Grants and Funded Projects

Caring for Native American Elders
(National Institiute of Nursing Research – R21 NR008528)
Principal Investigator: Toni Tripp-Reimer, PhD, RN, FAAN

Elder abuse is a hidden disparity among Native American communities and it serves as a nexus for other more obvious disparities. This application emerges from a community-based partnership of members of the Blackfeet nation and two universities: the University of Iowa and Montana State. Foundational data for this project were derived in Phase A and B of a seed grant.

The purpose of this R21 project is to assess the feasibility and suitability of implementing an intervention, the Family Care Conference (FCC) for Blackfeet elders at risk for maltreatment.

The specific aims of this project are to:

• Implement and evaluate a Community Education Elder Abuse initiative
• Determine the feasibly of recruiting and training indigenous natural helpers as family conference facilitators
• Implement and evaluate a small scale FCC initiative prior to subsequent major implementation

Process and outcome data will be collected related to each of the three aims. Data sources will include interviews (individual and group), observations (direct and participatory), structured instruments, and documents. Standard qualitative and quantitative data analyses will be performed.

A goal of this project is to develop models for frail elders that may be adapted by other tribal communities across the US.