Native American Health Research Paper

The continuous trauma that they endured has negatively affected the mental health and physical health of the population. Native Americans are at higher risk for depression, physical/sexual abuse, domestic violence, substance abuse, and mental health issues (McLeigh, 2010). Native American youth are three times more likely to commit suicide than the average population. Native Americans in general are twice as likely to be diagnosed with depression and five times more likely to have alcoholism. Colonization not damaged natives mentally, but also brought harm to their physical health as Europeans brought diseases (measles, chicken pox, smallpox, etc) to America (McLeigh, 2010). In order for this population to be served to treat their many medical and mental health issues brought on by years of trauma, policies must be implemented to help Native Americans specifically. However, the reality is that natives mental health needs are often ignored (Gone, 2004). There have been policies that have attempted to meet the needs, but much more is needed. In the most recent action towards improving mental health services for natives, the Affordable Care Act of 2010 permanently gave authorization to the Indian Health Care Improvement Act (Ross, Garfield, Brown, & Raghavan, 2015). This policy will be discussed and analyzed to examine further needs for services in this

Native Americans have been forced out of their culture over time, forced into assimilation, lost their rights, and have lost their land due to policies and laws by the whites that can’t bear the Native American way of life. There used to be many Native American tribes all throughout North America, and now these tribes are spread across the country and are blended into the rest of the population. The native ways have changed drastically in the last two centuries due to relocation programs, Indian boarding schools, and the way to classify which tribe each person belongs to. Native Americans have endured so much pain, which results from everything they have lost over time, and they have constantly paid the price for their ethnicity.

Among the different ethnic and socioeconomic groups, each is associated with health disadvantages. While some have more advantages than others, the most disadvantaged groups are among the Blacks and Native Americans. These two groups have the highest rates of several health disparities. The two groups, Blacks, and Native Americans have the highest rates in infant mortality and cardiovascular disease. Research has shown several key risk factors that are associated with these high rates. Some include poor environment, lack of access to care, physical inactivity, tobacco use, and high blood pressure. These health disparities and disadvantages are what causes Blacks and Native Americans to have higher mortality rates.

“The status of Indigenous health in contemporary Australia is a result of historic factors as well as contemporary socio-economic issues” (Hampton & Toombs, 2013, p. 1).

The Native American culture is the original culture of the United States. Members of Native American tribes live throughout the country. “There are an estimated 4.9 million persons, in 565 federally recognized tribes who are classified as American Indian or Alaska Native (AI/AI), alone or in combination with one or more other designated racial classifications. This demographic group compromises 1.6% of the U.S. population” (Horowitz, 2012). Wisconsin is home to the Ho-Chunk (Winnebago), Ojibwa (Chippewa), and the Potawatomi tribes (“American”, 2014). It is important for nurses within this state, as well as any other state, to understand the Native American belief system in order to provide a quality healthcare experience. Nurses are the primary point of contact in the healthcare setting. Client advocacy is one of the nurse’s major roles. Therefore, the nurse should have the highest level of diversity understanding for the cultures within the local region.

The American government and society has played a substantial role in the decline of both the Native American and Inupiat culture. They created inhumane boarding schools and oppressing laws that inhibited those of a different culture from being themselves and partook in the urbanization of cultured communities. The following practices need to be stopped and never forgotten so that such ethnocide doesn't happen again.

Health promotion can be looked out differently within each ethnic group and can most definitely influence how one manages his/her own health. Within the AI/AN population, a lot of home remedies passed down from generation to generation exist, so seeking out traditional medicine isn’t really a main source of healing. The American Indian/Alaska Native resident may have a holistic view in which people community, nature and spirituality are interconnected and interrelated. This perspective views physical, spiritual, mental and emotional health in unity, instead of indiscrete categories. Sickness may be viewed as a result of disharmony between the

