Grant: Undergraduate Student Research Awards (USRA)

The Hearing Indigenous Voices survey is a binational survey of Indigenous individuals who live across Turtle Island (North America). The survey assessed Indigenous persons' experiences during the pandemic, knowledge of the pandemic, vaccine hesitancy, resources used for mental health concerns, and willingness to engage with research. Analysis is ongoing and has already produced valuable findings on Indigenous Peoples' most frequent motivations to seek vaccination (e.g., personal health and safety, protecting vulnerable community members and Elders) and avoid vaccination (e.g., general lack of desire, mistrust of the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine), as well as where they accessed vaccines (e.g., vaccination clinics embedded in community settings). Alaafia will help on the Hearing Indigenous Voices survey project. In the first four weeks, Alaafia will focus on becoming familiar with the research area, by (1) reading recommended research articles, (2) conducting literature searches, and (3) contributing to annotated bibliographies. This will also involve research citation management. Alaafia will also help with data analyses involving the role of culture on vaccine hesitancy, motivation, and uptake. Once complete, Alaafia will present results to the team and be involved in research dissemination via the development of knowledge translation materials, including 1 page lay-term summaries of the project, findings, and presentation materials. Alaafia will also support the preparation of community and academic presentations on the project.