Use of Media Technologies by Native American Teens and Young Adults: Evaluating their Utility for Designing Culturally-Appropriate Sexual Health Interventions Targeting Native Youth in the Pacific Northwest

I asked Walker why the Spirit Dances were held in the Winter. He told me that in the Winter the Earth's reserves are low, so the people must dance to create energy for the Earth during the Winter months. At the time I was a graduate student in anthropology at the University of British Columbia doing my field studies in the Salish Guardian Spirit Dance Ceremonials of the Pacific Northwest Coast (Kenny, 1982). Walker didn't seem to care as much about the academics as he cared about the fact that I was Native American myself. And he wanted to support my learning about healing and the arts. The Winter Dances, as the Salish people call them, are known for healing young adults in Pacific Northwest Coast Native societies who are not able to be cured by standard medical and psychological treatments (Kenny, 1982; Jilek, 1972).

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Protecting our future generation: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial evaluating a sexual health self-care intervention with Native American youth and young adults

BMC Public Health ◽

10.1186/s12889-019-7956-x ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 19 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Tingey Lauren ◽

Sutcliffe Catherine ◽

Chambers Rachel ◽

Patel Hima ◽

Lee Angelita ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Young Adults ◽

Native American ◽

Sexual Health ◽

Controlled Trial ◽

Self Care ◽

Future Generation ◽

Native American Youth ◽

Self Assessment ◽

Care Intervention ◽

Youth And Young Adults

Abstract Background Disparities in sexually transmitted infections (STI) are an urgent problem among Native American youth and young adults which are not fully explained by different sexual or related behaviors. These sexual health disparities are more likely attributed to social environments and structural determinants such as a shortage of sexual healthcare providers, lower socioeconomic status, and access barriers to STI screening and treatment, including geographic isolation and confidentiality concerns. Innovative, non-clinic based alternatives to promote STI screening and treatment are essential for alleviating these disparities. Self-care, or the care taken by individuals towards their own health and well-being may be such a strategy. This study will assess the efficacy of a self-care intervention, called Protecting Our Future Generation, for increasing uptake of STI screening and impacting sexual risk and protective behaviors among Native American youth and young adults living in a reservation-based community in the Southwestern United States. Methods The proposed study is a randomized controlled trial to test the efficacy of a self-care intervention compared to a control condition. Participants will be Native Americans ages 14–26 years old who have had vaginal or anal sex at least once in their lifetime. Participants will be randomized to the intervention which includes: 1) a sexual health self-assessment with embedded clinical prediction tool predicting STI positivity, and 2) personalized messaging with key steps to lower risk for STIs, or the control condition which includes: 1) a self-assessment about water, soda and sugar sweetened beverage consumption, and 2) personalized messaging to meet recommended daily intake. All participants will be offered a self-administered STI test. Participants will complete assessments at baseline, 3- and 6-months follow-up. The primary outcome measure is completion of STI screening. Discussion Protecting Our Future Generation is among the first self-care interventions uniquely focused on sexual health among a Native American population, who endure significant sexual health disparities and are under-represented in research. If efficacious, the intervention will be a model of sexual health self-care for Native American youth and young adults adaptable for use in healthcare and community-based settings. Trial registration Clinical Trials: http://clinicaltrials.gov; NCT03895320; Registered 03/28/2019.

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Heaven, Hell, and Hipsters

Ecclesial Practices ◽

10.1163/22144471-00102002 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 1 (2) ◽

pp. 207-228

Author(s):

Maren Haynes

Keyword(s):

Young Adults ◽

Pacific Northwest ◽

Sacred Space ◽

Regional Growth ◽

The Core ◽

Ritual Theory ◽

The Pacific ◽

Music Ministry ◽

Church Affiliation

Mars Hill pastor Mark Driscoll attracts unconventional churchgoers. Hipster youth ages 18–25 comprise the core of the church’s 12,000+ weekly attendees – surprising, amid Driscoll’s controversial promotion of strict gender binaries and fundamentalist theology. Furthermore, the Pacific Northwest boasts the country’s lowest rate of church affiliation (Killen 2004). How, in this so-called ‘religious none-zone,’ has Mars Hill grown rapidly among young adults? I suggest only a portion of Mars Hill’s regional growth relies on content preached in the pulpit. Using ritual theory (Collins 2008) and non-linguistic semiotics (Turino 2008), I posit a connection between Mars Hill’s music ministry and Seattle’s vibrant indie guitar rock scene. By identifying Mars Hill’s mimicry of local concert culture aesthetics, I argue that secular ritual in a sacred space has created a potent ritual environment (Sylvan 2002), contributing massively to the church’s appeal among a majority “unchurched” demographic.

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Lexical acculturation, areal diffusion, lingua francas, and bilingualism

Language in Society ◽

10.1017/s0047404500020637 ◽

1996 ◽

Vol 25 (2) ◽

pp. 261-282

Author(s):

Cecil H. Brown

Keyword(s):

Native American ◽

Pacific Northwest ◽

Language Contact ◽

Tierra Del Fuego ◽

The Arctic ◽

Native American Languages ◽

Lexical Borrowing ◽

Pacific Northwest Coast ◽

Nation States ◽

The Pacific

ABSTRACTThis study continues an investigation of lexical acculturation in Native American languages using a sample of 292 language cases distributed from the Arctic Circle to Tierra del Fuego (Brown 1994). Focus is on the areal diffusion of native language words for imported European Objects and concepts. Approximately 80% of all sharing of such terms is found to occur among closely genetically related languages. Amerindian languages only distantly related, or not related at all, tend to share native labels for acculturated items only when these have diffused to them from a lingua franca, such as Chinook Jargon (a pidgin trade language of the Pacific Northwest Coast) or Peruvian Quechua (the language of the Inca empire). Lingua francas also facilitate diffusion of terms through genetically related languages; but sometimes, as in the case of Algonquian languages, these are neither familiar American pidgins nor languages associated with influential nation states. An explanatory framework is constructed around the proposal that degree of bilingualism positively influences extent of lexical borrowing. (Amerindian languages, bilingualism, language contact, lexical acculturation, lexical diffusion, lingua francas)

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The Pacific Northwest

10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199858897.013.13 ◽

2016 ◽

Author(s):

Andrew Fisher

Keyword(s):

Native American ◽

Pacific Northwest ◽

Native American History ◽

Native Communities ◽

Columbia Plateau ◽

Cultural Legitimacy ◽

The Pacific ◽

The Us ◽

Political Boundaries ◽

Recent Trends

Despite decades of neglect by professional historians, the Pacific Northwest brings particular clarity to major themes in Native American history. On both sides of the Cascade Mountains and the US-Canadian border, Native communities have carried on the struggle for territorial integrity, political authority, economic viability, and cultural legitimacy that began in the late eighteenth century. Scholars, in turn, have broadened their studies temporally, culturally, and thematically to create a fuller picture of the region’s past. This chapter surveys recent trends in the ethnohistorical literature concerning the diverse indigenous peoples of the Northwest Coast and Columbia Plateau. For the sake of brevity, it emphasizes three themes of particular salience in the Northwest: the porous character of cultural and political boundaries, the fluidity of racial and tribal identities, and the determination of Native nations to protect their ancestral lands and resources.

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