Our project follows Community Based Participatory Research (CBPR) principles; it is a partnership between Little Big Horn College (LBHC, the local Tribal College), the Crow Tribe, the Indian Health Service Hospital, the Apsaalooke [Crow] Water and Wastewater Authority, Montana State University Bozeman and the University of New England. Representatives of all partners meet regularly as a Steering Committee to guide our work. Our hypotheses are that (a) subsistence lifestyles, other cultural traditions, land tenure practices and additional aspects of Crow Reservation communities place the Crow people at an increased risk of exposure to environmental contaminants and pathogens via water sources, local foods and home environments; (b) following CBPR principles in conducting risk assessment, risk communication and risk mitigation will be an effective way to reduce health disparities in a Reservation community, and (c) by including Tribal College science majors as the research interns, community capacity to address environmental health issues will be strengthened.
Our specific aims are:
(1) To conduct this project as a community based participatory research project, with guidance from the Crow Environmental Health Steering Committee;
(2) To conduct community outreach explaining the project’s goals and objectives, describing how people can participate, explaining project benefits to individuals and the community, and soliciting community input into the project;
(3) To assess routes of exposure to biological and chemical contaminants, especially via water, select subsistence foods and home environments, by conducting at least 250 surveys with community members;
(4) To combine survey data with comprehensive chemical analyses of home well water and other water sources (now partially funded by another grant) to assess exposures;
(5) To regularly report the results of the research back to the community;
(6) To design and implement culturally appropriate risk communication measures, based on the data obtained (with Steering Committee guidance, as above);
(7) To work with our Steering Committee to develop and publicize culturally appropriate risk mitigation measures; and
(8) To mentor Crow tribal members who are science majors at LBHC or MSU, by providing appropriate training and involving them as research technicians in this project.