Native Communities Research Articles

Implementing a Metabolism-informed approach for smoking cessation in an Alaska Tribal health system: study protocol for a single-arm implementation pilot trial

BackgroundIndividualized treatment for commercial tobacco smoking cessation, such as through the utilization of the nicotine metabolite ratio (NMR), offers potential clinical benefit. NMR is a metabolism-informed biomarker that can be used to guide medication selection. NMR testing is particularly promising for tobacco cessation efforts in populations with high rates of smoking, such as some Alaska Native and American Indian (AN/AI) communities. To date, no prior study has evaluated the implementation of NMR-guided tobacco cessation with AN/AI populations.MethodsThe present “QUIT” protocol is a two-phase study that will occur at Southcentral Foundation (SCF), an Alaska Native-owned health system, serving 70,000 AN/AI people, based in Anchorage, Alaska. In Phase one, qualitative interviews with customer-owners (patients), providers and administrators (n = 36) and a 10-participant beta-test will be used to refine a strategy to implement NMR testing in the health system. Phase two will involve a single-arm pilot trial (n = 50) and qualitative interviews throughout data collection (n = 48) to evaluate the implementation strategy and explore the real-world acceptability and feasibility of NMR testing to guide tobacco cessation with AN/AI populations.DiscussionThis study utilizes a community-based participatory approach to refine and implement a nicotine metabolism-informed smoking cessation program in a Tribal healthcare setting. The process and findings from this study will reflect the importance of customer-owner choice and honor the lived experience involved in quitting commercial tobacco. Pilot study data will inform the effect and sample sizes required for a future pragmatic trial of NMR-guided smoking cessation.Trial registrationThis study will be registered with clinicaltrials.gov after the beta test is complete and the final IRB protocol is approved.

Aspects of development: Voices from predisplacement site in Eastern India

The present research paper is an ethnographic account of the travails and resistance of an adivasi (native) community of India called Santhals. These adivasis are facing the threat of eviction due to a planned coal mining in the area, located in West Bengal, a state in the eastern part of India. Amid the ongoing protest against coal mines, many families are ready to give up their land for the project. Even differences in opinion are common among the leaders of those protest groups. These differences in perception about a coal mine project are the central theme of this paper. Drawing from it the paper is going to scrutinize the grand terms like ‘Affected Persons’, used in ‘National Mineral Policy 2019’ and ‘Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act (2013)’, and ‘Local Community’ to show that any generalization or universalization of those various perceptions suppress the real needs of the people since they get affected in multiple ways. Further, this paper regards ‘development’ as ‘pharmakon’ for its dual nature, since people in the same community perceive it as poison; in contrast, for others, it is the remedy for their poverty. Tracing from all the varying voices, the paper finally argues for finding ‘significant others’, who are significantly excluded from decision-making.

Viewing Native American Cervical Cancer Disparities through the Lens of the Vaginal Microbiome: A Pilot Study.

Vaginal dysbiosis is implicated in persistent HPV infection and cervical cancer. Yet, there is a paucity of data on the vaginal microbiome in Native American communities. Here, we aimed to elucidate the relationships between microbiome, HPV, sociodemographic and behavioral risk factors to better understand an increased cervical cancer risk in Native American women. In this pilot study, we recruited 31 participants (16 Native American, 15 non-Native women) in Northern Arizona and examined vaginal microbiota composition, HPV status, and immune mediators. We also assessed individuals' sociodemographic information, and physical, mental, sexual, and reproductive health. Overall, microbiota profiles were dominated by common Lactobacillus species (associated with vaginal health) or a mixture of bacterial vaginosis-associated bacteria. Only 44% of Native women exhibited Lactobacillus dominance, compared to 58% of non-Native women. Women with vaginal dysbiosis also had elevated vaginal pH and were more frequently infected with high-risk HPV. Furthermore, we observed associations of multiple people in a household, lower level of education, and high parity with vaginal dysbiosis and abundance of specific bacterial species. Finally, women with dysbiotic microbiota presented with elevated vaginal levels of proinflammatory cytokines. Altogether, these findings indicate an interplay between HPV, vaginal microbiota, and host defense, which may play a role in the cervical cancer disparity among Native American women. Future longitudinal studies are needed to determine the mechanistic role of vaginal microbiota in HPV persistence in the context of social determinants of health toward the long-term goal of reducing health disparities between non-Hispanic White and Native American populations.

