# Partnering to Achieve Wellness for Native Americans through Indigenous Knowledge (PAWNIK)

> **NIH NIH OT2** · RAND CORPORATION · 2024 · $1,366,865

## Abstract

The proposed project aims to support Tribes and Native American Serving Organizations
(T/NASOs) to build capacity for NIH-funded research focused on HEAL (Helping End Addiction
Long-Term) related topics, as part of the N CREW program. Led by Sacred Path Indigenous
Wellness Center (SPIWC) and RAND, our team will apply their expertise from working on
previous NIH, PCORI, NSF, and DCHS projects to provide technical support, training, tools, and
resources for T/NASOs. SPIWC and RAND's collaboration spans over a decade across four NIH
grants with Native American populations addressing substance use, mental health, wellbeing,
cultural identity, and community connection. Our work successfully blends Indigenous
Knowledge with Western science, emphasizing rigorous, culturally focused, and community-
responsive research. We have successfully recruited over 1,000 American Indian/Alaska Native
young people and adults for various research projects, and have developed robust strategies for
deep collaboration, participant engagement, and effective data analysis and dissemination. Our
team proposes to conduct direct consultation with and support for T/NASOs in identifying
relevant research topics for their communities, developing research questions and methods,
collecting data, and documenting and disseminating findings. We will also offer both remote and
in-person training focused on research design, survey development, data collection, and
knowledge dissemination. Ultimately, we aim to help T/NASOs blend innovative scientific and
biomedical approaches with Indigenous ways of understanding and addressing behavioral health,
while maintaining respect for data sovereignty and cultural sensitivity. Our team includes
researchers from multiple disciplines, and has extensive experience in community participatory
research, designing and implementing interventions, managing projects, and disseminating
results in engaging and accessible formats. Our approach emphasizes advancement of community priorities, with advisory boards of young people, Elders, practitioners, parents, and other community members to help guide projects at all stages. Our interventions are developed in
partnership with AI/AN communities to ensure sustainability beyond the funding period. We
have also been innovative in disseminating findings and intervention curricula through online
platforms and videos. In summary, this grant proposal aims to leverage our collective expertise to
help T/NASOs build capacity to conduct NIH-funded research focused on overdose, substance
use, and pain management by integrating Indigenous Knowledge with Western science.
This study is part of the NIH’s Helping to End Addiction Long-term (HEAL) initiative to speed scientific solutions for the overdose epidemic, including opioid and stimulant use disorders, and the crisis of chronic pain. The NIH HEAL Initiative bolsters research across NIH to improve treatment for opioid misuse and addiction and acute and chronic pain.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10975848
- **Project number:** 1OT2DA061064-01
- **Recipient organization:** RAND CORPORATION
- **Principal Investigator:** ELIZABETH J. D'AMICO
- **Activity code:** OT2 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $1,366,865
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2024-09-09 → 2026-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10975848

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10975848, Partnering to Achieve Wellness for Native Americans through Indigenous Knowledge (PAWNIK) (1OT2DA061064-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10975848. Licensed CC0.

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