Intercultural collaboration: an approach to long-term care for urban American Indians.

Most long term care of older urban American Indians is provided in the community by family, extended family, or fictive kin, and American Indians are rarely found in long term care facilities. An approach to American Indian elderly requires some understanding of Indian ways in order to be effective therapeutically and acceptable to the older Indian. Multiple interviews, a focus group, and a survey conducted in an urban Indian community revealed the consistent perception by American Indian elderly and their families that health care providers lacked information, understanding, and respect for Indian culture.