Patterns of health workforce turnover and retention in Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services in remote communities of the Northern Territory and Western Australia, 2017–2019

BackgroundAboriginal Community Controlled Health Services (ACCHSs) in Australia aim to optimise access to comprehensive and culturally safe primary health care (PHC) for Aboriginal populations. Central to quality service provision is the retention of staff. However, there is lack of published research reporting patterns of staff turnover and retention specific to ACCHSs. This study quantified staff turnover and retention in regional and remote ACCHSs in the Northern Territory (NT) and Western Australia (WA), and examined correlations between turnover and retention metrics, and ACCHSs’ geographical and demographic characteristics.MethodsThe study used 2017–2019 payroll data for health workers in 22 regional and remote PHC clinics managed by 11 ACCHSs. Primary outcome measures included annual turnover and 12-month stability rates, calculated at both clinic and organisation levels.ResultsThere was a median of five client-facing (Aboriginal health practitioners, allied health professionals, doctors, nurses/midwives, and ‘other health workers’ combined) and two non-client-facing (administrative and physical) staff per remote clinic, at any timepoint. Mean annual turnover rates for staff were very high, with 151% turnover rates at the clinic level and 81% turnover rates at the organisation level. Mean annual turnover rates for client-facing staff were 164% and 75%, compared to 120% and 98% for non-client-facing staff, at clinic and organisational levels, respectively. Mean 12-month stability rates were low, with clinic-level stability rates of only 49% and organisation-level stability rates of 58%. Mean annual clinic-level turnover rates were 162% for non-Aboriginal staff and 81% for Aboriginal staff. Both workforce metrics were moderately to highly correlated with the relative remoteness of clinics, size of regular clients serviced, and average annual headcount of employees in each clinic (p values < 0.01).ConclusionsParticipating ACCHSs in remote NT and WA have very high turnover and low retention of healthcare staff. Overall, clinic-level turnover rates increase as distance from regional centres increases and are lower for Aboriginal staff, suggesting that greater employment of Aboriginal staff could help stabilise staffing. Improved retention could reduce burden on ACCHSs’ resources and may also support quality of service delivery due to improved cultural safety and continuity of care.

Examining community-level protection from Alaska Native suicide: An Indigenous knowledge-informed extension of the legacy of Michael Chandler and Christopher Lalonde.

Chandler and Lalonde broadened the scope of inquiry in suicide research by providing theoretical grounding and empirical support for the role of community, culture, and history in understanding Indigenous youth suicide and reimagining its prevention. Their work pushed the field to consider the intersectional process of individual and collective meaning-making in prevention of Indigenous suicide, together with the central role culture plays in bringing coherence to this process over time. Their innovation shifted the research focus to include the shared histories, contexts, and structures of meaning that shape individual lives and behaviors. We describe here a new generation of research extending their pathbreaking line of inquiry. Recent work aims to identify complex associations between community-level structures and suicidal behavior by collaborating with Alaska Native people from rural communities to describe how community protective factors function as preventative resources in their daily lives. Community engagement and knowledge co-production created a measure of community protection from suicide. Structured interviews with rural Alaska Native community members allowed use of this measure to produce relevant, accessible, and actionable knowledge. Ongoing investigations next seek to describe their mechanisms in shaping young people's lives through a multilevel, mixed-methods community-based study linking community-level protection to protection and well-being of individual youth. These efforts to understand the multiple culture-specific and culturally mediated pathways by which communities build on their strengths, resources, and practices to support Indigenous young people's development and reduce suicide risk are inspired by and expand on Chandler and Lalonde's remarkable legacy.

Searching for John Knox: Heritage Entanglements in Gamilaroi Country

ABSTRACT This essay discusses a road trip through Gamilaroi Country in regional New South Wales, “in search of” Pte. John Knox, an Aboriginal serviceman who is buried at Singapore’s Kranji War Cemetery. It shares insights into Australia’s multilayered heritage “entanglements” learned while travelling with his grandson, Les Knox, to their hometown, the Toomelah Aboriginal Community on the border of Queensland and New South Wales. Written collaboratively as an account of places encountered episodically during this shared journey, the essay describes the many suppressed layers of First Peoples’ memory and memorialisation that are drawn to the surface by storytelling. They are obscured by the more visible and prominent settler heritage of war memorials and ex-military migrant camps. The first part of this article traces John Knox’s training in Australia and service in Malaya through maps conjectured using various sources. The second part of the essay focuses on three key physical sites: The Toomelah War Memorial, the Myall Creek Massacre Memorial Site and the 1965 Freedom Ride, where this heritage manifests. It raises deeper questions on the “politics of sharing:” how we define and commemorate “conflict,” how and when we acknowledge Aboriginal service people and whether we connect to the Asia Pacific region.

