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As the text by Griner & Smith (2006) asserts, "There is a pressing need to enhance the availability and quality of mental health services provided to persons from historically disadvantaged racial and ethnic groups. Many previous authors have advocated that traditional mental health treatments be modified to better match clients' cultural contexts." (Griner & Smith, p. 531)
Where Native Americans are concerned, this denotes the need for an outreach campaign that is simultaneously intended to promote better awareness of proper dietary, nutritional, health and wellness strategies while also showing a recognition of the clear conditions of disadvantage which have contributed to the Native American plight. Certainly, evidence suggests that any such counseling will be conducted against the grain of a long-standing cultural adaptation of negative nutritional and lifestyle decisions. According to Huber (2008), "beginning in the 1930s, government commodity programs and other factors led to very poor eating habits by Native Americans. Bad diseases, like diabetes and hypertension, quickly followed, almost like an epidemic shadow." (Huber, p. 1)
This suggests a counseling scenario which must be conscious of the cultural experiences that have helped to create the disproportionate health risks facing the population. The same is true of alcohol counseling or rehabilitation, which the research by French (2007) reports must be conducted from the same transcultural perspective that describes so many Native American lives. Such is to...
And the tribal life on the research, counseling must respect this experience. According to French, "treating Native Americans merely from the conventional clinical perspective spells of ethnocentrism while a pure traditional approach often serves to restrict both off-reservation mobility and inter-tribal interactions. Here the transcultural approach offers a needed bridge for effective Native American alcohol and mental health counseling." (French, p. 1)
By combining these strategies with health and nutrition education, it may be possible to help Native American populations drastically improve their own chance for an advance in living standards and life expectancy. It is true that a great many inequities have been visited upon the Native American people. But with the proper support, it is possible to redress some of these inequities in the realm of health.
Works Cited:
American Diabetes Association (ADA). (2008). Native American Diabetes Resources. vltakaliseji.tripod.com/
Lee, E.T.; Welty, T.K.; Cowan, L.D. et al. (2002). Incidence of diabetes in American Indians of three geographic areas: The Strong Heart Study. Diabetes Care, 25(1), 49-54.
Griner, D. & Smith, T.B. (2006). Culturally Adapted Mental Health Intervention: A Meta-Analytic Review. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice, Training, 43(4), 531-548.
Huber, G. (2008). The value of our ancestral diet. Tyler Morning Telegraph.
Works Cited:
American Diabetes Association (ADA). (2008). Native American Diabetes Resources. vltakaliseji.tripod.com/
Lee, E.T.; Welty, T.K.; Cowan, L.D. et al. (2002). Incidence of diabetes in American Indians of three geographic areas: The Strong Heart Study. Diabetes Care, 25(1), 49-54.
Griner, D. & Smith, T.B. (2006). Culturally Adapted Mental Health Intervention: A Meta-Analytic Review. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice, Training, 43(4), 531-548.
Huber, G. (2008). The value of our ancestral diet. Tyler Morning Telegraph.
As to the availability of safe and clean water supplies, and safe waste disposal facilities, Native Peoples are again on the short end of the stick. About twelve percent of Native People do not have adequate supplies of fresh drinking water and dependable waste facilities while only one percent of the general American population do not have those needed facilities (Indian Health Services). The U.S. Commission on Civil rights reports that
Native American's With Alcoholism And Diabetes The health situation with regard to Native Americans is shown in numerous studies to be seriously below the standard and average of other groups in the country. This fact is underscored and emphasized in research studies such as Richardson's, The Need to Empower Indian Tribes, in which he states that, As the nation reviews its health needs, it can look to American Indians as the ethnic
Instead, children were allowed to roam freely throughout the community and were free to ask questions when and where they pleased (Indian Treaties, 1999). Children worked alongside adults, learning life skills through pay and imitation. In addition, grandparents played a pivotal role in educating children. Grandmothers taught their granddaughters the tribal traditions and how to engage in the subtleties of daily life. Grandparents were frequently responsible for teaching children about
Substances such as sugar and honey were not used in the aboriginal diets, and the use of abusive substances such as alcohol or other min-altering psychoactive agents with the exception of tobacco and the 'black drink' were not common or problematic (French, 2000). Prior to the introduction of alcohol the natives were seen as fit, athletic and lean people, whereas the people of today are often seen as obese and
Underserved Populations One of the most underserved populations in America with respect to health care is Native Americans. This community has a higher burden of illness, injury and premature death, and the health care needs of this population are seldom part of policy discussions because of its relatively small population (Katz, 2004). More are uninsured than most other groups as well, which creates problems with respect to access to care. Katz
Case studies provide the opportunity to gather and categorize data in a variety of methods and settings so that it can be extracted for use in later studies as well. The allow the participant to feel less of a participant and more of a casual conversation team member which in turn may open the lines of communication and provide a more thorough examination of the issue being studied. For the