Respecting tribal traditions in research and publications: voices of five Native American nurse scholars.

A dialogue with five Native American scholars provides insight into conducting research and publishing resulting manuscripts on Native American topics, specifically healing beliefs and practices. This information provides a means to develop sensitivity and create understanding about concerns held by Native Americans regarding sharing certain defined cultural information with those outside the culture. The article identifies salient tribal issues related to research, discusses perspectives important to tribal nations and Native individuals surrounding research, and supplies a base on which to formulate further discussions.

Utilization of complementary and alternative medicine among racial and ethnic minority populations: implications for reducing health disparities.

This chapter provides a review of research literature and describes the use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) among racial and ethnic minority populations. The relevance of CAM to health disparities is also discussed. Complementary and alternative medicines are terms used to describe methods of health care beyond the usual Western biomedical model. These treatments are prevalent and increasing in the United States. Many CAM therapies are ancient therapies among certain racial and ethnic minorities. Thus, it seems that complementary and alternative medicine is being used and/or could be used to decrease health disparities among these populations. A review of 26 research articles shows that we are at the beginning stages of examining this phenomenon and that CAM use by any population is only now being described. Of the reviewed studies, 19 studies documented use of CAM among racial and ethnic minorities; 7 revealed that CAM is not used more among ethnic groups than among White (non-Hispanic) populations. Although it is known that racial and ethnic people utilize CAM, the vast array of research questions and aims, CAM definitions, CAM practitioners, and diverse research methodologies result in mixed research findings and conclusions. In some instances, utilization of CAM modalities is stated to be a result of culture among particular groups. Even so, there is currently no evidence that scientifically supports the notion that CAM can be used to reduce health disparities within racial and ethnic minority populations.

The infant caring process among Cherokee mothers.

The purpose of this study was to identify the social process of infant care among Cherokee mothers. Nineteen informants, who had an infant less than 2 years of age, were interviewed. The data were analyzed using the technique of constant comparative analysis. A social process of Indian infant care among Cherokee mothers was identified. Eight concepts emerged from data analysis. The first and principal concept, being a Cherokee mother, describes the functions of being an Indian mother in Cherokee society. The other seven concepts describe the patterns of cultural care the mothers provided to their infants. These included accommodating everyday infant care, accommodating health perspectives, building a care-providing consortium, living spiritually, merging the infant into Indian culture, using noncoercive discipline techniques, and vigilantly watching for the natural unfolding of the infant. Trustworthiness and credibility of the generated theory were evaluated through multiple measures.