Health

Since 2018, CBHRS has partnered with the Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses (AWHONN) and the National Association of Nurse Practitioners in Women’s Health (NPWH) to provide education, training, and resources to advanced practice nurses, midwives, and nurses about fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASDs) and the prevention of alcohol-exposed pregnancies through the WHNMCAP project. WHNMCAP is part of the FASD National Partner Network and the Collaborative for Alcohol-Free Pregnancy.

CBHRS collaborated with the Salvation Army of Alaska, Serendipity Adult Day Services, to evaluate the Enhance Mobility program. Enhance Mobility (EM) is an exercise program for individuals with dementia that was developed by Rebecca Logsdon, Ph.D., at the University of Washington. The program draws on evidence-based interventions and includes two components: group exercise and walking. Exercises are designed to focus on flexibility, strength, balance, and endurance.

Alaska has the 5th highest rate of non-fatal occupational injury and illness in the US, and the rates of non-fatal occupational injuries and illnesses for Alaskans are higher than for all US workers in twelve out of thirteen reported industry sectors. The health burden, medical costs, and cost of work loss resulting from non-fatal occupational injury and illness are substantial.

Kawerak, Inc. is a regional non-profit corporation that contracts with state and federal governments to provide services to residents of the Bering Strait. Kawerak Wellness was awarded a 5-year youth suicide prevention grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) to continue and expand suicide prevention efforts under the existing Northwest Arctic Wellness Initiative (NAWI) partnership. NAWI is an intertribal Youth Suicide Prevention Cooperative Agreement between the Bering Strait Region and Northwest Arctic Borough of Alaska. NAWI primarily serves Alaska Native youth and young adults ages 10-24 in 27 villages located just above and below the Arctic Circle. The initiative provides comprehensive, culturally relevant, training and intervention strategies to create self-sufficient, sustainable,

DBH contracted with the UAA Center for Behavioral Health Research and Services (CBHRS) with the Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER) to conduct a comprehensive process and outcome evaluation of the Alaska PFS program, report on the required SAMHSA performance measures, and coordinate with community coalitions to fulfill the national cross-site evaluation.

In a community-based participatory action research project, Jen Schmidt and Katie Cueva worked in collaboration with community partners, high school teachers, youth, health professionals, and tribal organizations to develop and pilot cancer education for high school students in Northwest Alaska.

This work was supported by funding through the American Indian Alaska Native Clinical and Translational Research Program (AI/AN CTRP), award 5U54GM115371-04 from the National Institute of Health (NIH).

Despite more than thirty years of research linking alcohol-exposed pregnancies (AEP) and birth defects, alcohol use by pregnant women continues as a major public health problem and cause of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASDs). While alcohol misuse, AEPs and FASDs are national issues, providing prevention services is a local endeavor that can be especially challenging in rural communities with high-risk populations. The project purpose was to establish the Northwest Arctic FASD Practice and Implementation (NAPIC). NAPIC’s overarching goal was to prepare nurses, psychologists and other healthcare professionals working in the Pacific Northwest/Arctic states (i.e., “Northwest Arctic”) of Alaska, Oregon, and Washington to provide early identification, diagnosis, and treatment of FASDs and to use evidence-based primary prevention strategies and interventions within practice settings to prevent AEPs and FASDs.