A commercial tobacco and alcohol use intervention for urban Native American youth

• Published in: Archives of psychiatric nursing 2024-08, Vol.51, p.282-286
• Main Authors: Wimbish-Tompkins, Rose, Lowe, John, Kelley, Melessa, Millender, Eugenia Flores, Liang, Huigang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Alcohol and commercial tobacco use; Alcohol Drinking - ethnology; Alcohol Drinking - prevention & control; Community-based program; Cultural identity; Female; Florida; Humans; Indians, North American - psychology; Male; Native-reliance theory; Surveys and Questionnaires; Tobacco Use - prevention & control; Urban Native American youth; Urban Population - statistics & numerical data; Urban talking circle intervention
• ISSN: 0883-9417; 1532-8228; 1532-8228
• DOI: 10.1016/j.apnu.2024.06.014

Westernized alcohol and commercial tobacco use prevention approaches for Native Americans have not been effective, or sustainable. The overall objective of this study examined the effect of the culturally based Urban Talking Circle (UTC) intervention versus standard education (SE) program for the prevention of alcohol and commercial tobacco use among urban Native American youth. The study employed a 2-condition quasi-experimental design and utilized convenience and snowball sampling methods for recruiting 100 urban Native American youth participants in two urban Native American community program locations in Florida. Study participants were randomized by their urban Native American community program location to one of the 2-conditions. These included the standard education (SE) program used within United States school systems (drug abuse resistance education) and the Urban Talking Circle (UTC) intervention, culturally tailored and developed for urban Native American youth from the culturally based Talking Circle Intervention for rural Native American Youth. The Native American Alcohol Measure for Youth (NAAMY) and Native Reliance Questionnaire were utilized to collect participants' data. Participants' data was analyzed using multivariate analysis of variance to determine differences between the scores on all measures at pre/post-intervention for the 2-conditions. Study findings indicate that a culturally based intervention was more effective for the reduction of commercial tobacco and alcohol use than a non-culturally based intervention for urban Native American youth. The study findings emphasized that the utilization of the culturally tailored UTC intervention reduced involvement associated with alcohol and commercial tobacco use. •“A Commercial Tobacco and Alcohol Use Intervention for Urban Native American Youth” paper is for sharing context and raising awareness.•There is a gap in knowledge concerning culturally based commercial tobacco and alcohol use prevention among urban Native American youth.•The dissemination of these study findings is for the sole purpose of contributing evidence on the effectiveness of providing underserved urban Native American youth with a culturally based intervention for the prevention of commercial tobacco and alcohol use.