Community Partnership to Affect Cherokee Adolescent Substance Abuse

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Substance abuse by Native American Indians accounts for life-threatening and deadly problems such as accidents, chronic liver disease, cirrhosis, homicide, and suicide. Because Cherokees represent the second- largest tribe in the United States, a large percentage of alcohol and drug use among Native American Indians can be attributed to the Cherokee people. Survey findings for students at one high school in the Cherokee Nation indicate that 90-95 percent have tried alcohol; 70 percent have tried marijuana; and 24-27 percent have tried inhalants. The overall objective of the "Community Partnership to Affect Cherokee Adolescent Substance Abuse" project is to strengthen a partnership between the Florida Atlantic University College of Nursing and a Native American Indian (Cherokee) community to affect substance abuse among Cherokee adolescents by developing and testing a culturally competent school-based intervention. The PI, a new investigator, has done pilot work testing the feasibility of using the intervention with Cherokee adolescents. Proposed plans for the intervention include a traditional Cherokee Talking Circle for substance abuse. Specifically, the project aims to: (a) create a community partnership steering committee that is representative of members from the local Cherokee community where the community-based participatory research will be conducted; (b) assess the Cherokee community needs regarding substance abuse; (c) partner with the Cherokee community to create culturally competent Talking Circle intervention materials and select culturally appropriate outcome measures; (d) evaluate the difference in substance abuse, Cherokee self-reliance, and stress for Cherokee adolescents who receive the culturally competent intervention and those who receive standard substance abuse education. It is expected that the results of this study will increase knowledge about: (a) design of a culturally competent intervention; (b) selection of culturally appropriate outcome measures; and (c) effectiveness of the intervention for affecting substance abuse among Cherokee adolescents. It is also expected that the community-based research process will contribute to community capacity for managing the health issue of adolescent substance abuse. Further, the data generated from this project will contribute to continuing research with Native American Indian adolescents who are abusing substances.