Center for American Indian Health, Department of International Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 415 N. Washington St., 4th Floor, Baltimore, MD, 21231, USA.
BMC Public Health. 2022 Aug 4;22(1):1481. doi: 10.1186/s12889-022-13208-7.
This paper describes the protocol for a longitudinal cohort study, "Project SafeSchools" (PSS), which focuses on measuring the effects of COVID-19 and the return to in-person learning on Diné (Navajo) and White Mountain Apache (Apache) youth, parents, and educators. The early surges of the COVID-19 pandemic led to the closure of most reservation and border town schools serving Diné and Apache communities. This study aims to: (1) understand the barriers and facilitators to school re-opening and in-person school attendance from the perspective of multiple stakeholders in Diné and Apache communities; and (2) evaluate the educational, social, emotional, physical, and mental health impacts of returning to in-person learning for caregivers and youth ages 4-16 who reside or work on the Diné Nation and the White Mountain Apache Tribal lands.
We aim to recruit up to N = 200 primary caregivers of Diné and Apache youth ages 4-16 and up to N = 120 school personnel. In addition, up to n = 120 of these primary caregivers and their children, ages 11-16, will be selected to participate in qualitative interviews to learn more about the effects of the pandemic on their health and wellbeing. Data from caregiver and school personnel participants will be collected in three waves via self-report surveys that measure COVID-19 related behaviors and attitudes, mental health, educational attitudes, and cultural practices and beliefs for both themselves and their child (caregiver participants only). We hypothesize that an individual's engagement with a variety of cultural activities during school closures and as school re-opened will have a protective effect on adult and youth mental health as they return to in-person learning.
The results of this study will inform the development or implementation of preventative interventions that may help Diné and Apache youth and their families recover from the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, and positively impact their health and wellness.
本文描述了一项纵向队列研究的方案，即“安全学校项目”（PSS），该研究重点关注新冠疫情以及重返面授学习对纳瓦霍（Diné）和白山 Apache（Apache）青年、家长和教育工作者的影响。新冠疫情早期的爆发导致为纳瓦霍和 Apache 社区服务的大多数保留地和边境城镇学校关闭。本研究旨在：（1）从纳瓦霍和 Apache 社区的多个利益相关者的角度了解学校重新开放和面授出勤率的障碍和促进因素；（2）评估对于居住或工作在纳瓦霍民族和白山 Apache 部落土地上的 4-16 岁的看护者和青年而言，重返面授学习对他们的教育、社会、情感、身体和心理健康的影响。
我们计划招募最多 200 名纳瓦霍和 Apache 4-16 岁青年的主要看护者，以及最多 120 名学校人员。此外，最多 120 名这些主要看护者及其 11-16 岁的子女将被选入参与定性访谈，以了解更多关于大流行对他们的健康和幸福的影响。看护者和学校人员参与者的数据将通过自我报告调查分三批收集，该调查衡量了 COVID-19 相关行为和态度、心理健康、教育态度以及文化实践和信仰，同时也涵盖了他们自己和他们孩子的情况（仅看护者参与者）。我们假设，在学校关闭和重新开学期间，个人参与各种文化活动将对成人和青年的心理健康产生保护作用，因为他们回归面授学习。
这项研究的结果将为制定或实施预防干预措施提供信息，这些措施可能有助于纳瓦霍和 Apache 青年及其家庭从新冠疫情的负面影响中恢复过来，并对他们的健康和幸福感产生积极影响。