Impact of the reactivation on the popular cooperation system on peasant and native communities

Impact of the reactivation on the popular cooperation system on peasant and native communities

Perseverance of management is needed – Efficient long-term strategy of Reynoutria management

One of the most problematic invasive species in Europe are knotweeds from genus Reynoutria (Fallopia) which have significant negative impact on the native communities as well on human activities. Therefore, they are a target of many control programmes. Due to their high regeneration potential, their management is problematic, and only chemical treatment is reported to be sufficiently effective. The aim of this paper was to describe and analyse the patterns of Reynoutria invasion under long-term chemical treatment with glyphosate-based herbicide in The Morávka river floodplain, Czech Republic. The data covers 17 years of management which started with the European project “Preservation of alluvial forest habitats in the Morávka river basin”. We focus on (i) assessment of Reynoutria distribution during long-term management, (ii) analysis of the change of distribution according to the habitat, and (iii) discussion of the optimal management strategy based on the long-term data. Distribution data was obtained using GNSS field mapping. Before the start of the study in 2007, Reynoutria stands covered 29% of the study area (96.9 ha). As a result of systematic whole area chemical management, the extent decreased to 19.6% (65.3 ha) in 2009, and even reached 14.5% (48.2 ha) in 2013, three years after its end. Due to implementation of local chemical management in the following years, the area of Reynoutria was maintained at similar level, with minimum value 41.8 ha in 2018 and a slight increase in recent mapping in 2023. Beside the extent, the structure and coverage of invaded sites was analysed. There was a clear trend of fragmentation of larger polycormons with high coverage into many smaller and less dense ones as a result of chemical spraying. The average size of Reynoutria stand decreased from 0.61 ha in 2007 to half in 2013 (0.32 ha) to 0.15 ha in 2023. Testing of the effects of time, habitat, and biotope did not reveal significant differences of changes of extent and abundance over different environments (forest, open, bare ground), which indicates that there are no differences in reaction to management in the studied habitat and vegetation types. Our study provides a robust and unique overview of the invasion, reinvasion, and suppression dynamics for an important invasive species. If herbicide management is used, chemical treatment must be quite long-term as even three years of intensive glyphosate foliar spray application was not sufficient for the complete eradication of Reynoutria. Therefore, we propose the following procedure for effective chemical management of Reynoutria: 1) In largely infested sites, the first step is to reduce the distribution of Reynoutria stands to isolated polycormons. This phase can last 3–5 years. 2) After reaching the state of sparse distribution of Reynoutria, we recommend herbicide application only in periods of every 3–5 years depending on the local context and rate of regrowth. 3) At sites exposed to soil disturbances, where the soil is contaminated by fragments of Reynoutria rhizomes, there is a need to apply herbicide immediately to target newly resprouting individuals.

Kinship and Cultural Strengths—Learning from an Aboriginal Perspective

ABSTRACT Kinship is core to Aboriginal culture, values and wellbeing. However, the strength of culture and relationships is often not fully recognised or respected by Westernised systems. This article highlights cultural strengths through use of a detailed case study narrative illustrating the importance of community self-determination when an Aboriginal child needs to be relocated to other carers/family members. Situated within an Aboriginal participatory action research methodology, we utilised a case study method where a participant and co-author (*Amelia) collaborated with two academics to tell her story as an illustration of the strengths of community and kinship that can support vulnerable children. Through this partnership we learn the importance of Aboriginal community involvement in Amelia’s progression from early childhood experience of family violence to thriving young adulthood. We confirm the importance of including Aboriginal knowledges and practices in raising at-risk Aboriginal children and we contribute to social work practice knowledges by learning from Indigenous experience. We conclude that social work needs to build on the strengths of Aboriginal communities’ abilities by valuing kinship support systems. IMPLICATIONS When faced with adversity such as family violence, Aboriginal culture can be a protective factor. Social workers need to understand the importance of culture in the healing process for Aboriginal children. Keeping Aboriginal children connected to culture is paramount for long-term recovery and the ability to create healthy relationships.

