Navigating the Tide Together: Early Collaboration between Tribal and Academic Partners in a CBPR Study.

Community Based Participatory Research (CBPR) approaches stress the importance of building strong, cohesive collaborations between academic researchers and partnering communities; yet there is minimal research examining the actual quality of CBPR partnerships. The objective of the present paper is to describe and explore the quality of collaborative relationships across the first two years of the Healing of the Canoe project teams, comprised of researchers from the University of Washington and community partners from the Suquamish Tribe. Three quantitative/qualitative process measures were used to assess perceptions regarding collaborative processes and aspects of meeting effectiveness. Staff meetings were primarily viewed as cohesive, with clear agendas and shared communication. Collaborative processes were perceived as generally positive, with Tribal empowerment rated as especially important. Additionally, effective leadership and flexibility were highly rated while a need for a stronger community voice in decision-making was noted. Steady improvements were found in terms of trust between research teams, and both research teams reported a need for more intra-team project- and social-focused interaction. Overall, this data reveals a solid CBPR collaboration that is making effective strides in fostering a climate of respect, trust, and open communication between research partners.

Identifying Community Needs and Resources in a Native Community: A Research Partnership in the Pacific Northwest.

Indigenous communities have engaged in needs and resources assessments for thousands of years. By blending CBPR/TPR approaches with community-driven assets and needs assessments, academic and community based researchers can work together to better understand and identify community strengths as well as issues of concern in Native communities. This best practice approach can set research agendas that are relevant to Native communities and result in interventions and health promotion programs that are respectful of Tribal sovereignty and that incorporate unique traditions and strengths of Native communities. A successful research partnership to develop and implement a needs and resources assessment using CBPR/TPR approaches is presented using a case study that can be used as a model for other research partnerships.

The Community Pulling Together: A Tribal Community­University Partnership Project to Reduce Substance Abuse and Promote Good Health in a Reservation Tribal Community.

Alcohol and drug abuse are major areas of concern for many American Indian=Alaska Native communities. Research on these problems has often been less than successful, in part because many researchers are not sensitive to the culture and traditions of the tribes and communities with which they are working. They alsooften fail to incorporate tribal customs, traditions, and values into the interventions developed to deal with substance abuse. The authors describe the use of community-based participatory research and tribal participatory research approaches to develop a culturally sensitive substance abuse prevention program for Native youth. This project, The Community Pulling Together: Healing of the Canoe, is a collaboration between the Suquamish Tribe and the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Institute at the University of Washington, Seattle, Washington.