Recently published research suggests that perhaps it’s time to look at Native American health disparities through a new lens—one that focuses on resilience rather than risk. 

Conversations about Native Americans and health often center on the negatives: higher rates of many chronic diseases and a lowest life expectancy of any racial/ethnic group in the United States. Research conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention describes persistent health disparities and a life expectancy that is 6.6 years shorter than the overall U.S. population (71.8 vs 78.4 years). Heart disease and cancer alone account for 37% of all deaths among Native Americans.  

However, recent research suggests it may be time to approach these health disparities through a different lens—one that highlights resilience. Published in Development and Psychopathology, a study titled Resilience and Health in American Indians and Alaska Natives, explains that “Most of the American Indian and Alaska Native health inequities research uses a deficit framework, failing to acknowledge the resilience of American Indian and Alaska Native people despite challenging historical and current contexts.”  

Rather than focus on health risks, the researchers looked at protective factors across the social, psychological and cultural/spiritual domains and how these resilience factors are associated with health outcomes. What they found was that the social support and intergenerational relationships cultivated on tribal reservations, as well as very strong engagement in traditional cultural and spiritual practices, tended to support positive physical and mental health outcomes. In addition, they found that the very real health inequities “must be contextualized in the history of colonization and oppression” so that an improved awareness of resilience factors can be used to create more effective interventions to promote better health. 

How You Can Make a Difference

The ultimate goal is to alter the way health in the Native American community is viewed by both researchers and those of us in the health and fitness industry. As the researchers write in the conclusion of their study, “The process of collecting work to include in this review provided further evidence of the tendency to focus on deficits rather than strengths in the American Indian and Alaska Native health inequities literature. More specifically, most of the published work in this area continues to use a risk framework to present their findings, but these findings could be presented using a resilience framework. By changing the framing or presentation of findings to highlight resilience rather than risk, researchers may be less likely to foster hopelessness and more likely to promote health behavior changes or other lifestyle changes.”

If you have a skill set that you think can help a particular community, consider reaching out and offering your expertise. When doing so, be sure that you are open to learning, actively listen to members of the community when they express what they want or need, and be inquisitive and open-minded when learning about the culture of the community.  

If you are interested in learning more about how social determinants of health and health disparities affect access to health and fitness resources, and how to strengthen communication with people from diverse backgrounds, check out Taking Action With ACE: Practicing Equity, Diversity and Inclusion as a Health and Exercise Professional—worth 0.3 continuing education credits.