Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Introduction to Ecological Description of a Community Intervention: Building Prevention Through Collaborative Field Based Research

  • Original Article
  • Published:
American Journal of Community Psychology

Abstract

This special issue of the American Journal of Community Psychology is the result of a 18-year partnership with Alaska Native communities using collaborative field based research methods. Its goal is to provide a case study fulfilling the spirit of ecological inquiry, offering a detailed and nuanced description of a community intervention. The articles describe the nature of our work, including some of our successes, as well as challenges, dilemmas, and even disappointments we experienced along the way. Our primary aim was to develop and assess the feasibility of a complex, multi-level intervention to increase protective factors hypothesized to reduce suicide and alcohol abuse among rural Yup’ik Alaska Native youth ages 12–18. The articles that follow include descriptions of the cultural context, relevant literature and project history, our methods of community engagement in measurement development strategies, an empirical test of the prevention model that guided the intervention, the development and implementation of the intervention, a feasibility and impact assessment, and an evaluation of community engagement. A final article summarizes what is generalizable from the work in field based intervention research with rural and culturally distinct populations, and future prospects for decolonizing community intervention research methods. These papers raise important issues, including (1) need for deep, contextual ecological descriptions, (2) reconceptualization of time in the research relationship, (3) distinctions between populations and communities, and (4) the conflict between values of communities and intervention science.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. Though out the special issue, we will use lower case ‘indigenous’ in more general universal references to local theory, practices, and understandings of cultures. Upper case ‘Indigenous’ refers specifically to the peoples aboriginal to Alaska, North America, and globally, and to their local theory, practices, and understandings.

  2. We use the term “Western” in this special issue to denote the cultural tradition influencing psychology and psychological theory with origins in Ancient Greece, which later evolved and was transported through Europe to the United States.

  3. We acknowledge inherent problems with use of the term cultural intervention; every intervention is cultural, and the use of this term runs risk of reinforcing dominant hegemonies over multicultural understandings as point of reference. However, through its use, we seek to distinguish community interventions based in an indigenous cultural understanding that is grounded in the local conditions of each community within which the intervention is implemented.

References

  • Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development (2013). 2010 Census demographic profile. http://labor.alaska.gov/research/census/home.htm. Retrieved Dec 5, 2013.

  • Allen, J., Mohatt, G. V., Beehler, S., & Rowe, H. L. (2014a). People Awakening: Collaborative research to develop cultural strategies for prevention in community intervention. American Journal of Community Psychology. doi:10.1007/s10464-014-9647-1.

  • Allen, J., Mohatt, G. V., Fok, C. C. T., Henry, D., & Burkett, R. (2014b). A protective factors model for alcohol abuse and suicide prevention among Alaska Native youth. American Journal of Community Psychology. doi:10.1007/s10464-014-9661-3.

  • Allen, J., Mohatt, G. V., Rasmus, S. M., Hazel, K., Thomas, L., Lindley, S., et al. (2006). The tools to understand: Community as co-researcher on culture specific protective factors for Alaska Natives. Journal of Prevention and Intervention in the Community, 32(1/2), 41–64.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ayunerak P., Alstrom, D., Moses, C., Charlie Sr., J., & Rasmus, S. (2014). Yup’ik culture and context in Southwest Alaska: Community member perspectives of tradition, social change, and prevention. American Journal of Community Psychology. doi:10.1007/s10464-014-9652-4.

  • Beauvais, F. (1992). The need for community consensus as a condition of policy implementation in the reduction of alcohol abuse on Indian reservations. Journal of American Indian and Alaska Native Mental Health Research, 4(3), 77–81.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boyer, B. B., Mohatt, G. V., Lardon, C., Plaetke, R., Luick, B. L., Hutchison, S. H., et al. (2005). Building a community-based participatory research center to investigate obesity and diabetes in Alaska Natives. International Journal of Circumpolar Health, 64(3), 281–290.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Chino, M., & DeBruyn, L. (2006). Building true capacity: Indigenous models for indigenous communities. American Journal of Public Health, 96(4), 596–599.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Espino, S. L. R., & Trickett, E. J. (2008). The spirit of ecological inquiry and intervention research reports: A heuristic elaboration. American Journal of Community Psychology, 42(1–2), 60–78. doi:10.1007/S10464-008-9179-7.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fienup-Riordan, A. (2000). Hunting tradition in a changing world: Yup’ik lives in Alaska. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fisher, P., & Ball, T. J. (2003). Tribal participatory research: Mechanisms of a collaborative model. American Journal of Community Psychology, 32(3/4), 207–216.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fortuine, R. (1989). Chills and fever: Health and disease in the early history of Alaska. Fairbanks, AK: University of Alaska Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gonzalez, J., & Trickett, E. J. (2014). Collaborative measurement development as a tool in CBPR: Measurement development and adaptation within the cultures of communities. American Journal of Community Psychology. doi:10.1007/s10464-014-9655-1.