Aboriginal young people's experiences of type 2 diabetes diagnosis, management and support: A qualitative study in the Kimberley region of Western Australia.

In Australia, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people in remote settings are most-affected by young onset type 2 diabetes (T2D). It is necessary to understand young people's experiences, including factors impacting on self-management, to improve models of care. A phenomenological methodology underpinned this qualitative study in Western Australia's Kimberley region. Two Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services supported recruitment of seven Aboriginal young people aged 12-24 with T2D, who participated in interviews. A carer and health professional of one young person in each site were also interviewed and relevant medical record data reviewed to assist with triangulation of data. De-identified transcripts were inductively coded and a coding structure developed with oversight by a Kimberley Aboriginal researcher. Young people reported varied experiences and emotions relating to a T2D diagnosis. Most recounted this was upsetting and some reported current negative impact on emotional wellbeing. Challenges with understanding and managing diabetes were highlighted, particularly regarding healthy eating, physical activity and medication. Family are a prominent source of self-management support, with the intergenerational impact of diabetes being evident for each participant. Positive relationships with health professionals, entailing continuity of care, were valued. There are significant emotional and medical challenges for young people with T2D and their families. Recommendations from this work will contribute to the development of local resources and initiatives to improve diabetes-related support. SO WHAT?: Alongside broader efforts to support good health at the societal level, enhanced health education and family-oriented support structures including Aboriginal clinical staff for young people with T2D are needed.

Autonomy Through Allotment: Political Strategies of the Ottawa Tribe in Indian Territory, 1870–1892

Abstract The late nineteenth-century policy of allotting tribal lands into individually owned tracts is appropriately interpreted as a destructive federal effort to expropriate Native land and eliminate tribal identities. The Ottawa Tribe in Indian Territory, however, had divergent objectives in supporting allotment. This article argues the Ottawa advocated for allotment and U.S. citizenship to escape intrusive federal control over their lands and resources. Although they embraced policies aimed at eliminating tribal existence, the Ottawa rejected the intentions behind those policies, and instead, they drew on long-established community attributes of mobility and interconnection with outsiders to resituate their nation within American society. By centering Ottawa perspectives, this article disrupts progressive narratives that denote the pursuit of U.S. citizenship as an effort to secure equal inclusion. It underscores U.S. citizenship and allotment as tools of settler colonial domination and demonstrates how the Ottawa subversively deployed U.S. citizenship and private property rights to combat colonial administration and maintain tribal sovereignty. Examining a policy often glossed over as invariably imposed on Native nations, this article underscores the necessity of analyzing Native community dynamics and political strategies to understand the implementation and impact of allotment.

Estimating the scale-dependent influence of natural terrestrial corridors on the positioning of settlements: A multi-scale study of Roman forts in Wales

Natural terrestrial corridors have been shown to have influenced the positioning of past settlements. The scale at which this pattern-process relationship operates is often un-estimated and thus remains unclear. This paper proposes the comparison of multiple point process models as an approach for estimating the optimal scale at which this relationship is strongest. With this approach, it is revealed that the positioning of Roman forts used during the conquest of Wales was most influenced by natural terrestrial corridors at a scale of 1,100m. At this scale, the Roman army stationed at these forts could control natural corridors – both via on-the-ground response as well as through overseeing movements by the native communities of Wales. Comparing multiple scenarios, it is also shown that the control of river-systems did not influence the positioning of Roman forts at the expense of controlling these natural terrestrial corridors used by those on foot. With archaeological interpretations susceptible to change as a result of the scale at which this pattern-process relationship is measured, the estimation of the optimal scale is pivotal for non-biased inferences on the processes thought to have influenced the positioning of settlements in the past.

On Micropolitics: Climate adaptation and Indigenous governance in Western Alaska

Climate adaptation for Indigenous communities is not as simple as making good policy; it is equally about how policy is implemented and how collaboration unfolds between settler governments and Indigenous stakeholders. Rural Alaska Native villages are among the most environmentally threatened communities in the United States. Their ability to effectively manage environmental change and preserve sovereignty depends upon successful collaboration with a range of stakeholders, especially federal agencies. For more than two decades, academics and government agencies have documented a consistent pattern of failures, particularly by federal actors, to effectively manage adaptation challenges. These obstacles are sometimes misrepresented as policy failures. While poor policy is certainly involved in these poor outcomes, this paper highlights a set of barriers to successful collaboration that are not policy issues, per se, but rather micropolitical issues; that is, they pertain to the conduct of government in the context of Tribal relationships. Unaddressed, these micropolitical issues have created obstacles to Alaska Native communities’ self-determination as they adapt to a changing landscape. These barriers are explored in a case study drawn from Typhoon Merbok, which struck Western Alaska in 2022, and empirically grounded in a series of interviews and participant observation with experts, elders, elected officials, and Tribal staff. This article concludes with several concrete recommendations to improve the practice of domestic diplomacy between Indigenous communities and colonial governments.

