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Abstract: American Indian elders have long been the grandparents to not only their own relatives but also other 'grandchildren' in their tribes, clans and extended families. This worldview demands an elder-youth connection and has been integral to the success of the "American Indian MS to PhD Nursing Science Bridge" at the University of Minnesota, School of Nursing. Elders support the program mission to increase the number (from 12) of doctorally prepared Native nurses. They have been participants in formal and informal programming, special advising, and presence from reservations and in urban Minneapolis. Program feedback reveals cultural value in the elders' presence.
Key Words: Strengthening, Traditions, Partnering, American Indians, Elders
Dating from pre-history, to contact with Europeans, and in present time, runs the tradition of North America's indigenous people that necessarily includes elders as not only the grandparents but as guides, mentors and teachers. Concurrently, runs a plethora of healing traditions that share many similar threads throughout the hundreds of tribes, but each having also their own unique mechanisms of bringing about healing (Moss, 2005). The University of Minnesota (U of M), School of Nursing (SON) was granted monies as one site for the National Institutes of Health's Bridges to the Doctorate initiative (http:// www.nigms.nih.gov/funding/grntmech.htmWe-). The initiative seeks to increase minority scientists who hold a doctorate. There were only twelve American Indian nurses in the country who held a doctorate at the time of the initial U of M application. The program is well on the way towards doubling that number. To carry out its mission in a culturally dynamic approach, the "American Indian-Alaska Native MS to PhD Nursing Science Bridge" has incorporated elders as grandparent figures, guides, mentors and teachers. Recognizing that honoring the old traditions is not just a cliché, but a necessary and culturally relevant program component is key to supporting student success in achieving the doctoral nursing science degree.
This paper will describe the concepts and history behind inclusion of elders, the mechanisms and program venues in which the elders have been involved, and finally, feedback from both the elders and the students. There are programmatic, substantive and policy indications for others trying to bridge the old and the new in forming the training experience for our newest American Indian nurse...