GATHER: Growing a Tribal Healing Effort through Research - American Indians and Alaska Native (AI/AN) individuals and communities face some of the highest rates of substance use disorders and related mortality in the nation. AI/AN populations may also face a host of mental health and substance use issues related to multigenerational exposure to historical trauma, personal trauma, poverty, and unemployment. Concomitantly, despite the effects of AIAN health disparities, tribal communities have retained their language, culture, and community connectedness, which offer unique and important strengths that have yet to be fully integrated in tribal research efforts. The University of Washington Seven Directions (UW-7D) team proposes to partner with Drs. Melissa Walls (Professor, Johns Hopkins University Center of Indigenous Health (JHU-CIH) to provide a four-pronged approach to provide GATHER: Growing a Tribal Healing Effort through Research, designed to support N CREW funded research teams for the purpose of ensuring health equity within AI/AN communities using a strengths-based, culturally grounded approach to grow tribal research in the areas of overdose, substance use, mental health, and pain research. The University of Washington Seven Directions (UW-7D) team will serve as the core support (Prong 1), supporting the infrastructure and monitoring of Tribal and Native Serving Organization (T/NSO) research grants, along with building the initial relationships with T/NSO research teams to develop trust, identify research capacity needs, readiness to engage in research and enhance research capacity of T/NSAO. Technical assistance in AI/AN and Native Hawaiian communities requires authentic relationship building, and this will inform our approach to working closely with T/NSAO research teams (Prong 2 – Technical Assistance Approach). JHU-CIH will provide the research support core (Prong 3), drawing from a wealth of experience and expertise to support the technical research capacity development and/or data enhancement capacity of T/NSO sites. The GATHER team will provide training in grant writing, specific aims development, identification of study designs and measures, and data access and quality improvement. The JHU and UW-7D team will serve as the translation and communication core (Prong 4), supporting the dissemination of opportunities, trainings on translating research findings to program content and other implementation materials, and supporting the annual convenings of T/NSO research teams. GATHER’s purpose is to substantively contribute to building research capacity among and provide instrumental research support to tribally led overdose, substance use, mental health, and pain research projects to improve the health and wellbeing of AIAN populations through fostering and growing T/NSO-led approaches to substance use research.