  • Hensel, C. (1996). Telling our selves: Ethnicity and discourse in Southwestern Alaska. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hutchison, S. H., Mohatt, G. V., Boyer, B. B., Luick, B. L., Lardon, C., Plaetke, R., et al. (2005). A study of obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease among Yup’ik Eskimos in Southwestern Alaska [poster session]. Denver, CO: Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease and Diabetes among American Indians and Alaska Natives.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kelly, J. G. (1966). Ecological constraints on mental health services. American Psychologist, 21, 535–539.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kelly, J. G. (1968). Toward an ecological conception of preventative interventions. In J. W. Carter (Ed.), Research contributions from psychology to community mental health. New York: Behavioral Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kelly, J. G. (1971). Qualities for a community psychologist. American Psychologist, 26, 897–903.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kelly, J. G. (1986). Context and process—an ecological view of the interdependence of practice and research. American Journal of Community Psychology, 14(6), 581–589.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kelly, J. G. (2006). Becoming ecological: An expedition into community psychology. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Minkler, M., & Wallerstein, N. (Eds.). (2008). Community-based participatory research in health (2nd ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mohatt, G. V. (1994). Culturally negotiated schooling: New idea of old idea in new clothes? Peabody Journal of Education, 69(2), 172–185.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mohatt, G. V., Hazel, K. L., Allen, J., Stachelrodt, M., Hensel, C., & Fath, R. (2004a). Unheard Alaska: Culturally anchored participatory action research on sobriety with Alaska Natives. American Journal of Community Psychology, 33(3–4), 263–274.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mohatt, G. V., Rasmus, S. M., Thomas, L., Allen, J., Hazel, K., & Hensel, C. (2004b). Tied together like a woven hat: Protective pathways to sobriety for Alaska Natives. Harm Reduction Journal, 1, 10. http://www.harmreductionjournal.com/content/1/1/10. Retrieved Dec 5, 2013.

  • Mohatt, G. V., Plaetke, R., Klejka, J., Luick, B. L., Lardon, C., Bersamin, A., et al. (2007a). The Center for Alaska Native Health Research study: A community-based participatory research study of obesity and chronic disease-related protective and risk factors. International Journal of Circumpolar Health, 66(1), 8–18.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mohatt, G. V., Rasmus, S. M., Thomas, L., Allen, J., Hazel, K., & Marlatt, G. A. (2007b). Risk, resilience, and natural recovery: A model of recovery from alcohol abuse for Alaska Natives. Addiction, 103, 205–215.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mohatt, G. V., Allen, J., Fok, C. C. T., Henry, D., & People Awakening Team. (2014). Feasibility of a community intervention for the prevention of suicide and alcohol abuse with Yup’ik Alaska Native youth: The Elluam Tungiinun and Yupiucimta Asvairtuumallerkaa studies. American Journal of Community Psychology. doi:10.1007/s10464-014-9646-2.

  • Rasmus, S. (2014). Indigenizing CBPR: Evaluation of a community-based and participatory research process implementation of the Elluam Tungiinun (towards wellness) program in Alaska. American Journal of Community Psychology. doi:10.1007/s10464-014-9653-3.

  • Rasmus, S. M., Charles, B., & Mohatt, G. V. (2014). Creating Qungasvik (a Yup’ik intervention “toolbox”): Case examples from a community-developed and culturally-driven intervention. American Journal of Community Psychology. doi:10.1007/s10464-014-9651-5.

  • Smith, L. T. (1999). Decolonizing methodologies: Research and indigenous peoples. New York, NY: Zed Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Trickett, E. J., & Espino, S. L. R. (2004). Collaboration and social inquiry: Multiple meanings of a construct and its role in creating useful and valid knowledge. American Journal of Community Psychology, 34(1–2), 1–69.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Trickett, E. J., Trimble, J. E., & Allen, J. (2014). Most of the story is missing: Advocating for a more complete intervention story. American Journal of Community Psychology. doi:10.1007/s10464-014-9645-3.

  • Trimble, J. E. (2010). Cultural measurement equivalence. In C. S. Clauss-Ehlers (Ed.), Encyclopedia of cross-cultural school psychology (pp. 316–318). New York: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Trimble, J., & Mohatt, G. V. (2006). The virtuous and responsible research in another culture. In J. E. Trimble & C. B. Fisher (Eds.), Handbook of ethical research with ethnocultural populations and communities (pp. 325–334). Thousand Oaks: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Trimble, J. E., Scharron-del Rio, M., & Bernal, G. (2010). The itinerant researcher: Ethical and methodological issues in conducting cross-cultural mental health research. In D. C. Jack & A. Ali (Eds.), Cultural perspectives on women’s depression: Self-silencing, psychological distress and recovery (pp. 73–95). New York: Oxford.

    Google Scholar 

  • United States Census (2010). United States Census 2010 summary file 3 (SF3)—sample data. 2010. http://www.census.gov/census2000/sumfile3.html. Retrieved Dec 5, 2013.

Download references

Acknowledgments

This research was funded by the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, the National Institute for Minority Health and Health Disparities, and the National Center for Research Resources (R21AA016098-01; RO1AA11446; R21AA016098; R24MD001626; P20RR061430).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biobehavioral Health and Population Sciences, University of Minnesota Medical School, Duluth Campus, 231 SMed, 1035 University Drive, Duluth, MN, 55812-3031, USA

    James Allen

  2. Center for Alaska Native Health Research, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK, USA

    James Allen & Gerald V. Mohatt

Authors
  1. James Allen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Gerald V. Mohatt
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to James Allen.

Additional information

This special issue is published posthumously and dedicated to Jerry’s memory.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Allen, J., Mohatt, G.V. Introduction to Ecological Description of a Community Intervention: Building Prevention Through Collaborative Field Based Research. Am J Community Psychol 54, 83–90 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10464-014-9644-4

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10464-014-9644-4

Keywords

Search

Navigation