Training Indigenous Community Researchers for Community-Based Participatory Ethnographic Dementia Research: A Second-Generation Model

Melissa Blind, Kristen Jacklin, Karen Pitawanakwat, Dana Ketcher, Nickolas Lambrou, Wayne Warry

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Conducting community-based participatory research (CBPR) is a complex endeavor, particularly when training non-academic community members. Though examples of CBPR training programs and protocols have been published, they often address a limited set of concepts and are tailored for university or medical school students. Here, we describe the process of developing an online CBPR training program for American Indian (United States) and Indigenous (Canada) community members to conduct multi-sited ethnographic dementia research. This program is unique in its breadth and depth, as our program covers CBPR theory, methods, practical research, and administrative skills. Significantly, this program centers Indigenous methodology, pedagogy, and processes such as two-eyed seeing, storywork, and decolonization approaches. Key to this training program is a “second-generation” approach which incorporates experiential knowledge from a prior community-based researcher and academic partners and is designed to develop CBPR capacity among community-based researchers and partnering communities. In this paper, we detail the experience of the first cohort of learners and subsequent improvement of the training materials. Unique challenges related to the specific research focus (dementia), population/setting (American Indian/First Nations communities), and technology (rural digital infrastructure) are also discussed.

Original languageEnglish (US)
JournalInternational Journal of Qualitative Methods
Volume22
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 1 2023

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Institutes on Aging of the National Institutes of Health under award number 1R56AG062307. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

Funding Information:
We acknowledge that the University of Minnesota Duluth is located on the traditional, ancestral, and contemporary lands of Indigenous people. The University resides on land that was cared for and called home by the Ojibwe people, before them the Dakota and Northern Cheyenne people, and other Native peoples from time immemorial. Ceded by the Ojibwe in an 1854 treaty, this land holds great historical, spiritual, and personal significance for its original stewards, the Native nations and peoples of this region. We recognize and continually support and advocate for the sovereignty of the Native nations in this territory and beyond. By offering this land acknowledgment, we affirm tribal sovereignty and will work to hold the University of Minnesota Duluth accountable to American Indian peoples and nations. We would like to acknowledge the community researchers who helped to shape this program: January Johnson, Collette Pederson, Lois Strong, Marlene Summers, and Rhonda Trudeau. We would also like to thank former Memory Keepers staff members Jessica Chiovitte and Andrine Lemieux for their contributions to the training. The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Institutes on Aging of the National Institutes of Health under award number 1R56AG062307. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2023.

Keywords

  • action research
  • case study
  • community based research
  • ethnography
  • participatory action research
  • social justice

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