Native American TBI in Arizona
The Sonoran Center’s Native Initiatives program manager R. Joshua Drywater and postdoctoral scholar Austin Duncan, PhD, were invited to form a team for the 4th cohort of the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) I-Corps™ program. The program exists to help NSF scholars turn their scientific discoveries into products, technologies, and services that are available to the public.
Austin and Joshua combined Austin’s NSF-sponsored dissertation research on “The Social Life of TBI” and Joshua’s knowledge of Arizona’s Native American populations to help raise awareness about the disability along with the results of this ITCA report, which finds that Native Americans have the highest rates of hospitalization and death due to traumatic brain injury (TBI) in the state.
During the four week program, the duo received guided instruction and coaching from NSF staff in the U.S. Southwest, including Tucson’s Shane Reiser (aka Tucson Foodie). Their team, NATBI-AZ (Native American TBI in Arizona), conducted interviews with survivors, their family members, health and tribal health researchers, and officials at the Tucson and Phoenix Indian Centers to identify the best ways to translate and share this information with Native Americans in urban Arizona.
After completing the program, they were awarded $3,000 to develop culturally relevant health information pamphlets and distribute them in the state. The pamphlets, which are currently being developed in consultation with several Native American TBI survivors, including Sonoran Center graphic designer Mateo TreeTop and other Native American Community Health Representatives in Tucson and Phoenix, are planned to be distributed in the Tucson and Phoenix Indian Centers, Indian Health Service clinics, and public universities in December. A team of Native American TBI survivors and Sonoran Center staff are also developing a website for Native American survivors throughout the U.S. to share their stories and resources that they have used to thrive in their post-injury lives.
To learn more about this initiative, please contact Austin Duncan at awdunc@arizona.edu.