Tribal Capacity Building as a Complex Adaptive System: New Insights, New Lessons Learned

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2012

Publication Title

International Public Health Journal

Volume

4

Issue

3

First page number:

43

Last page number:

52

Abstract

American Indians face severe cancer disparities, including high mortality rates and limited access to prevention and treatment resources. The Southwest American Indian Collaborative Network (SAICN) was established to build the capacity of tribal communities in the southwestern United States to address gaps in cancer education, access to services and policy and to promote community-based participatory research. A comprehensive evaluation of the five-year project identified numerous successes and struggles faced by the project. The evaluation was challenged, however, to fully describe and measure the cultural and community dynamics of capacity building in the participating Tribal communities. A complex adaptive systems framework was employed to more fully understand and describe project outcomes. Adapted from the biological sciences, complex adaptive systems theory offers a non-linear, non-mechanistic approach to understanding how individuals act and respond within a larger system. This framework revealed important understandings about the project and identified important lessons learned for future programs, particularly with regard to the cultural context and cross-cultural learning.

Keywords

Biology; Cancer; Cancer—Prevention; Cancer—Treatment; Health services accessibility; Indian reservations; Indians of North America; Medical care; Mortality; Tribes

Disciplines

Biology | Cancer Biology | Community-Based Research | Health Policy | Sociology of Culture

Language

English

Permissions

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