Based on Research Conducted at OSLC
A collaboration between the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians and OSLC toward the development, implementation, and evaluation of a family-based, culturally competent preventive intervention for families enrolled in a tribal Head Start Program.
Project Overview
The Indian Family Wellness Project was a collaboration between the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians and OSLC. The project involved the development, implementation, and evaluation of a family-based, culturally competent preventive intervention for families enrolled in a tribal Head Start Program. The intervention introduced families to traditional American Indian child-rearing practices and fostered the utilization of those practices in order to promote healthy development among American Indian preschool children. The intervention had a number of components that were derived from empirically tested methods, designed to incorporate both pan-Indian and tribally-specific cultural values. These components included (1) a Native American parenting curriculum using videos of traditional tribal stories to implement traditional core values of parenting; (2) a classroom curriculum linked in content to the parenting materials; and (3) the use of paraprofessional home visitors and wraparound funding to increase service utilization and coordination. The project employed an approach called Tribal Participatory Research, in which Tribes assume an active role in prevention research.
Funder: National Institute of Mental Health