Celebrating Indigenous Family and Cultural Strengths & Promoting Health Equity

Celebrating Indigenous Family and Cultural Strengths & Promoting Health Equity
Wednesday, October 26, 2022, at 12 PM PT

American Indian and First Nations (hereafter Indigenous) communities are home to countless cultural, community, and family strengths. Yet, in the face of colonization and resulting health inequities, these strengths are often missed, uncelebrated, and/or misunderstood in health research. Innovation in the ways we engage with, celebrate, and assess Indigenous sources of strength is a critical step forward for equity-driven research. This presentation will share examples of Indigenous family strengths in the forms of benevolent childhood experiences, positive cultural identity, and other socio-cultural factors. Research from ongoing tribally-based participatory research studies reveal how these strengths are associated with positive health outcomes and thus represent important protective factors for promoting Indigenous wellbeing in holistic ways.

Melissa Walls, Ph.D.,  is an Anishinaabe social scientist working in collaboration with Indigenous communities in the United States and Canada on health equity research and culturally relevant public health programming. Dr. Walls an Associate Professor of American Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Director of the Great Lakes Hub of the Johns Hopkins University Center for American Indian Health.

Dr. Walls serves as the principal investigator with a longstanding research team that includes Anishinaabe community members and academic researchers working together to understand and address the social, historical, and contemporary determinants of unequal health outcomes.