Unveiling injustice: Disrupting child removal policies and upholding breastfeeding: An emancipatory framework.

Before colonization, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities had nurturing, holistic, and communitarian approaches that promoted extended and healthy lives for their children. Colonization, marked by policies of genocide and assimilation, has resulted in an alarming overrepresentation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children under the care of child protection agencies, resulting in compromised health outcomes and reduced life expectancies. We are conducting a study designed to enhance positive developmental outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children by articulating and enabling the rights of mothers and children to breastfeed in the context of a child protection intervention and child removal. To understand and address this problem, it is critical to implement culturally safe, de-colonized, emancipatory research that is guided by and benefits Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. This article presents an emancipatory framework that we are applying to our study using an Aboriginal participatory action research approach, that serves as a guide for non-Indigenous researchers seeking to conduct research with Indigenous communities. We emphasize the importance of incorporating an Aboriginal participatory action research framework, using community consultation and codesign; culturally secure data collection methods, and paying attention to Indigenous data sovereignty. Developing trusting respectful relationships is conducive to knowledge acquisition, exchange, and use, when research approaches deeply rooted in community involvement are applied. A call to action by the critical midwifery studies collective, urges non-Indigenous researchers to become accountable allies that demonstrates respect for community leadership while actively striving to ensure research does not perpetuate further harm, and produces effective change. This article provides an overview of ways to conduct ethical emancipatory research with Indigenous participants, that is, of benefit to midwifery practitioners and is applicable to many areas of research, policy, and practice.

Innovative thinking for innovative approaches: examples from research with a First Nation community

Innovative thinking for innovative approaches: examples from research with a First Nation community

Setting a Course Towards Climate Justice for Alaska Native Communities: The Alaska Alliance for Community Engagement – Climate and Health

Setting a Course Towards Climate Justice for Alaska Native Communities: The Alaska Alliance for Community Engagement – Climate and Health

High Impacts of Invasive Weed Lantana camara on Plant Community and Soil Physico-Chemical Properties across Habitat Types in Central Nepal

Although the effects of invasive alien plants on natural ecosystems are well known, the effects of specific plant species can vary across habitat types and disturbance intensity. This study was carried out to analyze the effects of Lantana camara on associated vegetation and soil physico-chemical properties at invaded and non-invaded sites across three different habitat types (forest edge, fallow land, and roadside) in central Nepal. We sampled 50 pairs of 5 m × 5 m (for shrub species) and 1 m × 1 m (for herbs species) plots at invaded and non-invaded sites in each habitat and recorded community variables for each species within the sampling plots for both wet (monsoon) and dry (pre-monsoon) seasons. Further, we collected soil samples from each quadrat and determined the soil physico-chemical properties. We recorded 137 species of flowering plants (119 from non-invaded and 97 from invaded plots) and classified them in accordance with life form/habit. In invaded sites, we found a significant decline in species diversity as indicated by the Simpson and Shannon diversity indices. Specifically, L. camara reduced the species richness, Simpson index, and Shannon diversity index by 36.84%, 11.84%, and 40.21%, respectively. Soil nutrients such as total nitrogen, soil organic carbon, and available phosphorus were significantly higher in invaded sites than non-invaded ones except for available potassium and soil pH. This study provided evidence that Lantana L. camara has a substantial impact on the understory plant community assemblage and the physico-chemical properties of soil. The results suggest that the protection of native plant community requires management of L. camara by implementing appropriate measures.

