# Exploring community-level mechanisms of protection and resilience for Alaska Native youth

> **NIH NIH U19** · UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA FAIRBANKS · 2020 · $106,391

## Abstract

This supplement application will build on the primary aims of the Alaska Native
Community Resilience Study (ANCRS), and responds to ANCRS collaborator guidance, by
investigating rural Alaska Native youth perspectives of community-level protective factors, and
testing an innovative research dissemination strategy. Youth ages 15-24 residing in three
highly-protective rural Alaska Native communities, one from each of the 3 regions of the parent
ANCRS study (N=18), will be empowered to share their stories on thriving. Analyses of
qualitative youth interview data will identify community protective factors prioritized by youth,
and provide in-depth youth perspectives of how community-level protective factors support
wellbeing. The qualitative data from this supplement will be combined with the quantitative
findings from the parent study to validate and contextualize findings and investigate how
community-level protective factors function in the lives of Alaska Native youth. The drafted
theoretical model of community resilience will be tested in this supplement. The produced digital
stories will be tested as a dissemination strategy augmentation for increased community
engagement in research findings.
 The specific aims and hypotheses of the supplemental specific aims (SSA) are aligned with
the parent ANCRS. The ANCRS SA1 identified community-level youth protective factors, while
SA2 investigated how individual-level resilience mapped onto community-level protective factors
identified in SA1. SA3 will develop and disseminate a tool for communities to measure and
strengthen their capacity to prevent youth suicide.
SSA1: Test the Alaska Native Community Resilience Model by using mixed methods to
triangulate results.
 Research Question: What community-level factors do youth identify as important for their
wellness?
SSA2: Test the impact of research dissemination with youth digital stories on community
members’ knowledge, engagement, and satisfaction with research findings, and intent to use
findings to reduce suicide risk.
 Research Question: Are youth-produced digital stories an engaging and preferred strategy for
sharing findings from the ANCRS with rural Alaska Native community members, compared to
dissemination as usual?

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10136476
- **Project number:** 3U19MH113138-04S1
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA FAIRBANKS
- **Principal Investigator:** STACY M. RASMUS
- **Activity code:** U19 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $106,391
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2017-06-01 → 2022-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10136476

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10136476, Exploring community-level mechanisms of protection and resilience for Alaska Native youth (3U19MH113138-04S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10136476. Licensed CC0.

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