Research for Improved Health

In an effort to improve the health of American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) tribal communities, this project seeks to understand the range of ways that communities are engaged as partners in their own health research and intervention projects. By also including other communities of color and communities that face health disparities in the study design, this work has the possibility of extending beneficial findings within the AI/AN communities to a broader audience.

CIHR Videos

If you are a college or university researcher interested in fostering research partnerships with tribal communities, here you will find capacity-building Community-Based Participatory Research tools utilized by CIHR for research, translation, dissemination, IRB and DSOA, survey development etc.

Center News

Tribal College and University Study Resources

TCU provide critical higher education opportunities for AI/AN students. If you are a TCU community member or local government partner interested in understanding and addressing the barriers to higher education for AI/AN, this page provides information on the methods and concepts utilized by CIHR’s partners in the Tribal Colleges and Universities Alcohol and Drug Problems and Solutions Study. Many of these resources are examples of the various recruitment letters and agreement letters which were sent to participants and tribal universities respectively as well as the surveys used for data collection. We hope that these resources will facilitate tribal, community, and university collaborations by providing the documents that were developed during the implementation of the TCU – Drug and Alcohol Problems and Solutions Study.

Click on the Category Names below to view resources

+Sample Agreements
      • Sample Administrative Letter of Participation
        Template we provided to each Tribal College/University President to assist with drafting the letter confirming participation for our Human Subjects Committee (HSC).
      • Sample Tribal Resolution
        Resolution sent to each participating tribe’s Tribal Councils to document the agreement granting permission for data to be used for by researchers for publication, and giving ownership of collected information to the tribe.
      • Sample Advocate Agreement Form
        Letter sent to TCU advocates to inform them of the study, outline their roles and responsibilities, and honorarium details. The document was signed by each advocate and returned back to the research team to document the informed consent process.
      • Sample Data Sharing & Ownership Agreement
        This document outlined the agreement made between the TCUs, Northwest Indian College, UW Human Subjects Committee, and the Principal Investigator regarding the conditions under which investigators, researchers and others may perform data collection, sharing and dissemination.
+Timelines
      • August – October 2011 Timline
        This timeline containing important benchmarks for study objectives from August – October was sent to advocates
      • Project Timeline
        This timeline showing the long-range goals (years 1 – 4) for the TCU study was sent all partners involved in the project.
+Survey Instruments
      • Student Survey
        This matrix was developed to use as a quick reference for accessing the TCU student survey it contains all the questions, potential answers, and data variable names used to develop the student survey.
      • Faculty-Staff Survey
        This matrix contains all the questions, potential answers, and data variable names collected from TCU faculty/staff.
      • Key Informant Survey
        This matrix contains all the questions, potential answers, and data variable names collected from TCU Key Informant.
+Recruitment Materials
+Online Software
+Grant Application Materials
+Research Approval Packet