Healthy families allow individuals and communities to thrive, benefitting physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health. Healthy families effectively cope with the cultural, environmental, and socioeconomic stresses that they face. Negative coping mechanisms such as domestic violence, sexual violence (DV/SV) and child maltreatment can result in life-long—even intergenerational—effects on the health and wellness of family members and communities.
The Alaska Native EpiCenter has several projects that encourage healthy families by addressing violence and trauma, promoting wellness, and working towards eliminating disparities in victimization and in maternal and child health affecting Alaska Native and American Indian people in Alaska. Projects include collecting, sharing, and improving the data on DV/SV and childhood trauma, including adverse childhood experiences (ACEs); providing technical assistance and resources for individuals, tribal health organizations, and other organizations to better address DV/SV and ACEs, and supporting best practices in maternal and child health by helping to organize the Alaska MCH and Immunization Conference.
This data book is a collaborative effort of the Alaska Division of Public Health, Section Of Women’s, Children’s, and Family Health and the ANTHC, Alaska Native Epidemiology Center. By presenting the data by Alaska Native status and by tribal health organization region this book will be particularly helpful to health care staff and administrators working in the Alaska Tribal Health System.
ACEs are adverse childhood experiences that profoundly harm children’s developing brains. The effects of ACEs can show up decades later as chronic disease, mental illness, and substance abuse. This report is an initial summary of 2013 ACEs survey results specifically for Alaska Native people.
This bulletin is the first time that data on domestic and sexual violence affecting Alaska Native people of all ages is brought together in one place. Beginning with pregnancy, this bulletin takes us through the major stages of life, sharing the consequences of violence, how many people are affected, and Alaska-specific responses.