College of Letters & Science
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The College of Letters and Science, the largest center for learning, teaching and research at Montana State University, offers students an excellent liberal arts and sciences education in nearly 50 majors, 25 minors and over 25 graduate degrees within the four areas of the humanities, natural sciences, mathematics and social sciences.
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Item The Role of Complicated Grief in Health Inequities in American Indian Communities(SAGE Publications, 2024-09) Gameon, Julie A.; McNamee, Alex; Firemoon, Paula; Skewes, Monica C.Complicated grief is both a cause and a consequence of health inequities in Native (American Indian/Alaska Native [AI/AN]) communities. Given disproportionately high rates of physical (e.g., cancer, diabetes, and heart disease) and mental health problems (e.g., substance use disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder) in Native communities, it is common for AI/AN people to suffer many losses each year. Experiences of traumatic or repeated losses may lead to the development of maladaptive grief, often known as complicated grief. The aim of the current study was to understand the perspectives of community members on grief and its connection with health inequities among AI people who have experienced the loss of a person with whom they were close. Using a community-based participatory research framework, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 12 AI adults from a rural reservation community. The ages of the participants ranged from 32 to 80 years (M = 54.33, SD = 14.46) and women (n = 7, 58.3%) and men (n = 5, 41.7%) were included. The participants reported many barriers to healthy grieving and linked chronic, complicated grief with the development of multifaceted health problems, which were seen as exacerbating health disparities and leading to additional losses and grief. While coping with loss was difficult, many people were able to heal from extraordinary losses through community support and cultural practices. Future research with AI/AN communities is needed to develop, implement, and evaluate culturally responsive therapeutic grief treatments. There is also a pressing need to address current physical and mental health inequities to reduce the mortality rate and, thus, complicated grief in AI/AN communities.Item Association of racism and substance use treatment with belief in the myth of an American Indian/Alaska Native biological vulnerability to alcohol problems(American Psychological Association, 2023-06) Gonzalez, Vivian M.; Skewes, Monica C.Objectives: Belief in an American Indian/Alaska Native (AIAN) specific biological vulnerability (BV) to alcohol problems is associated with worse alcohol outcomes among AIANs. Despite a notable lack of evidence that biogenetic factors play a greater role in the development of alcohol problems among AIANs than other groups, many people still believe this myth. Consistent with theory and evidence that greater experiences with discrimination leads to the internalization of stereotypes and oppression, we hypothesized that greater perceived racial discrimination (racism) would be associated with greater BV belief, but that having a stronger ethnic identity would weaken this association. We also examined whether previous substance use treatment as well as participation in Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) or Narcotics Anonymous (NA) was associated with BV belief. Method: Participants were 198 reservation-dwelling AI adults with a substance use problem who completed a survey as part of a larger community-based participatory study. Results: A multiple regression analysis revealed that greater systemic racism was associated with greater belief in a BV; this association was not moderated by ethnic identity. Greater interpersonal racism was also associated with greater BV belief—but only among those low in ethnic identity. A regression analysis revealed that previous treatment, AA, and NA participation were not associated with BV belief. Conclusions: Greater systemic and interpersonal racism were associated with belief in a BV, and greater ethnic identity buffered the association between interpersonal racism and BV belief. This suggests that both combatting racism and fostering positive ethnic identity may help to lessen BV belief. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)