Healing Fractured Families: Parents’ and Elders’ Perspectives on the Impact of Colonization and Youth Suicide Prevention in a Pacific Northwest American Indian Tribe

Abstract

Suicide rates among American Indian youth in the United States are two to three times the national average. Risk factors for American Indian youth include depression, alcohol use, hopelessness and stress, and family conflict, abuse, poverty, and instability. In this descriptive study, the authors aimed to obtain parents' and elders' perspectives on community needs and to identify strengths on which the community might build to reduce youth suicide risk. Data were collected from focus groups with 40 American Indian parents and from individual interviews with 9 American Indian elders. The major task participants addressed was holding the family together and healing intergenerational pains. Topics parents discussed were holding onto cultural values, holding the family together, getting through school, and getting a job. These findings substantiate previous research and provide useful information for the design of culturally appropriate family or community-based interventions to prevent American Indian youth suicide.

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