A Community Trial To Prevent Inhalant Use In Alaska

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): A three-year feasibility study is proposed that will assess the implementation of an integrated community prevention model to combat inhalant use and related problems among pre- and early adolescents in four communities with varying proportions of Alaskan Natives (Yupik, Tlingit, and Inupiat), Caucasians, and other populations. This comprehensive model combines three intervention components: community mobilization to prepare the community to implement inhalant-focused prevention strategies; environmental strategies to decrease availability of inhalable products in commercial establishments and homes by engaging communities in actions to restrict youth access to legal products that are being inhaled by youth in the community and to substitute altered or non-solvent-based supplies that are alternatives to inhalable products; and school-based skill training programs targeting pre-adolescents to increase cognitive and behavioral skills to resist the use of inhalants. The study concerns (a) developing and implementing community-acceptable community inhalant prevention model, (b) assessing its implementation quality and factors associated with successful implementation, and (c) assessing changes in proximal outcomes believed to mediate intervention effects in inhalant use, and identifying factors that may explain proximal outcome changes. The feasibility of collecting quality outcome data in terms of cooperation rates of target population, data collection expertise and availability, data validity and reliability, and cost will also be examined. As a result of a large federal grant to the State of Alaska that ended in 2003, community-based substance abuse prevention coalitions have been established in each of the communities that have agreed to participate in the study. Each of these coalitions has implemented substance abuse prevention programs, and they have been involved in prevention evaluations. The present study will build upon this existing capacity to implement an inhalant prevention effort. Participatory action research (PAR) principles consisting of community participation and collaboration, empowerment, knowledge, and community change will guide this research, which will employ qualitative and quantitative methods in the assessment.