Facebook Live: Exploring Research That Serves Native American Communities

We respectfully acknowledge and give thanks to the Piscataway Tribe –the Indigenous people who are traditional owners of the lands of the Chesapeake Bay region. We also acknowledge all Indigenous Peoples, the traditional owners of the lands and waters of the United States of America.

Go behind the scenes of research being conducted to serve Native American communities right here at the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing.

Panelists include Assistant Professor Dr. Teresa Brockie—they discuss her research intervention, Little Holy One, currently under way in Montana—and her team. They are Ellie Decker, a senior research program coordinator, JHSON PhD students Katie Nelson and Deborah Wilson, and Adriann Ricker, a research associate for Little Holy One and PhD student at the University of North Dakota.

Panelists discuss the importance of instilling cultural values as a protective factor, parenting, mental health and much more.

Discussion questions

What are some common misunderstandings about working with Native American communities? What do you wish people knew about the research you and your team are doing?
What are some ‘best practices’ for engaging in research with Native American communities?
Tell us about Little Holy One. What is the goal of the intervention? What are each of your roles on the project?
You have team members working both in Montana and Baltimore. Tell us about how you work together to do this community-based research.
Debbie and Katie, can you tell us a little bit about your dissertation research projects?
Dr. Brockie, your program of research has certainly evolved over the last 10 years. What have you and your team learned from doing this work? Where do you hope to take things next? What impact do you hope this will have on Indian Country?

Panelists

Teresa Brockie, PhD, RN, FAAN

Assistant Professor Teresa Brockie’s research focuses on achieving health equity through community-based prevention and intervention of suicide, trauma, and adverse childhood experiences among vulnerable populations. A member of the White Clay (A’aninin) Nation from Fort Belknap, Montana, Dr. Brockie earned her PhD at the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing and completed a postdoctoral fellowship with the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center. In 2011, she led an all Native American team to collect data to study suicidal behavior among reservation-based Native American youth.

Adriann Ricker, MPH

Adriann Ricker serves as the research associate faculty for the Little Holy One Project, an RO1 led by Dr. Teresa Brockie of the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing. Ricker is an enrolled member of the Fort Peck Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes. Her interests are restorative pathways to health through cultural revitalization and language and trauma-informed policy development and implementation.

Ellie Decker, MSPH

Ellie Decker, MSPH, is a Senior Research Program Coordinator at the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing. Her research experience has focused on maternal and child health, with a focus on mental health interventions. Ellie is interested in using community-based participatory research methods to develop mental health interventions.

Katie Nelson, MSN, RN

Katie Nelson, MSN, RN is a third-year PhD Candidate at the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing. She has clinical expertise in hospice and palliative care, and her research focuses on end-of-life care experiences and supportive care needs among Native American patients and families experiencing serious illness. Her work involves the use of Indigenous and community-based participatory research methodologies to develop innovative solutions to complex health challenges collaboratively with community-based partners from a social justice and health equity lens. She earned her Master’s of Science in Nursing degree from the Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing and a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Minnesota. She has worked on local, national, and international project teams, fostering multidisciplinary and multicultural collaborations to improve quality of life for all patients and families experiencing serious illness.

Deborah Wilson, MPH, MSN, RN

Deborah Wilson has been working as a registered nurse internationally for the last 30 years. Her specialties are emergency medicine and neuroscience, with a focus on trauma. Since 2004 Wilson has worked with Medicine Sans Frontiers/ Doctors Without Borders during global health emergencies and is currently a PhD candidate at the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing. Her research focus is the health and well-being of Native American teachers who work in rural reservation communities, working to implement culturally informed strategies to promote and strengthen their health and well-being. Deborah is also working as faculty at the Aaniiih Nakoda Tribal College of Nursing on the Fort Belknap reservation.