Background & purpose
This project was created through ongoing work and conversations among our communities wanting more strengths-based measures relevant to Indigenous health available to support research and program evaluation. We know that intergenerational connectedness is a culturally grounded concept shared across hundreds of diverse tribes in the United States, and Indigenous communities in Canada, New Zealand, and Australia. Among many of our communities, connecting with human relatives across generations (e.g., our ancestors, current generation, youth, and future generations) is important and is increasingly a target of public health campaigns to strengthen identity, promote health and wellness, and prevent mental health and behavioral health inequities. However, there are limited measurement tools to assess the unique construct of intergenerational connectedness. Therefore, we collaboratively carried out community-engaged research to conceptualize Indigenous intergenerational connectedness and develop an Intergenerational Connectedness Measure.
Background: Developing the Measure
To create the Intergenerational Connectedness Measure, we engaged two advisory groups to collaborate and steer this work: an Indigenous Measurement Development Group (IMDG) and a Community Advisory Board (CAB; listed below). We worked with these two groups to develop and review a research strategy to characterize and identify components of intergenerational connectedness using qualitative research. We conducted 23 qualitative, in-depth interviews with 21 participants from 24 Tribes across Indian Country to learn about intergenerational connectedness and analyzed this data (see linked publications below). We reviewed the results with both advisory groups and worked together to create and refine a final, three-part measure of intergenerational connectedness.
Project team members
Johns Hopkins Center for Indigenous Health Research Team:
- Victoria O’Keefe (Cherokee Nation/Seminole Nation), Principal Investigator
- Melissa Walls (Couchiching First Nation and Bois Forte Band of Ojibwe), Co-Investigator
- Miigis Gonzalez (Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe Nation), Co-Investigator
- Tara Maudrie (Sault Ste. Marie Ojibwe), Graduate Student Researcher
- Fiona Grubin, Project Coordinator
- Angelina (Phoebe) Keryte (Dine /Isleta /Santa Ana Pueblo), Research Assistant
Community Advisory Board Members:
- Lisa Martin (Ojibwe Nation/Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians), Johns Hopkins Center for Indigenous Health
- Mary HorseChief (Cherokee Nation/Pawnee Nation), Cherokee Nation Behavioral Health
- Monica Desjardins (Diné), RTI International
- Stephanie Cassidy (Oglala Lakota)
Indigenous Measurement Development Group Members:
- Angela Fernandez (Menominee)
- Evan White (Absentee Shawnee), Laureate Institute for Brain Research
- Maria Crouch (Deg Hit’an and Coahuiltecan), Yale School of Medicine
- Melissa Lewis (Cherokee Nation), University of Missouri School of Medicine, Department of Family & Community Medicine
- Jennifer R. Richards (Diné/Taos Pueblo/Lakota), Johns Hopkins Center for Indigenous Health
- Jessica Saniguq Ullrich (Inupiaq, Nome Eskimo Community), Washington State University IREACH Program
Learn more
Understanding Indigenous Intergenerational Connectedness: A Research Study – 1 page
Understanding Indigenous Intergenerational Connectedness: A Research Study – 2 pages
Understanding Indigenous Intergenerational Connectedness: A Research Study – Connectedness Brief – 8 pages
For more information, please review the publications from this project:
Please contact Dr. Victoria O’Keefe (vokeefe3@jhu.edu) with any additional questions or inquiries.