ABSTRACT
American Indians experienced massive losses of lives, land, and culture from European contact and colonization resulting in a long legacy of chronic trauma and unresolved grief across generations. This phenomenon, labeled historical unresolved grief, contributes to the current social pathology of high rates of suicide, homicide, domestic violence, child abuse, alcoholism and other social problems among American Indians. The present paper describes the concept of historical unresolved grief and historical trauma among American Indians, outlining the historical as well as present social and political forces which exacerbate it. The abundant literature on Jewish Holocaust survivors and their children is used to delineate the intergenerational transmission of trauma, grief, and the survivor's child complex. Interventions based on traditional American Indian ceremonies and modern western treatment modalities for grieving and healing of those losses are described.
Subject(s)
Grief , Holocaust/psychology , Indians, North American/psychology , Acculturation , Alcoholism/ethnology , Alcoholism/psychology , Education/history , History, 18th Century , History, 19th Century , History, 20th Century , Holocaust/history , Indians, North American/history , Social Values , United StatesABSTRACT
Samples of target and control American Indian children in the Southwest United States are compared for child abuse/neglect and family alcohol abuse. Alcohol abuse is present in virtually all families that abuse/neglect children. However, alcohol abuse exists exclusive of the association with child abuse/neglect. The study demonstrates that alcohol abuse is a necessary, but not sufficient, condition for child abuse/neglect.
Subject(s)
Alcoholism/psychology , Child Abuse/psychology , Child of Impaired Parents/psychology , Indians, North American/psychology , Urban Population , Adolescent , Child , Child, Preschool , Female , Humans , Infant , Male , New Mexico , Social Environment , Substance-Related Disorders/psychology , ViolenceABSTRACT
This paper explores the part ethnicity may play in utilization of available western health care methods by Tewa families who have a child with epilepsy. Suggestions are made for appropriate responses by non-Indian health care providers to Tewa patients with epilepsy and their families. Findings indicate that, on the surface, Tewa families behave much like other Americans generally in utilization of western health care services. However, the Tewa are extremely reluctant to discuss with non-Indian health care providers traditional healing practices that may be used simultaneously. Such reluctance is well-documented in literature on the Tewa Pueblos and is substantiated in the present research. Suggestions are made for health care providers who wish to be "culturally aware" about the appropriateness of routinely asking a patient about his or her perception of the traditional etiology of the disease. The roles of the family and the western health care system are challenged. The response of Tewa extended families to children who have epilepsy is complex and not necessarily supportive. Often considered the primary health care provider for Native Americans, the Indian Health Service is based on an acute care model and lacks the ability to serve chronically disabled American Indian children. Finally, the paper argues that epilepsy is varied enough to complicate the development of a single model of chronic illness that is appropriate for those who suffer from the disability.
Subject(s)
Epilepsy/therapy , Indians, North American , Child , Chronic Disease , Delivery of Health Care , Family , Humans , New Mexico , Parents , Patient Acceptance of Health Care , Social Behavior , United States , United States Indian Health ServiceABSTRACT
From both knowledge gained working in Indian communities and a major data collection program, this article examines child abuse and neglect among the Indian tribes in a southwestern state. The period of study covers 1982 through 1985. The study sample consists of 53 children targeted by the local Indian Health Service Hospital Child Protection Team as being abused and/or neglected. In addition, information on the parents, grandparents and, in a number of cases, great-grandparents are examined. The study is a secondary data analysis of clinic and hospital records and interviews with local community health care providers and tribal officials. The results indicate that alcohol abuse was present in 85% of the neglect cases and in 63% of the abuse cases. In addition, child abuse and neglect occurred simultaneously in 65% of the sample. Child abuse and neglect are found to be part of a larger phenomenon of multiproblem families which raises the issue of intergenerational perpetuation of these problems. The results underscore the importance of interagency cooperation in surveillance, treatment, and prevention, as well as more careful and thorough documentation of record maintenance.
