70 - Measuring Cultural Connectedness among Native/Indigenous People: A Model for Strengths-Based, Community-Centered Health Evaluation

Abstract Information: The Cultural Connectedness Scale – California (CCS-CA) is a validated tool for measuring connection to culture developed by Native/Indigenous people for Native/Indigenous people. Initially created as the Cultural Connectedness Scale for use by and for Canadian First Nations communities (Snowshoe et al. 2015), Native American Health Center’s Culture is Prevention research team used a community-based participatory research approach to adapt the tool to be culturally appropriate for California’s urban, intertribal Native communities. Subsequent research demonstrated that increased connection to Native culture is associated with improved mental health and well-being, satisfaction with life, good physical health days, and decreased risk for depression and substance abuse. This empirical evidence supports what Native people have known for millennia: that culture and tradition are essential to maintaining holistic health and well-being. At Native American Health Center, we employ the CCS-CA as a foundational component of our evaluation approach for health and wellness programs serving Native youth and adults, including the Gathering of Native Americans (GONA) intervention and other culturally-based services. This has generated meaningful understanding of the health impact of our programming, without relying on deficit-based health measurement tools. Our community members have responded favorably to this change, reporting positive experiences completing the CCS-CA. In this presentation, we introduce conference attendees to the CCS-CA, offering them a new tool for strengths- and resilience-based health evaluation for programming conducted with Native/Indigenous communities. We also share our community-led adaptation approach and encourage other urban and Tribal communities to use these methods to make the CCS-CA appropriate for their local context, emphasizing the importance of community-centered, community-specific evaluation efforts.