Archives JIVSW Volume 1 Issue 1, February 2010
The Healthy Living in Two Worlds Project: An Inclusive Model of Curriculum Development
Hilary Weaver
The experience of living in two culturally distinct worlds and striving for healthy living served as the guiding themes in the development of a wellness curriculum for urban Native Americans ages 9-13. Development, implementation, and evaluation of these processes are presented as a model of participatory curriculum development. The Healthy Living in Two Worlds curriculum was developed as a framework that can be augmented with regionally or tribally specific content so that other urban Native American communities can create wellness programs that meet their needs.
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Ike Hawaii - A Training Program for Working with Native Hawaiians
Kai Duponte, Tammy Martin, Noreen Mokuau, & Lynette Paglinawan
Native Hawaiians in Hawai‘i experience multiple health and social problems and are highly represented in the child welfare system, in particular. There is increasing attention to the argument that some problems derive from historic trauma. The importance of the relationship of history to contemporary problems was a fundamental premise in the development of a training model for social work students. This paper describes ‘Ike Hawai‘i, a training model intended to improve the cultural competency of social work students working with Native Hawaiian clients in the public child welfare system. There are six main elements of this training: 1) Self-Disclosure, 2) Hawaiian Worldview, 3) Grief and Loss, 4) Hawaiian Historical Events, with a focus on the Mahele and the overthrow of the Hawaiian Monarchy, 5) Current Day Strengths and Challenges, and 6) Cultural Ways of Healing and Practical Suggestions for Working with Native Hawaiians. Evaluative scores and comments from students indicate that the training program has been found to be useful and helpful in their work with Native Hawaiian clients. Such a model, with its emphasis on experiential learning, self-awareness, cultural knowledge, and service implications, may have applicability for other populations and, in particular, other native peoples.
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Bridging Research to Practice: Native American Stories of Becoming Smoke-free
Rodney C. Haring
The use of recreational and commercial tobacco products (nonceremonial or sacred) in North American Indian populations is alarmingly high. A qualitative study based on grounded theory and guided by social work principles was used to discover the methods, strategies, and processes 16 members of the Seneca Nation used when they quit smoking. The study revealed that participants used a five-step process to quit smoking: becoming aware, internalizing realizations, considering health, “setting in mind” to quit, and reflecting. The theory emerging from the project was named “healthy mind-setting.” The results provide a framework for health care and service providers working with Seneca recreational tobacco users and may have significant relevance for indigenous populations worldwide.
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Indigenous Worldviews, Knowledge, and Research: The Development of an Indigenous Research Paradigm
Michael Anthony Hart
This article presents the initial development of one Indigenous research paradigm. The article begins with an overview of worldviews and Indigenous knowledge before addressing how these perspectives have been blinded by Eurocentric thought and practices. These sections set the background for the focus of the article, namely the development of an Indigenous research paradigm. This paradigm is based upon the framework shared by Wilson (2001), who suggested that a research paradigm consists of an ontology, epistemology, methodology, and axiology. By presenting Indigenous perspectives on each of the framework components, an Indigenous research paradigm that was used for research with Indigenous Elders and Indigenous social workers who are based within Indigenous worldviews and ways of being is presented.
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Gathering, Telling, Preparing the Stories: A Vehicle for Healing
Sandra Starks, Halaevalu F. Ofahengaue Vakalahi, M. Jenise Comer, & Carmen Ortiz-Hendricks
This article connects the process of healing for women of color and indigenous people with the process of sharing their oral stories. It summarizes lessons learned from a project that facilitated the discussion and processing of issues of survival and success in the academy among women of color faculty in social work programs across the United States (Vakalahi, Starks, & Ortiz-Hendricks, 2007). A surprising yet perhaps expected dimension of the journey toward collaboration and publication was the shared experiences of personal and collective healing among the editors, contributing authors, and women who read these shared experiences and later expressed interest in telling their stories. The process of collecting the voices confirmed the continued experiences of sexism and racism in society while deepening the understanding of the need for support and sisterhood. Reflections on the process were as significant as the collected inquiry data. The critical need for validation and support of indigenous practices, alternative pedagogy, and systems of change at all levels of the academy and society is stressed in this discussion.
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An Examination of Familial Social Support Use by CHamoru Women on Guahan Diagnosed with Breast Cancer
Lisa Linda Natividad
This study explored familial social support use by CHamoru women on Guahan who had been diagnosed with breast cancer. It examined familial social support provided by the nuclear and extended family networks. The phenomenological method was used to gather data in 10 in-depth interviews with CHamoru women. Findings indicated the contributions of participants’ family systems, with the role of siblings being especially crucial. Strong CHamoru familial ties appear to be maintained with the sibling set playing a key role in caregiving.
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A Mixed Methods Study of Disaster Case Managers on Issues Related to Diversity in Practice with Hurricane Katrina Victims
Martell L. Teasley & James A. Moore
Increasingly, disasters are affecting large geographical areas that contain diverse populations who experience their aftermath in different ways. Social work case managers can play a critical role in assisting communities to plan and organize around issues of diversity in disaster relief and recovery. Using mixed methods, this study examines disaster recovery case managers working in the state of Mississippi after Hurricane Katrina. The authors asked the research question “What issues, if any, did disaster recovery case managers encounter when working with people from different cultural backgrounds after Hurricane Katrina?” Participants (N=11) reported experiencing shortcomings in agency preparation, a lack of understanding of ethnic intragroup differences, and challenges when working with elderly and disabled clients. Findings indicate that social work disaster case managers need to develop methods for gaining awareness of diverse populations within their service areas. Implications for future training and preparation are discussed.
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