TY - JOUR
T1 - Development of a culturally anchored qualitative approach to conduct and analyze focus group narratives collected in diné (Navajo) communities to understand the impacts of the gold king mine spill of 2015
AU - Teufel-Shone, Nicolette I.
AU - Chief, Carmenlita
AU - Richards, Jennifer R.
AU - Clausen, Rebecca J.
AU - Yazzie, Alfred
AU - Begay, Manley A.
AU - Lothrop, Nathan
AU - Yazzie, Janene
AU - Begay, Andria B.
AU - Beamer, Paloma I.
AU - Chief, Karletta
N1 - Funding Information:
Funding: This work was funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS R21 ES026948), the University of Arizona Agnese Nelms Haury Program in Environment and Social Justice, University of Arizona Superfund Research Program (NIEHS P42 ES004940), Southwest Environmental Health Sciences Center (NIEHS P30 ES006694), Center for Indigenous Environmental Health Research (NIEHS P50ES026089 and EPA R83615), National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (K25 HL103970, granted to PI Beamer), and Center for American Indian Resilience (NIMHD P20MD006872). This publication’s contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health or the Environmental Protection Agency.
Funding Information:
Within two months of the Spill, the research concept to document both levels of contaminant exposure and perceptions of health risks, was presented and approved by the Shiprock Chapter, San Juan River Farm Board, San Juan River District 13 grazing committee, Nenahazaad Chapter, and the Northern Navajo Council with letters of support from the Navajo Nation President and Vice President, division directors, and community partners. This rapid approval reflected the community support for the research. Two initial grant proposals were developed by the multi-institutional team and submitted by the University of Arizona. Within 8 months of the Spill, the GKMS-DEP was funded by the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIH- NIEHS) time-sensitive R21 mechanism, and the University of Arizona Agnese Nelms Haury Program in Environment and Social Justice. With these resources, the GKMS-DEP could collect data to determine the levels of exposures to contaminants in three Navajo chapters downstream of the Spill, assess temporal and spatial changes in sediment, agricultural soil, river and well water in the same three Navajo chapters within 12 months of the Spill, [22] and determine the association between Navajo chapters members’ perception of health risks and measured health risks from the Spill [23–25].
Funding Information:
This work was funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS R21 ES026948), the University of Arizona Agnese Nelms Haury Program in Environment and Social Justice, University of Arizona Superfund Research Program (NIEHS P42 ES004940), Southwest Environmental Health Sciences Center (NIEHS P30 ES006694), Center for Indigenous Environmental Health Research (NIEHS P50ES026089 and EPA R83615), National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (K25 HL103970, granted to PI Beamer), and Center for American Indian Resilience (NIMHD P20MD006872). This publication?s contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health or the Environmental Protection Agency. Acknowledgments: We would like to thank our community partners and mentors for their valuable guidance in the focus group design including Mae-Gilene Begay, Perry Charley, Arnold Clifford, Larry Emerson, and Duane ?Chili? Yazzie. We thank the Din? (Navajo) citizens for participating in focus groups to make this study possible. We thank all the students who assisted in focus group data collection and analysis including Rachelle Begay (Din?), Kimberly Danny (Din?), Heidi Dugi (Din?), Xiaobo Hou, Amber Howard, Carrie Joseph (Hopi), Teresa Montoya (Din?), Denise Moreno Ramirez, Corrina Sabaque (Din?), Matthew Schwoebel, Janice Thompson (Din?), Mychal Thompson (Din?), Kathy Watson, and Denyce White (Din?).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
PY - 2021/9
Y1 - 2021/9
N2 - The Gold King Mine Spill (Spill) occurred in August 2015 upstream from Silverton, Colorado and released three million gallons of contaminated water into the Animas River, a tributary to the San Juan River that flows across the Navajo Nation. Using principles of community-engaged re-search, the Gold King Mine Spill Diné Exposure Project co-developed a culturally anchored approach to conduct focus groups and analyze narratives collected in three Diné (Navajo) communities along the San Juan River within 9 months of the Spill. Focus group questions were designed to document the socio-cultural impacts of the Spill. This paper: (1) outlines the partnerships and approvals; (2) describes focus group design, training, data collection and analysis; and (3) reflects on the use of a culturally anchored approach in Indigenous, specifically Diné-centered research. Diné social and cultural etiquette and concepts of relationality were used to adapt standard (non-Indigenous) qualitative methods. Findings describe community perceptions of short-term impacts of the disaster, as well as past and present injustices, communication related to the Spill, and concerns of persistent threats to Diné lifeways. The culturally anchored approach was critical in fostering trust with Diné participants and aligned with the candor of the discussions.
AB - The Gold King Mine Spill (Spill) occurred in August 2015 upstream from Silverton, Colorado and released three million gallons of contaminated water into the Animas River, a tributary to the San Juan River that flows across the Navajo Nation. Using principles of community-engaged re-search, the Gold King Mine Spill Diné Exposure Project co-developed a culturally anchored approach to conduct focus groups and analyze narratives collected in three Diné (Navajo) communities along the San Juan River within 9 months of the Spill. Focus group questions were designed to document the socio-cultural impacts of the Spill. This paper: (1) outlines the partnerships and approvals; (2) describes focus group design, training, data collection and analysis; and (3) reflects on the use of a culturally anchored approach in Indigenous, specifically Diné-centered research. Diné social and cultural etiquette and concepts of relationality were used to adapt standard (non-Indigenous) qualitative methods. Findings describe community perceptions of short-term impacts of the disaster, as well as past and present injustices, communication related to the Spill, and concerns of persistent threats to Diné lifeways. The culturally anchored approach was critical in fostering trust with Diné participants and aligned with the candor of the discussions.
KW - Community engaged research
KW - Culturally anchored
KW - Decolonized research
KW - Environmental disaster
KW - Indigenous
KW - Navajo Nation
KW - Qualitative research
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85114271232&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85114271232&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/ijerph18179402
DO - 10.3390/ijerph18179402
M3 - Article
C2 - 34502003
AN - SCOPUS:85114271232
SN - 1661-7827
VL - 18
JO - International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
JF - International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
IS - 17
M1 - 9402
ER -