Blackfeet Community College Center for Culture as Medicine
Project Number5S06GM141660-04
Contact PI/Project LeaderMATTHEWS, BETTY
Awardee OrganizationBLACKFEET COMMUNITY COLLEGE
Description
Abstract Text
Native American communities in Montana experience severe health disparities, including mental health
diseases that result in an all-cause death rate that is 58% higher than the white rate. Funding of Blackfeet
Community College (BCC) by a previous NARCH grant produced research results that indicate the degree of
connection of Blackfeet community members to Blackfeet community and culture positively affects their health
(1). In light of these findings, the overarching goal of the current Blackfeet NARCH application is to
improve the mental and physical health of the Blackfeet Nation by the development of the BCC Center
for Culture as Medicine (CCM). We believe investing in developing Native researchers as well as research
infrastructure at BCC can have a significant and lasting effect on the health prospects of future generations of
Blackfeet people. Identifying the sources and causes of reservation health disparities and reducing or
eliminating those causes through research, mitigation, remediation, and public education can have significant
impact on health. The proposed project leverages the previous NARCH efforts over the last several years to
train BCC faculty in biomedical research and to build the college’s research infrastructure, including a state-of-
the art research laboratory at BCC that has enabled our students and faculty to perform a broad range of
research projects. Importantly, the previous funding began to develop a research culture at BCC and the
Blackfeet community. In this proposal, we utilize this developing research culture and our previous results to
inform a proposed intervention, further develop the research interest in BCC students and faculty, explore new
traditional approaches to improve health, and develop a sustainable BCC-CCM.
In order to accomplish the goals of improving the health of the Blackfeet Nation and to develop the BCC-
CCM, we propose to achieve the following specific aims: 1. perform interventions informed by our previous
research to improve the physical and mental health of the Blackfeet Nation. 2. generate new results
that will inform future interventions that will respond to health concerns among the Blackfeet Nation. 3.
build the capacity of health equity research at BCC by developing a sustainable BCC-CCM. These aims
will be accomplished through the proposed BCC-CCM, Administrative Core, a student and faculty research
development project, an intervention based on enhancing connection of reservation participants to community
and culture to improve physical and mental health, and a pilot project to explore how the Piikani language can
positively affect health.
Public Health Relevance Statement
This project will develop the ability of Blackfeet people to improve their own mental health. This will be
accomplished by developing the Blackfeet Community College Center for Culture as Medicine. The
center’s research focuses on interventions utilizing traditional Blackfeet ways to improve mental health
of the community.
NIH Spending Category
No NIH Spending Category available.
Project Terms
AddressAffectBeliefBiomedical ResearchBlackfeetCause of DeathChargeCommunitiesCommunity HealthDeath RateDevelopmentDiseaseEducationEducational workshopFacultyFundingFutureFuture GenerationsGoalsGrantHealthHealth equity researchIndian reservationIndividualInterventionInvestmentsLaboratory ResearchLanguageLightMedicineMental HealthMissionMontanaNative American Research Center for HealthNative American communityNative AmericansParticipantPersonsPilot ProjectsResearchResearch InfrastructureResearch MethodologyResearch PersonnelResearch Project GrantsReservationsScienceSourceStudentsTrainingTribesUniversitiescareercollegecommunity collegeexperiencefaculty researchhealth disparityimprovedinterestmembernon-Nativephysical conditioningpublic educationremediationresearch and developmentresearch in practicestudent trainingtribal collegeuniversity student
National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health
$150,000
2024
National Institute of General Medical Sciences
$383,007
Year
Funding IC
FY Total Cost by IC
Sub Projects
No Sub Projects information available for 5S06GM141660-04
Publications
Publications are associated with projects, but cannot be identified with any particular year of the project or fiscal year of funding. This is due to the continuous and cumulative nature of knowledge generation across the life of a project and the sometimes long and variable publishing timeline. Similarly, for multi-component projects, publications are associated with the parent core project and not with individual sub-projects.
No Publications available for 5S06GM141660-04
Patents
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Outcomes
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No Outcomes available for 5S06GM141660-04
Clinical Studies
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History
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