Health is known as a state where an individual is socially, mentally and emotionally stable without the presence of any illness, disease or infirmity (Carson, 2007). Jenny, an indigenous woman is 34 weeks pregnant, she has been complaining about her abdominal pains and after seeing the flying doctor, she was asked to fly back with him as she might be in an early labour. Jenny is concerned about her family; she wonders how they will manage without her. Her mother-in-law lives with her sister-in-law and she wonders if she will be able to come and help as her mother has a diabetic leg ulcer and needs treatment so cannot travel. This essay will discuss about the health issues before colonization and after colonization, Jenny’s

The reading material from my textbook aligns with the issues presented in the video on Mental Health of Native Americans. The video talks about reconnecting adults and youths back into their culture. One issue is that American Indians have a low success rate academically. American Indian children often distrust European American which makes it difficult for cross cultural counseling. According to Baruth & Manning (2012), American Indian adolescents will end up being counseled by European American counselors because there are few American Indian counselors. The video states that there is high use of substance abuse, suicide, and dropout rates for American Indians. The textbook list suicide, alcohol abuse and other substance abuse, and high school and college drop-out rates as being potential problems American Indian adolescents may experience

When looking at the issues modern day Native Americans face regarding mental health counseling it is important to look at history and how the past has shaped

According to an article in The Washington Post, Sari Horwits states that sexual assault, unemployment, drug addiction and depression within the nation’s 326 Indian reservations leads to three times the national average of young Native American suicides based on statistics in 2014.( The hard lives — and high suicide rate — of Native American children on reservations - The Washington Post) With this in mind, 19th century promises made to uphold an adequate environment in Indian reservations were never fully established, so the lack of stability within these Native American Preserves continues to plague the present and future generations of American Indians. Because of the mental diagnosis of depression that has continuously lead these young

I agree that Native Americans should deserve much better. Not only did the U.S government took away their lands, they also took away their sources of food. In return, the U.S government award them with processed food, which made their health deteriorate. However, poor health is the only risk factor for their increase rate of diseases , poverty also plays a big role. Low income individuals are twice as likely to be diabetic than high income individuals.

Throughout time, mankind has persistently been seeking ways to maintain their health and to cure those that had not been so fortunate in that task. Just about everything has been experimented with as a cure for some type of illness; whether physical, spiritual or mental. There has always been evidence of spiritual healing and it will continue to be an important part of any healing process, large or small.

Since the first settlers came to America in 1607, the Native Americans have been treated poorly by the Europeans. The settlers came and stripped the Natives of their land by wars that the Natives were not equipped to fight. Native Americans were forced to move towards the west into uncharted territory and many died on the journey. The American government later made many promises to the Native Americans that were unkept, which had a very troubling effect on their communities. The promises the United States government made to the Native Americans were for health care, education, religious freedoms that are legally binding by the 6th amendment, which the United States have not always honored. One major issue within Native American

The majority of the North American population resides in cities along with schools, hospitals and other large organizations that serve them and about 21% of the nation’s population resides in rural areas, as per the U.S. Census Bureau (U.S. Census Bureau, 2002), which defines rural areas as ones with a rural population of less than 500 individuals per square miles. Poverty and accessibility to services are the two constants in rural areas and those areas have had inadequate health and clinical services as well as limited insurance coverage, and the ratio of clinicians to population is about half that of non-rural communities (Holmes, Ricketts & King, 2009). The effect of lack of services on well-being of the people living in remote and rural areas remains largely unaddressed as there has been limited and largely generalized research focused on the Native American and Alaska Natives and the research that is available, yields results and the statistics that are available are worrisome. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) (n.d.) 26% of Native Americans and Alaska Natives live below poverty line, as opposed to 13% of the general population. Life expectancy among Alaska Natives and Native Americans is 6 years shorter and the infant mortality rates among these groups are the nation’s highest (Indian Health Services, 1997; National Alliance on Mental Illness, n.d.) and Native Americans and Alaska Natives experience psychological stress at a rate 1.5 times higher than those of the general population and have the highest rates of depression, suicide, anxiety, and substance abuse (LaFromboise, 1993; National Alliance on Mental Illness,