By Linda McGurk
American Indians have good reason to be skeptical of academics and scientists. After all, researches used to come to the reservations and collect data without explaining how it was going to be used or sharing the results. “There’s been a lot of research done with Native American communities where they didn’t feel involved and didn’t feel like they had a voice,” says Mike Babcock, a professor in the Department of Psychology. “People were exploited and treated like lab rats, and I think they’ve had enough of that.”
The desire to address some serious health issues on the reservations – but doing it in a respectful way and in partnership with the communities – inspired Babcock and several other MSU faculty to found the Center for Native Health Partnerships in 2007. Funded by a five-year, $6.5 million grant from the National Institutes for Health, the center uses an approach known as community-based participatory research (CBPR) to tackle obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer and other health problems among American Indians.
The center builds on the success of Messenger of Health, a CBPR project spearheaded by Suzanne Christopher, an MSU professor of health and human development, and women on the Crow Reservation. Through Messengers, Crow women spread information about cervical cancer and Pap smears using traditional and culturally appropriate communication networks. “I think CBPR is a bit of a revolution. It’s such a different way of doing research – it’s really about solving problems,” says Babcock, who has sponsored Native American students in his lab for the past 15 years and is a co-principal investigator of the grant.
For the first pilot projects, researchers from MSU and other institutions across the state are teaming up with Native American communities to investigate Crow men’s health, water and food contamination on the Crow and Ft. Belknap reservations, asthma risk factors for children on the Blackfeet Reservation and diabetes prevention among Crow and Blackfeet women. And that’s not all. “We might provide funding not just for research, but for somebody who wants to go into the community and start a dialogue about some of the health concerns people have,” says Babcock.
The center also employs community organizers on each of Montana’s seven reservations. “Right now I’m the go-to person. People come to me if they want something done,” says Tammy Rider, a community organizer and member of the Ft. Belknap Reservation. Rider is helping members of her community become healthier by promoting fitness, better nutrition and cancer screenings, and by collaborating with several existing health programs on the reservation. “I think one of the challenges is to get the community to participate and get people to take responsibility for their own health. Some people tend to put their health on the backburner,” she says.
Babcock says building trust and partnerships between researchers and tribal communities “is not going to happen overnight,” but if the project is successful, it could go a long way toward improving the health and life expectancy for Montana’s 60,000 Native Americans. As word about the project is starting to get out, Rider can tell it’s resonating with her people. “I’ve received a lot of good feedback,” she says. “Having MSU here makes people feel like the university is invested in this region. It empowers the community.”
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Health Partnerships: Building a Healthy Dialogue
By Linda McGurk
American Indians have good reason to be skeptical of academics and scientists. After all, researches used to come to the reservations and collect data without explaining how it was going to be used or sharing the results. “There’s been a lot of research done with Native American communities where they didn’t feel involved and didn’t feel like they had a voice,” says Mike Babcock, a professor in the Department of Psychology. “People were exploited and treated like lab rats, and I think they’ve had enough of that.”
The desire to address some serious health issues on the reservations – but doing it in a respectful way and in partnership with the communities – inspired Babcock and several other MSU faculty to found the Center for Native Health Partnerships in 2007. Funded by a five-year, $6.5 million grant from the National Institutes for Health, the center uses an approach known as community-based participatory research (CBPR) to tackle obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer and other health problems among American Indians.
The center builds on the success of Messenger of Health, a CBPR project spearheaded by Suzanne Christopher, an MSU professor of health and human development, and women on the Crow Reservation. Through Messengers, Crow women spread information about cervical cancer and Pap smears using traditional and culturally appropriate communication networks. “I think CBPR is a bit of a revolution. It’s such a different way of doing research – it’s really about solving problems,” says Babcock, who has sponsored Native American students in his lab for the past 15 years and is a co-principal investigator of the grant.
For the first pilot projects, researchers from MSU and other institutions across the state are teaming up with Native American communities to investigate Crow men’s health, water and food contamination on the Crow and Ft. Belknap reservations, asthma risk factors for children on the Blackfeet Reservation and diabetes prevention among Crow and Blackfeet women. And that’s not all. “We might provide funding not just for research, but for somebody who wants to go into the community and start a dialogue about some of the health concerns people have,” says Babcock.
The center also employs community organizers on each of Montana’s seven reservations. “Right now I’m the go-to person. People come to me if they want something done,” says Tammy Rider, a community organizer and member of the Ft. Belknap Reservation. Rider is helping members of her community become healthier by promoting fitness, better nutrition and cancer screenings, and by collaborating with several existing health programs on the reservation. “I think one of the challenges is to get the community to participate and get people to take responsibility for their own health. Some people tend to put their health on the backburner,” she says.
Babcock says building trust and partnerships between researchers and tribal communities “is not going to happen overnight,” but if the project is successful, it could go a long way toward improving the health and life expectancy for Montana’s 60,000 Native Americans. As word about the project is starting to get out, Rider can tell it’s resonating with her people. “I’ve received a lot of good feedback,” she says. “Having MSU here makes people feel like the university is invested in this region. It empowers the community.”
Download PDF