The Center for American Indian and Rural Health Equity (CAIRHE) is an official state of Montana research center based at Montana State University (MSU) in Bozeman, Montana. Founded in 2014, CAIRHE conducts research on topics including mental health, workplace trauma and occupational health, health care access, maternal health, sleep health, sexual and reproductive health, nutrition and food security, addiction and resilience, environmental health, oral health, and COVID-19.
History
CAIRHE was founded on September 15, 2014. The center was originally known as the Center for Health Equity in Rural Montana but was renamed the Center for American Indian and Rural Health Equity in January 2016. Allen Harmsen, Ph.D. served as the founding principal investigator from 2014 through 2015. In January 2016, Alexandra Adams, M.D., Ph.D., became the director and principal investigator of CAIRHE and currently holds the position. The center was established with a Centers of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health. In September 2016, CAIRHE was named a Montana research center by the Montana University System Board of Regents.
In 2020, the center received a grant of $1.7 million from the Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics initiative (RADx) of the NIH. The award was one of only 70 RADx-UP grants issued and the only program in Montana to obtain this funding.
Programs
The center provides assistance with mentoring, professional development, and funding for research and pilot projects. These projects are designed to increase grant support success rates from major grant-funding agencies like the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the National Science Foundation, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. CAIRHE also supports its faculty and other researchers through two research cores: the Montana IDeA Community Engagement Core and the Translational Biomarkers Core.
CAIRHE is among a number of programs that address the health disparities of American Indian and Alaska Native people and their historical under-representation in biomedical science. both as professionals and as participants in research studies. As such, CAIRHE has supported a variety of research projects supporting the center's health equity mission, led by faculty from Montana State University. CAIRHE investigators specialize in multiple disciplines, including psychology, sociology and anthropology, health and human development, education, mechanical and industrial engineering, and land resources and environmental sciences. Interdisciplinary study also exists with the Mark and Robyn Jones College of Nursing and the Jake Jabs College of Business & Entrepreneurship.
Projects and studies
Research Projects
Past and present research projects have included:
A Trauma-Informed Intervention for Positive Youth Development and Teacher Wellness in Rural Montana A Native Path to Courage Assessing Sleep in Blackfeet Families with K-3rd Grade Children Modeling Rural Perinatal Health Outcomes and Service Systems to Improve Health Equity Development and Pilot Test of Indigenist Relapse Prevention for American Indians The UnProcessed Pantry Project (UP3): A Novel Approach to Improving Dietary Quality for Low-Income Adults Served by Rural Food Pantries Somatic Mindfulness Training for a Healthy Workforce The Fort Peck Sexual Health Project Increasing Environmental Health Literacy in a Native American Community (or "Guardians of the Living Water") Increasing Access to Oral Health Care: Evaluating the Outcomes of a Community Health Specialist Program
Pilot projects
In addition to CAIRHE's work on a range of research projects, the center has also supported a range of smaller pilot projects that help investigators collect preliminary data and prepare larger grant proposals for the years ahead. Pilot projects receive support for a maximum of two years.
Since 2014, CAIRHE pilot projects have examined a wide range of health and equity research topics that have included: Rural reproductive healthcare Attitudes and behaviors surrounding traditional foods Mental health support Sleep health disparities and socioecological risk factors Osteoarthritis in agricultural workers Cognitive Behavior Therapy implementation in schools Impacts of SARS-CoV-2 on age-related inflammation Trauma, daily stress, sleep, and blood pressure in American Indian adults Secondary trauma among victim service providers Rural health center efficiency, access, and outcomes Substance use and driving among rural young adults Maternal mental health Prisoner reentry and recidivism in Montana