Description

This module is designed to provide information to increase the healthcare provider’s awareness of specific cultural, racial, ethnic, and tribal influences on health and health care of older Alaska Natives.

The collectivist worldview and cultural values will be explained as it relates to health care of older adult Alaska Natives.

Information in the content section is based on evidence from research, and citations to the published studies are included.

Updated Summary on Health and Health Care of Alaska Native Older Adults

Updated Summary of Tribal Health Care in Alaska that includes information on how health care is provided to Alaska Native people and a history of how that health care has evolved since the earliest federal provision of health care during the epidemics by P. Kay Branch, M.A., the Elder Health Program Coordinator at the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium, focusing on the health status and long-term care needs of Alaska Native Elders, can be found here.

Note on Available Information

Currently, very little information is known about aging Arctic populations and specifically about aging among the Native people of Alaska. The paucity of information available on aging and health among Alaska Natives has an impact on training and developing a diverse, culturally competent, and sensitive health care professional workforce.

Course Director and Editor in Chief
of the Ethnogeriatrics Curriculum and Training

VJ Periyakoil, MD
Stanford University School of Medicine

Authors

Kathleen Graves, Ph.D., M.S.W
Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium

Rosellen Rosich, Ph.D.
University of Alaska Anchorage

Melen McBride, Ph.D., R.N.
Stanford Geriatric Education Center

George Charles, Ph.D.
University of Alaska Anchorage, National Resource Center for American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian Elders

P. Kay Branch, M.A.
Elder Health Program Coordinator at the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium
(Summary of Tribal Health Care in Alaska)

Acknowledgements

Special thanks to the following reviewers:

Tina Wilson, Aleut
Pat Frank, Athabascan
Canyce Childers, Athabascan
Aubrey Wegeleben, Aleut
Stacy Smith, MFA (editor)
Robin Morales, Inupiaq (editor)

Copyright/Referencing Information:

Users are free to download and distribute eCampus Geriatrics modules for educational purposes only.

When using this resource please cite us as follows:

Graves, K, Ph.D., M.S.W, Charles, George, Ph.D.: Health and health care of Alaska Native Older Adults http://geriatrics.stanford.edu/ethnomed/alaskan.html. In Periyakoil VS, eds. eCampus-Geriatrics, Stanford CA, 2010.

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