication and quantitatively examine protective factors for family resilience.

RESULTS

The following themes related to family communication as a component of family resilience emerged from qualitative analysis: "It's in the Family Circle": Discussing Problems as a Family with the subtheme: Honesty between Partners; (b) "Never Bring Adult Business into Kids' Lives": Keeping Adult Conversations Private; and (c) "Trust Us Enough to Come to Us": Open Communication between Parents and Children. Regression analysis indicated that higher community and social support, relationship quality, and life satisfaction were associated with greater family resilience.

CONCLUSIONS

Positive communication practices are a strong component of resilience, healthy Indigenous families. Promotive factors at the community (social and community support), relational (relationship quality), and individual (life satisfaction) levels positively contribute to Indigenous family resilience.

IMPLICATIONS

Clinical programs providing practical tools to foster healthy communication - both about difficult topics as well as positive topics - are promising avenues to foster resilience.

Alcohol consumption and dependence is linked to the extent that people experience need satisfaction while drinking alcohol in two Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities

BACKGROUND

Unhealthy alcohol use is a key concern for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ('Indigenous Australian') communities. Due to systematic disadvantage and inter-generational trauma, Indigenous Australians may be less likely to have satisfied basic psychological needs (autonomy, competence, and relatedness). When people are need-thwarted, they may engage in compensatory behaviours to feel better in the short-term. We explore the relationship between perceived basic psychological needs satisfaction and alcohol consumption use among Indigenous Australians. Better understanding the functions that alcohol may play for some Indigenous Australian drinkers may aid communities, clinicians, and policy makers in improving programs for reducing drinking-related harms.

METHODS

We performed a cross-sectional survey of Indigenous Australians (aged 16 years or older) living in two South Australian communities. Participants were eligible if they had consumed any alcohol in the past 12 months. Spearman correlations and linear regressions were used to determine if feeling more autonomous, competent, and related to others (need satisfied) while drinking, was linked to alcohol consumption and dependence.

RESULTS

Controlling for participant demographics, reporting feeling need satisfied while drinking was linked to drinking more alcohol per day, reporting more frequent symptoms of alcohol dependence, spending more money on alcohol, and scoring higher on the AUDIT-C.

CONCLUSIONS

Unhealthy drinking may partly stem from attempts to satisfy basic psychological needs. Programs which support Indigenous Australians to meet basic psychological needs could reduce attempts to meet psychological needs through alcohol consumption.

Family: The Bedrock of Support for American Indian Women Cancer Survivors

Cancer disparities among American Indian (AI) women are alarming, yet a dearth of research focuses on the role of family support for such women. The purpose of this research was to examine the composition of AI women cancer survivors' family support networks and the types of support that they provided. We used a qualitative descriptive methodology with 43 AI women cancer survivors and qualitative content analysis, which indicated that 38 participants (approximately 90%) reported that their families provided integral and varied forms of support, especially instrumental support throughout cancer experiences. Families were the bedrock of support for AI women cancer survivors.