This project represents a systematic effort to improve the ability of the health care delivery systems to respond to the needs of disabled AI/ANs.

The project will examine barriers experienced by rural American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) tribes in developing long term care policy and service provision, identify tribes which exemplify best practices in the area of long term care policy, and document what other tribes would need to know to develop successful long term care programs. The research project and resultant information will be national in scope. This project will survey all federally recognized rural AI/AN tribes. To generate the list of best practice tribes, the National Coordinator of the IHS Elder Health Care Initiative will be contacted along with members of the project's Advisory Committee. These individuals will be asked to identify tribes with best practices and/or recommend others who may be able to identify tribes for this purpose. Thus, the second sample will be a purposive sample of individuals recruited to participate in in-depth interviews. In an effort to capture all tribes nationwide that exemplify best practices, the purposive sample will be complete when no new tribes are recommended. In a population as beset by health concerns as AI/ANs, the identification of barriers to developing needed long term care policy and programs achieves tremendous importance.

There may be products related to this project; please contact the lead researcher for more information.