A comprehensive analysis and exploration of the recent developments in the utilization of genetically modified microorganisms for the remediation of hazardous dye pollutants

Innovative and effective remediation techniques are required with regard to growing environmental concerns on hazardous dye pollutants emitted by the textile industries. The review explores on the recent developments in utilization of genetically modified organisms (GMO) for the dye removal. Through improved capacities and specificities towards dye pollutants, genetically modified organisms present a potential strategy towards achieving Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) No. 6 of the UN, focused on clean water and sanitation. The key findings show that genetic engineering methods, including recombinant DNA (rDNA) and CRISPR-Cas9 technologies, can increase the capacity of bacteria to degrade, metabolize, or immobilize dye pollutants, improving degradation efficiency from around 7%–65%. The enzymatic processes are identified as the primary mechanisms involved in dye compound degradation by genetically engineered microbes. The review emphasizes the use of genetic approaches for dye degradation, co-cultivation with native microbial communities, optimizing operational parameters like pH, temperature, and nutrient availability, and omics technologies for a deeper understanding of metabolic networks and regulatory mechanisms with the aim of leading future genetic advancements in dye remediation. The review discusses the practical feasibility and environmental safety challenges of using genetically engineered microbes in sustainable dye remediation, highlighting limitations and future insights.

A qualitative analysis of opportunities to strengthen pharmacy technician career pathways across practice settings.

In an effort to expedite the publication of articles, AJHP is posting manuscripts online as soon as possible after acceptance. Accepted manuscripts have been peer-reviewed and copyedited, but are posted online before technical formatting and author proofing. These manuscripts are not the final version of record and will be replaced with the final article (formatted per AJHP style and proofed by the authors) at a later time. To identify pharmacy technician career pathways across pharmacy practice settings and opportunities to strengthen and expand these pathways. Interviews were conducted with 17 participants from national pharmacy organizations, community pharmacies, health systems, and academia from March to May 2023. Interview questions were designed to elicit participants' perceptions of factors influencing entry into, recruitment and retention of, and advancement of the pharmacy technician workforce. Interview notes were analyzed using a rapid thematic analysis approach. Seven themes were identified, including 3 themes related to entry: (1) healthcare interest and prior exposure facilitate pharmacy technician career discovery; (2) variation in and quantity of entry-level requirements can impede entry into pharmacy technician careers; and (3) proactive promotion of pharmacy technician careers needed. Two themes were related to recruitment and retention: (4) pharmacy technician compensation not aligned with job demands and (5) career ladders or lattices create advancement opportunities. Two themes were related to professional advancement: (6) pharmacy technician advancement limited by weak professional identity and (7) scope-of-practice policies can facilitate pharmacy technician advancement. This study highlights the challenges pharmacy technicians face in their careers. Key findings stress cultivating a professional identity for pharmacy technicians, establishing career ladders or lattices, and advocating for policies that facilitate pharmacy technician professional advancement. These efforts are vital for sustaining the pharmacy technician workforce and ensuring quality patient care amidst the changing landscape of the pharmacy profession.

The association between abdominal obesity and depressive symptoms among Chinese adults: Evidence from national and regional communities

BackgroundThe association between body shape and depressive symptoms has been reported in adults. The present study aimed to investigate the association between body shape-specific abdominal obesity and depressive symptoms among multi-regional Asian adults. MethodsThe 2011–2012 China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study and 2022–2023 Hangzhou study were used as the discovery and validation datasets, respectively. Body shape was assessed by body mass index categories. Abdominal obesity was defined as a body shape index (ABSI) ≥ 75th centile. Depression was measured using 10-item Centre for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale and Geriatric Depression Scale short 15-item version, respectively. General linear and multinomial logistic models were used to explore the association of ABSI, abdominal obesity with depressive scores and presence, respectively. ResultsA total of 12,229 and 1210 participants were included in the discovery and validation datasets, respectively. A non-linear reverse L-shaped association was found between ABSI and depressive scores. Participants with abdominal obesity had higher depressive scores (β = 0.05, 95%CI = 0.01–0.09; and β = 0.13, 95%CI = 0.01–0.24; respectively). Stratified analyses showed that abdominal obesity was associated with higher depressive scores (β = 0.09, 95%CI = 0.00–0.17; and β = 0.25, 95%CI = 0.05–0.46; respectively) and presence (OR = 1.46, 95%CI = 1.02–2.10; and OR = 3.95, 95%CI = 1.58–9.84; respectively) in overweight adults. Furthermore, abdominal obesity was associated with depressive symptoms among overweight females, but not among males. LimitationCausal links weren't addressed because of the observational study design. ConclusionAbdominal obesity exhibited a positive association with depressive symptoms among Asian overweight adults, particularly in females. Prevention and early diagnosis of depressive symptoms should focus on overweight females.