The “value” of values-driven data in identifying Indigenous health and climate change priorities

Scholars worldwide have stated that some of the most devastating health impacts from climate change are experienced by Indigenous peoples. Yet, climate change health assessments rely primarily on technical data from climate models, with limited local knowledge and little to no values-driven community data. Values-driven data provide important information about how people define what health means, their health priorities, and preferred actions to maintain or improve health. The Swinomish Indian Tribal Community (Washington State, USA) developed and implemented a climate change health assessment founded on values-driven data. Successfully eliciting, structuring, and ultimately summarizing community values were achieved by incorporating tools and techniques from western disciplines (e.g., decision science, behavioral research) with local indigenous ways of learning and sharing. Results demonstrate that the assessment meaningfully engaged community members and effectively added their knowledge and values into the decision process. The assessment results protect and strengthen Swinomish community health and well-being by elevating health priorities, focusing limited energy and resources, ensuring that community members and others are working toward common goals, and establishing agreement around intended outcomes/results.