Abstract
This paper details a four-stage methodology for developing early alcohol interventions for at-risk Aboriginal youth. Stage 1 was an integrative approach to Aboriginal education that upholds Aboriginal traditional wisdom supporting respectful relationships to the Creator, to the land and to each other. Stage 2 used quantitative methods to investigate associations between personality risk factors and risky drinking motives. Stage 3 used qualitative interviews to further understand the contexts and circumstances surrounding drinking behaviour within a larger cultural context. Stage 3 involved tailoring personality-matched, motive-specific brief interventions to meet at-risk adolescents’ needs. Stage 4 involved an efficacy test of the interventions. This novel methodology has significance for future program development to meet diverse social, cultural and health needs of at-risk adolescents.
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Notes
The first 7 open-ended questions were from ‘Motivational Information—Reasons for Drinking’ of the “Comprehensive Drinker Profile”; Marlatt and Miller (1984). The Comprehensive Drinker Profile. Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources, Inc. The last 2 questions were author-generated (Comeau 2004).
The comparison group was comprised of student drinkers with AS, HOP, or SS personality characteristics, who had volunteered to participate in the intervention, but did not attend for a variety of reasons (e.g., absent from school during intervention).
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Acknowledgements
Funding support for the methodology within First Nation communities was provided by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) New Emerging Team grant, a CIHR Investigator Award to Dr. Sherry Stewart, Dalhousie University, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Foundation, and the Canada Research Chairs Program, Integrative Science, SSHRC. The authors of this paper wish to thank the First Nations adolescents who participated in this research; the Elders who provided their experience, knowledge, and expertise in guiding the early work; and the school personnel who were integral in all aspects of data collection. We also thank Pamela Collins, Ellen Rhyno, Marc Zahradnik and all members of Anxiety & Alcohol Research Laboratory, Dalhousie University for their support. We gratefully acknowledge Dr. Cheryl Bartlett, Director Institute for Integrative Science and Health, Integrative science students and team members of Cape Breton University, Nova Scotia who contributed to this project by facilitating and financially supporting our attendance and inclusion in a cultural exchange on health and healing in a First Nations community in Nova Scotia. Special thanks are extended to Royal Canadian Mounted Police Inspector David Wojcik and participating members of the Aboriginal & Diversity Policing Services “H” Division (Nova Scotia) for their significant financial and in-kind contribution, inspiration and leadership. We would also like to acknowledge the staff, counselors and students of participating schools and the Mi’kmaq First Nation communities. Finally, we would like to thank artist Vincent Walsh for communication design and Alexa Thompson for her production assistance in manual layout.
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Mushquash, C.J., Comeau, M.N., McLeod, B.D. et al. A Four-Stage Method for Developing Early Interventions for Alcohol Among Aboriginal Adolescents. Int J Ment Health Addiction 8, 296–309 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11469-009-9240-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11469-009-9240-2