A Model of Stakeholder Engagement with American Indians and Alaska Natives from the Native-CHART Study

Abstract

American Indian (AI) and Alaska Native (AN) community stakeholder engagement has the power to transform health research. However, the engagement and dissemination process is challenging in AIAN communities due to the historical and current negative experiences of AIAN populations in health research (Dillard et al., 2018). Whereas there is a paucity of recommendations about how to engage stakeholders in health research, from agenda-setting to proposal development, study design, recruitment, data collection, analysis, results, and dissemination (Concannon et al., 2014), there is limited information about how these recommendations are operationalized within the context of AIAN health research and practice (Concannon et al., 2014; Forsythe et al., 2016). For the purposes of this article, stakeholders are individuals, organizations, or communities who have a direct interest in the process and outcomes of a project, research, or policy effort (Boaz et al., 2018). Stakeholder engagement is a systematic process involving stakeholders, which provides opportunities for consultation, input, reviews, reactions, support, and assistance with dissemination. Dissemination focuses on how, when, by whom, and under what circumstances evidence spreads throughout agencies, organizations, states, counties, communities, tribes, researchers, policy makers, and service organizations.