Keeping busy: a Yup'ik/Cup'ik perspective on health and aging.
OBJECTIVE
Knowledge of cultural beliefs about health and how they influence life choices and intervention is essential in forming health policy and health promotion programs to meet the growing needs of aging minority populations. This study explores cultural beliefs and practices of health and well-being of Yup'ik/Cup'ik women in two rural villages in southwestern Alaska.


METHODS
Exploratory, descriptive qualitative study.


METHODS
Interviews were conducted with 15 mid-life and older women to address two key research questions: 1) How do Yup'ik/Cup'ik women define health and wellbeing; and 2) What environmental, social, and cultural factors contribute to healthy aging?


RESULTS
The women in this study define health aging within the framework of subsistence living-keeping busy, walking, eating subsistence foods, and respect for elders. These beliefs and practices promote a strong, active body and mind, vital components to healthy aging.


CONCLUSIONS
While many health beliefs and practices appear very different from those current in research on aging, many commonalities and similarities emerge-concern for family, importance of physical activity and healthy diet. A significant finding of this study is that traditional Yup'ik/ Cup'ik ways of living parallel that of current research findings on what constitutes healthy aging in mainstream populations.
Hopkins
Scarlett E
SE
Center for Alaska Native Health Research, Institute of Arctic Biology, University of Alaska, Fairbanks 99775-7000, USA. fnshh@uaf.edu
Kwachka
Pat
P
Lardon
Cécile
C
Mohatt
Gerald V
GV
D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology*; D000413:Alaska; D003466:Cultural Characteristics; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D004930:Inuit / Q000208:ethnology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009043:Motor Activity; D011603:Psychophysiology