Engaging scientists and communities to address the impacts of substance abuse on American Indian and Alaska Native children and families: The Native Children's Research Exchange Annual Meetings

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PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT In the midst of the current opioid crisis, American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) populations continue to face longstanding significant substance abuse inequities. The National Institutes of Health has increased efforts to address these inequities through investing in research to understand the root causes of substance abuse in these populations and in studies focused on effective prevention and intervention. Additional efforts include the establishment of the Tribal Health Research Office at the NIH in 2015 and the launch of the Intervention Research to Improve Native American Health Initiative in 2012. While gains are being made, they are incremental, slowed by many complexities encountered in research with diverse AIAN populations. The researchers who are part of the Native Children's Research Exchange (NCRE) are very aware of these challenges – and of the pressing need to address them. Community partners make us keenly aware that too many children in AIAN communities are growing up exposed to substance abuse, putting them at risk for disrupted social, emotional, and even physical development and, later, for developing their own substance use problems. Our research confirms what these partners are telling us. As an organization of researchers and community research partners who work together to understand the development of AIAN children, NCRE is poised foster innovative research to address the impact of the current substance abuse crisis on these children. Since 2008, NCRE has hosted conferences for researchers working with AIAN children and adolescents, bringing them together to share research findings and discuss the most pressing agendas for developmental science in AIAN cultures. Many NCRE members are themselves directly engaged in substance use research; others recognize the implications of substance abuse on children's development. The collective expertise of this group will be focused to address the impacts of substance abuse on AIAN children and families, to address three specific aims: (1) host NCRE conferences in 2020, 2021 and 2022 to bring together child development researchers and AIAN community partners, particularly those whose efforts focus on the impact of substance abuse on children's development and the development of substance abuse; (2) focus NCRE conference themes on substance abuse and development and invite keynote speakers who will enhance the ability of researchers to bring the best science available to help reduce the impact of substance abuse on AIAN children and families; and (3) structure NCRE conferences to facilitate meaningful dialogue among academic researchers and community research partners, support effective dissemination of research findings to diverse stakeholder groups, provide networking opportunities to build collaborative relationships, and connect new investigators with senior mentors.