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Introduction
Many Alaska Native communities experience a disproportionate burden of stress, as evidenced by disparities in many indicators of mental and physical health (1,2). This disproportionate burden of stress is largely due to historical trauma and rapid cultural change. Rapid cultural change has resulted in gaps between younger and older generations, disrupting the transmission of cultural traditions and values that promote physical and psychological health (3). The way that Native individuals and communities understand coping, however, is an area awaiting further inquiry by researchers and communities alike. The Center for Alaska Native Health Research (CANHR) Yup'ik Experiences of Stress and Coping project was a response to rural Yup'ik communities' concerns about stress and their desire to deal with this stress. The project's goal was to better understand stress and coping in Yup'ik communities to inform the collaborative development of culturally grounded stressreduction intervention activities.
Methods
The Yup'ik Experiences of Stress and Coping Project data collection included semi-structured interviews with 60 adults in 2 Yup'ik communities. Purposive stratified sampling was utilized to allow equal representation of perspectives across the 2 communities, and by gender and age group. The sample included 30 men and 30 women, ranging in age from 19 to 84 years. Eleven of the participants completed their interviews in Yup'ik.
The interviews were based on the lifetime events and trauma section of the American Indian Services Utilization, Psychiatric Epidemiology, Risk and Protective Factors Projects (AI-SUPERPFP) interview (4). This section of AI-SUPERPFP was collaboratively adapted for the Yup'ik cultural context, with the guidance of Yup'ik communities. The adapted interviews provided participants with the opportunity to discuss stressful life experiences, and the ways that they coped with stress; early in the interviews, participants were asked "What does coping mean to you?"
Participants' responses were recorded and transcribed, and then analysed using elements of grounded theory, with the aid of collaborative discussions among the...