The intersection of disability status and rurality in American Indian/Alaskan Native communities

Genna M Mashinchi; Emily C Hicks; Arin J Leopold; Lillie Greiman; Catherine Ipsen

doi:10.3389/fresc.2022.875979

The intersection of disability status and rurality in American Indian/Alaskan Native communities

Front Rehabil Sci. 2022 Aug 2:3:875979. doi: 10.3389/fresc.2022.875979. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Genna M Mashinchi¹, Emily C Hicks¹, Arin J Leopold¹, Lillie Greiman¹, Catherine Ipsen¹

Affiliation

¹ University of Montana, The Rural Institute for Inclusive Communities, Missoula, MT, United States.

Abstract

There is a noteworthy gap in the literature regarding disability in rural American Indian/Alaskan Native (AI/AN) communities. This is significant, as many tribal lands are in rural areas and AI/AN individuals experience some of the highest prevalence rates of disability. To address this gap, we used descriptive statistics to examine the intersection of AI/AN and rurality in disability prevalence. Results indicate that rural counties have the highest prevalence of disability for both Whites and AI/ANs and that AI/ANs experience higher prevalence rates than Whites. However, further analysis indicates that county makeup (counties with high prevalence of AI/AN in the general population) moderated this relationship. Specifically, rural counties with populations of at least 5% AI/AN had lower prevalence of AI/AN disability compared to counties with populations with less than 5% AI/AN. Further analysis is needed to unpack this relationship, but results might suggest that AI/AN communities may feature resilient and protective attributes, moderating the amount of disability experienced in rural AI/AN communities.

Keywords: American Indian/Alaskan Native; disability; health disparities; health equity; rural; social determinants of health.