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. 2023 Mar;71(1-2):184-197.
doi: 10.1002/ajcp.12621. Epub 2022 Oct 10.

Culturally grounded strategies for suicide and alcohol risk prevention delivered by rural Alaska Native communities: A dynamic wait-listed design evaluation of the Qungasvik intervention

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Culturally grounded strategies for suicide and alcohol risk prevention delivered by rural Alaska Native communities: A dynamic wait-listed design evaluation of the Qungasvik intervention

James Allen et al. Am J Community Psychol. 2023 Mar.

Abstract

We examined the effectiveness of the Qungasvik (Tools for Life) intervention in enhancing protective factors as a universal suicide and alcohol prevention strategy for young people ages 12-18 living in highly affected rural Alaska Native communities. Four communities were assigned to immediate intervention or to a dynamic wait list. Outcomes were analyzed for 239 young people at four time points over two years of community intervention. Outcomes assessed two ultimate variable protective factors buffering suicide and alcohol risk, and three intermediate variable protective factors at the individual, family, and community level. Dose dependent intervention effects were associated with growth in ultimate but not intermediate variables. This evaluation of the Qungasvik intervention provides support for the effectiveness of its Indigenous strategies for suicide and alcohol misuse prevention in this rural Alaska Native setting. Though findings did not provide support for a theory of change where growth in ultimate variables is occasioned through effects on intermediate variables, research designs focused on young people who enter intervention at lower levels of preexisting protection hold promise for better understanding of intervention change processes. The Qungasvik intervention is responsive to an acute public health need for effective rural Alaska Native suicide and alcohol risk prevention strategies.

Keywords: American Indian/Alaska Native; alcohol; community based participatory research; multilevel community intervention; suicide.

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References

REFERENCES

    1. Alaska Department of Commerce Community, and Regional Affairs, Division of Community and Economic Development. (2021). DCRA community database. https://dcra-cdo-dcced.opendata.arcgis.com
    1. Alaska Native Epidemiology Center. (2021). Alaska Native mortality: 1980−2018. Retrieved from Anchorage, AK. anthc.org/epicenter/publications.html
    1. Allen, J., Fok, C. C. T., Henry, D., Skewes, M., & People Awakening Team. (2012). Umyuangcaryaraq “reflecting”: Multidimensional assessment of reflective processes on the consequences of alcohol use among rural Yup'ik Alaska Native youth. The American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse, 38(5), 468-475. https://doi.org/10.3109/00952990.2012.702169
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    1. Allen, J., & Mohatt, G. V. (2014). Introduction to ecological description of a community intervention: Building prevention through collaborative field based research. International Journal of Circumpolar Health, 54(1−2), 83-90. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10464-014-9644-4

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