April 15, 2005
The Center for Alaska Native Health Research (CANHR) study is looking into why the health of Yup'ik people has changed over the years, and specifically studying obesity, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes among the Yup'ik.
CANHR has partnered with YKHC and with the tribal or village councils to do the research. A team of people from the University of Alaska and a YKHC representative went out into the villages for a week or more at a time to draw blood, do body measurements, administer questionnaires on culture, behavior, diet, physical activity, family history, and medical histories of participants. Each participant checked out with a physician, who interpreted blood test results back to the participants, and made referrals to the YKHC system if needed for further testing.
The CANHR Project has been disseminating initial feedback to the villages that agreed to be part of the research. They began this winter. Preliminary findings are reported back to the tribal or village councils during their regular meetings and then later will be presented to the whole community.
This is one of the ways that CANHR keeps their participants aware of what is going on with the project and to report back the findings to people of the participating villages. It is important for tribal and village councils, as well as participants, to know how their contribution to research has an impact on the health of the Yup'ik people.
All three projects of CANHR--Genetics, Nutrition, and Cultural-Behavioral aspects-- each have a segment of the presentation. We report how many people have participated, how many people have healthy levels of cholesterol, how many people have healthy body fat, which foods are consumed in each village, how stress affects life, and a number of other interesting facts related to the research.
The presentation slides were specifically developed to address a Yup'ik audience. A number of changes were made to each segment, such as adding culturally appropriate pictures and using terms that would make the research more meaningful for a Yup'ik audience.
We would like to acknowledge CANHR staff for making this long process possible and to give credit to the following people: Louise Shavings, Cup'ik, originally from Mekoryuk who is a Research Assistant at UAA; Eliza Orr, Yup'ik, originally from Tununak, Research Assistant/Translator at UAF; Anna Angaiak, Yup'ik, from Nunapitchuk, Field Research Assistant, and Elizabeth A. Ruppert, originally from Kwethluk, Research Coordinator at YKHC.