NCAI Policy Research Center

Culture, Science, and Bioethics in Tribal Research

From 2015 to 2019, the NCAI Policy Research Center directed the Culture, Science, and Bioethics Core (CSBC) for the Collaborative Research Center for American Indian Health (CRCAIH), a center funded by the National Institute for Minority Health and Health Disparities that aimed to build tribal research infrastructure and transdisciplinary research teams to address the health needs of American Indians in South Dakota, North Dakota, and Minnesota.

The CSBC’s mission was to facilitate ethical research that meets the cultural and contextual needs of tribal communities.

To achieve this mission, the CSBC aimed to:

• Develop and integrate training modules on research for American Indian and Alaska Native communities and health researchers.
• Work to develop collaborative efforts between CRCAIH and NCAI that utilize CRCAIH cores and advance research in the North Dakota, South Dakota, and Minnesota region.
• Help CRCAIH disseminate products and resources to a national audience.

Project Activities:

• Provided technical assistance related to research ethics in tribal, regional, and national settings.
• Facilitated delivery of NCAI’s Research that Benefits Native People: A Guide for Tribal Leaders to CRCAIH’s Tribal Partners.
• Create briefs related to research and policy issues relevant to the CRCAIH region.

Resources and Publications:

• CRCAIH Research Data Management Toolkit (2019)
• CRCAIH Tribal IRB Toolkit (2015)
• Research Policy Updates on the Common Rule (January 2019).
• National Congress of American Indians. (September 2017). Research Policy Update: Tribal Implications of the Revised Common Rule & NIH sIRB Policy. Policy Research Center. Washington, D.C.
• National Congress of American Indians. (June 2017). Responding to the Opioid Crisis: An Update for Tribal Leaders. Policy Research Center. Washington, D.C.
• Around Him, D. and Pickner, W. Cultural Narrative of The Spirit Lake Nation 2015 Comprehensive Community Assessment (CCA): What is it and why is it important for our people? Cankdeska Cikana Community College, Spirit Lake Dakota Nation, Fort Totten, ND.
• Villegas, M., Around Him, D., Lucero, J., & Pytalski, S. All Our Relations: Assuring Tribal Research Ethics from Generation to Generation. Journal of Healthcare, Science and the Humanities. Spring 2016; 6(1).
• National Congress of American Indians. (January 2016). Comment Submission for the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to Revise the Federal Policy for the Protection of Human Subjects (the “Common Rule”) Docket ID: HHS-OPHS-2015-0008. Policy Research Center, Washington, DC.

Webinars:

The CSBC coordinated the NCAI Policy Research Center’s Research Webinar Series and collaborates with partners to host webinars related to tribal research ethics.

• Develop and integrate training modules on research for American Indian and Alaska Native communities and health researchers.
• Data Sharing in Research with American Indians and Alaska Native: Informed Practices, Considerations, and Case Studies (Collaboration with Public Responsibility in Medicine & Research (PRIM&R); October 2017)
• NCAI PRC Tribal Research Webinar: What is Our Economic Base? Mapping Industries & Capital on Tribal Lands (August 2017)
• NCAI PRC Tribal Research Webinar: Establishing the Collaborative Research Center for American Indian Health (March 2017)
• NCAI PRC Tribal Research Webinar: Tribal Approaches to Human Subjects Research Protections (December 2016)

Project Staff:

Dr. Yvette Roubideaux, Director, NCAI Policy Research Center

Acknowledgements:

This material was supported by the Collaborative Research Center for American Indian Health (Sanford Research) under NIH-NIMHD Award Number U54MD008164.

The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.