“What makes life good?” Developing a culturally grounded quality of life measure for Alaska Native college students
Background. Alaska Native (AN) college students experience higher attrition rates than their non-Native peers. Understanding the factors that contribute to quality of life (“what makes life good”) for AN students will help inform supportive programs that are congruent with thei...
Published in: | International Journal of Circumpolar Health |
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Taylor & Francis Group
2013
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.3402/ijch.v72i0.21180 https://doaj.org/article/ce10827c875a4b67abdb0a9e9dad568b |
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:ce10827c875a4b67abdb0a9e9dad568b 2023-05-15T15:09:37+02:00 “What makes life good?” Developing a culturally grounded quality of life measure for Alaska Native college students Dinghy Kristine B. Sharma Ellen D. S. Lopez Deborah Mekiana Alaina Ctibor Charlene Church 2013-08-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.3402/ijch.v72i0.21180 https://doaj.org/article/ce10827c875a4b67abdb0a9e9dad568b EN eng Taylor & Francis Group http://www.circumpolarhealthjournal.net/index.php/ijch/article/download/21180/pdf_1 https://doaj.org/toc/2242-3982 doi:10.3402/ijch.v72i0.21180 2242-3982 https://doaj.org/article/ce10827c875a4b67abdb0a9e9dad568b International Journal of Circumpolar Health, Vol 72, Iss 0, Pp 1-7 (2013) quality of life Alaska Native college students community-based participatory research Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 article 2013 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.3402/ijch.v72i0.21180 2022-12-31T08:07:20Z Background. Alaska Native (AN) college students experience higher attrition rates than their non-Native peers. Understanding the factors that contribute to quality of life (“what makes life good”) for AN students will help inform supportive programs that are congruent with their culture and college life experiences. Objectives. Co-develop a conceptual model and a measure of quality of life (QOL) that reflects the experiences of AN college students. Methods. Six focus groups were conducted with 26 AN college students. Within a community–academic partnership, interactive data collection activities, co-analysis workgroup sessions and an interactive findings forum ensured a participant-driven research process. Findings. Students identified and operationally defined eight QOL domains (values, culture and traditions, spirituality, relationships, basic needs, health, learning and leisure). The metaphor of a tree visually illustrates how the domains values, culture and traditions and spirituality form the roots to the other domains that appear to branch out as students navigate the dual worldviews of Native and Western ways of living. Conclusions. The eight QOL domains and their items identified during focus groups were integrated into a visual model and an objective QOL measure. The hope is to provide a useful tool for developing and evaluating university-based programs and services aimed toward promoting a positive QOL and academic success for AN students. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Circumpolar Health International Journal of Circumpolar Health Alaska Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic International Journal of Circumpolar Health 72 1 21180 |
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Open Polar |
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Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
quality of life Alaska Native college students community-based participatory research Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 |
spellingShingle |
quality of life Alaska Native college students community-based participatory research Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Dinghy Kristine B. Sharma Ellen D. S. Lopez Deborah Mekiana Alaina Ctibor Charlene Church “What makes life good?” Developing a culturally grounded quality of life measure for Alaska Native college students |
topic_facet |
quality of life Alaska Native college students community-based participatory research Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 |
description |
Background. Alaska Native (AN) college students experience higher attrition rates than their non-Native peers. Understanding the factors that contribute to quality of life (“what makes life good”) for AN students will help inform supportive programs that are congruent with their culture and college life experiences. Objectives. Co-develop a conceptual model and a measure of quality of life (QOL) that reflects the experiences of AN college students. Methods. Six focus groups were conducted with 26 AN college students. Within a community–academic partnership, interactive data collection activities, co-analysis workgroup sessions and an interactive findings forum ensured a participant-driven research process. Findings. Students identified and operationally defined eight QOL domains (values, culture and traditions, spirituality, relationships, basic needs, health, learning and leisure). The metaphor of a tree visually illustrates how the domains values, culture and traditions and spirituality form the roots to the other domains that appear to branch out as students navigate the dual worldviews of Native and Western ways of living. Conclusions. The eight QOL domains and their items identified during focus groups were integrated into a visual model and an objective QOL measure. The hope is to provide a useful tool for developing and evaluating university-based programs and services aimed toward promoting a positive QOL and academic success for AN students. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Dinghy Kristine B. Sharma Ellen D. S. Lopez Deborah Mekiana Alaina Ctibor Charlene Church |
author_facet |
Dinghy Kristine B. Sharma Ellen D. S. Lopez Deborah Mekiana Alaina Ctibor Charlene Church |
author_sort |
Dinghy Kristine B. Sharma |
title |
“What makes life good?” Developing a culturally grounded quality of life measure for Alaska Native college students |
title_short |
“What makes life good?” Developing a culturally grounded quality of life measure for Alaska Native college students |
title_full |
“What makes life good?” Developing a culturally grounded quality of life measure for Alaska Native college students |
title_fullStr |
“What makes life good?” Developing a culturally grounded quality of life measure for Alaska Native college students |
title_full_unstemmed |
“What makes life good?” Developing a culturally grounded quality of life measure for Alaska Native college students |
title_sort |
“what makes life good?” developing a culturally grounded quality of life measure for alaska native college students |
publisher |
Taylor & Francis Group |
publishDate |
2013 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3402/ijch.v72i0.21180 https://doaj.org/article/ce10827c875a4b67abdb0a9e9dad568b |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic Circumpolar Health International Journal of Circumpolar Health Alaska |
genre_facet |
Arctic Circumpolar Health International Journal of Circumpolar Health Alaska |
op_source |
International Journal of Circumpolar Health, Vol 72, Iss 0, Pp 1-7 (2013) |
op_relation |
http://www.circumpolarhealthjournal.net/index.php/ijch/article/download/21180/pdf_1 https://doaj.org/toc/2242-3982 doi:10.3402/ijch.v72i0.21180 2242-3982 https://doaj.org/article/ce10827c875a4b67abdb0a9e9dad568b |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3402/ijch.v72i0.21180 |
container_title |
International Journal of Circumpolar Health |
container_volume |
72 |
container_issue |
1 |
container_start_page |
21180 |
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1766340781680885760 |