This project seeks to develop a compendium of best practices for American Indian/Alaska Native and Pacific Islander indigenous communities, with an emphasis on documentation of the evidence building process.
Purpose:
To provide a tool that includes the following:
- Documentation of nominated best practices
- Instructional and practical approaches to develop, adapt, and implement best practices
- Lessons learned
Population Addressed: American Indian/Alaska Native and Pacific Islander indigenous communities within the United States and the Pacific Jurisdictions.
Rationale and Relevance:
- Within these communities best practices have varying levels of evidence. This evidence may include knowledge in the form of consistent reports of effectiveness by respected leaders; traditional practices passed through generations; systematic interventions that produced quantifiable outcomes; and clinical/administrative practices based on empirically-driven methods such as pre-post evaluation data or quasi-experimental research designs.
- More work needs to be done to document and share the extent to which culturally and community-driven effective practices have been developed for this population, and how their effectiveness has been and can be determined moving forward.
Projected Outcomes:
- Promote the use of culturally-informed methodologies and measurement practices with AI/AN and PI indigenous communities across an array of supports and services
- Share lessons learned from this project amongst the larger AI/AN and PI indigenous community
- Provide guidance to academicians/ researchers, governmental entities, and public and private funders to use appropriate and effective best practices when addressing the needs of AI/AN and PI indigenous communities
- Disseminate an inventory of best practices that are effective with AI/AN and PI indigenous communities
- Document and highlight the process used to develop local evidence-building efforts
- Inform policy and practice by expanding the knowledge base and the measurement of existing best practices