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. 2002 Apr;92(4):520-4.
doi: 10.2105/ajph.92.4.520.

Reconceptualizing native women's health: an "indigenist" stress-coping model

Karina L Walters  1 , Jane M Simoni
Affiliations

Reconceptualizing native women's health: an "indigenist" stress-coping model

Karina L Walters et al. Am J Public Health. 2002 Apr.

Abstract

This commentary presents an "indigenist" model of Native women's health, a stress-coping paradigm that situates Native women's health within the larger context of their status as a colonized people. The model is grounded in empirical evidence that traumas such as the "soul wound" of historical and contemporary discrimination among Native women influence health and mental health outcomes. The preliminary model also incorporates cultural resilience, including as moderators identity, enculturation, spiritual coping, and traditional healing practices. Current epidemiological data on Native women's general health and mental health are reconsidered within the framework of this model.

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Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
—Indigenist model of trauma, coping, and health outcomes for American Indian women.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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