Browsing by Author "McCormick, Alma"

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Community sharing: Contextualizing Western research notions of contamination within an Indigenous research paradigm
(Wiley, 2022-03) Allen, Sarah; Held, Suzanne; Milne‐Price, Shauna; McCormick, Alma; Feng, Du; Inouye, Jillian; Schure, Mark B.; Castille, Dottie; Howe, Rae B.; Pitts, Mikayla; Keene, Shannen; Belone, Lorenda; Wallerstein, Nina
Báa nnilah is a chronic illness self-management program designed by and for the Apsáalooke (Crow) community. Arising from a collaboration between an Indigenous non-profit organization and a university-based research team, Báa nnilah’s development, implementation and evaluation have been influenced by both Indigenous and Western research paradigms. Báa nnilah was evaluated using a randomized wait-list control group design. In a Western Research Paradigm (WRP), contamination, or intervention information shared by the intervention group with the control group, is actively discouraged as it makes ascertaining causality difficult, if not impossible. This approach is not consonant with Apsáalooke cultural values that include the encouragement of sharing helpful information with others, supporting an Indigenous Research Paradigm’s (IRP) goal of benefiting the community. The purpose of this paper is to address contamination and sharing as an area of tension between WRP and IRP. We describe how the concepts of contamination and sharing within Báa nnilah’s implementation and evaluation are interpreted differently when viewed from these contrasting paradigms, and set forth a call for greater exploration of Indigenous research approaches for developing, implementing and evaluating intervention programs in Indigenous communities. (Improving Chronic Illness Management with the Apsáalooke Nation: The Báa nnilah Project.:NCT03036189) ClinicalTrials.gov:NCT03036189)
Daasachchuchik:A Trauma-Informed Approach to Developing a Chronic Illness Self-Management Program for the Apsáalooke People
(2020-05) Shure, Mark B.; Allen, Sarah; Trottier, Coleen; McCormick, Alma; Other Medicine, Lucille; Castille, Dorothy; Held, Suzanne
In Montana, American Indians with chronic illnesses (CIs) die 20 years earlier than their White counterparts highlighting an urgent need to develop culturally consonant CI self-management programs. Historical and current trauma places Indigenous peoples at increased health risk relative to others, and negatively influences CI self-management. The Apsáalooke Nation and Montana State University worked together to develop and implement a trauma-informed CI self-management program to improve the Apsáalooke community's health. This paper describes the origins and development of the trauma-informed components of the program. Using community stories and a literature review of trauma-informed interventions, partners co-developed culturally consonant trauma materials and activities grounded in community values and spirituality. Trauma-informed content was woven throughout three intervention gatherings and was the central focus of the gathering, Daasachchuchik ('Strong Heart'). Apsáalooke ancestors survived because of their cultural strengths and resilience; these cultural roots continue to be essential to healing from historical and current trauma.