This article provides an overview of some common challenges and opportunities related to cultural adaptation of behavioral interventions. Cultural adaptation is presented as a necessary action to ponder when considering the adoption of an evidence-based intervention with ethnic and other minority groups. It proposes a roadmap to choose existing interventions and a specific approach to evaluate prevention and treatment interventions for cultural relevancy. An approach to conducting cultural adaptations is proposed, followed by an outline of a cultural adaptation protocol. A case study is presented, and lessons learned are shared as well as recommendations for culturally grounded social work practice.

No abstract

While parent and youth substance use prevention interventions have shown beneficial effects on preadolescents, many programs have typically targeted U.S born European American and African American families while overlooking the unique factors that characterize recent immigrant Latino families. This article presents the results on youth substance use when adding a culturally grounded parenting component, Familias Preparando la Nueva Generación (FPNG), to the existing and already proven efficacious classroom-based drug abuse prevention intervention, keepin’it REAL (kiR). Data come from youth (N=267) participating in the randomized control trial of the interventions who were surveyed at baseline (beginning of 7th grade) and 18 months later (end of 8th grade). Using multivariate linear regression path analyses, results indicate when FPNG and kiR are combined, youth had significantly lowered alcohol and cigarettes use at the end of 8th grade, mediated through anti-drug norms, when compared to youth who only participated in kiR without parental participation in FPNG. These findings indicate that adolescent normative beliefs and related behaviors can be changed through synchronized culturally grounded parent and youth interventions and together can play an important role in reducing adolescent substance use.

A sample of 206 Mexican-heritage 7th-grade adolescents attending predominantly Mexican-heritage schools in Arizona was assessed on their linguistic acculturation, perceived parental monitoring, and substance use. One of their parents also reported on their own parental level of acculturation. While greater parental acculturation predicted greater marijuana use, the acculturation gap (child's level of acculturation over and above that of the parent) was not predictive of substance use. There was a significant acculturation gap by parental monitoring interaction for marijuana use, where the negative correlation between parental monitoring and marijuana use was attenuated for parent–youth dyads that exhibited the largest acculturation gap. This suggests that a greater parent–youth cultural distance (the acculturation gap) attenuates that protective effect of parental monitoring on youth marijuana use. Results are discussed in terms of how the acculturation gap increases the risk for problem behaviors in Mexican American adolescents through its effect on family processes.

This article presents the short-term effects of a pilot study of keepin' it REAL(Manténte REAL) conducted in central Mexico by a bi-national team of investigators. This middle school-based model program for preventing substance use was adapted for Mexico linguistically but not culturally. Two Guadalajara public middle schools were recruited and randomly assigned to either implement the prevention program or serve as a control site. The program was implemented in the treatment site by the students' regular teachers, who were trained by the research team. Seventh graders in ten classrooms in the treatment and control schools (N = 432) completed a pretest and post-test survey in Spanish similar to the survey utilized in the original efficacy trial of keepin' it REAL in the US. T-tests and OLS regressions were conducted to determine the effects of the intervention on substance use outcomes. Differences between treatment and control groups in frequency of use of alcohol and tobacco, the two substances of choice in this sample, were significant and in the desired direction. Differences in amount of use were also in the preferred direction but were not significant for alcohol and only marginally significant for tobacco. When the sample was split by gender, statistically significant treatment effects remained for females but were not observed among males. Effects of the linguistically adapted version of keepin' it REAL appears to be driven by the change in female use, however the difference in male and female outcomes was not statistically significant. Implications for cultural adaptation and prevention in Mexico are discussed from a communication competency perspective. The promising results of the pilot study suggest that the linguistic adaptation was effective but that a comprehensive cultural adaptation of keepin' it REAL in partnership with Mexican investigators and communities may be warranted.

In the face of rising rates of substance use among Mexican youth and rapidly narrowing gender differences in use, substance use prevention is an increasingly urgent priority for Mexico. Prevention interventions have been implemented in Mexico but few have been rigorously evaluated for effectiveness. This article presents the long term effects of a Mexico-based pilot study to test the feasibility of a linguistically specific (Mexican Spanish) adapted version of keepin’ it REAL, a school-based substance abuse prevention model program. University affiliated researchers from Mexico and the US collaborated on the study design, program implementation, data collection, and analysis. Students and their teachers from two middle schools (secundarias) in Guadalajara participated in this field trial of Mantente REAL (translated to Spanish). The schools were randomly assigned to treatment and control conditions. The sample of 431 students reported last 30 day substance use at three times (one pretest and two posttests). Changes in substance use behaviors over time were examined using growth curve models. Long term desired intervention effects were found for alcohol and marijuana use but not for cigarettes. The intervention effects were greater for girls than for boys in slowing the typical developmental increase over time in alcohol use. Marijuana effects were based on small numbers of users and indicate a need for larger scale studies. These findings suggest that keepin’ it REAL is a promising foundation for cultural program adaptation efforts to create efficacious school-based universal prevention interventions for middle school students in Mexico.

ABSTRACT. Objective:Research is limited on the strategies that Mexican adolescents use to resist use of alcohol, cigarettes, and other drugs. Cultural norms and gender socialization patterns concerning the acceptability of use of various substances by women and men infl uence Mexican youths in their responses to offers of substances. This study explored the drug-resistance strategies used by youth in the central Mexican state of Guanajuato, how their use predicted patterns of substance use, and how these associations differed by gender. Method: The analysis used cross-sectional survey data from 702 (60% male) students enrolled in eight alternative secondary education school sites in 2007. Participants reported the drug-resistance behaviors they used to deal with offers of alcohol, cigarettes, and marijuana. Past-12-month use of the four drug-resistance strategies employed most often by U.S. youth-refuse, explain, avoid, and leave (R.E.A.L.)-and any other strategies were measured. Composite measures of lifetime and recent use of alcohol, cigarettes, and marijuana were predicted in multivariate ordinary least squares regression analyses. Models were tested with and without controls for the frequency that respondents were offered substances and introduced gender interaction effects. Results: Controlling for substance use offers, more frequent use of a wide repertoire of R.E.A.L. strategies predicted less consumption of alcohol and cigarettes, and using non-R.E.A.L. strategies predicted less marijuana consumption. All of these relationships were either stronger for males than for females or signifi cant for males only. Conclusions: Gender differences exist in the impact of R.E.A.L. strategies on substance use among youth in Mexico. Despite a narrowing gender gap in substance use in Mexico, large exposure to and susceptibility of substance use remains. Developing effective prevention programs in Mexico based on teaching appropriate drug-resistance strategies and enhancing communication skills could aid in reducing substance use among Mexican adolescents. (J. Stud. Alcohol Drugs, 73, 111-119, 2012)

Online harassment is a growing problem. Among college students, 43% report some experience receiving harassing messages. Previous research has shown negative online experiences to be typical among "emerging adults" (especially college students), and these incidents may be related to normative developmental behaviors, such as "on-again-off-again" romantic relationships. Study hypotheses were derived from previous research. Undergraduate student respondents ( N = 342) were surveyed about their experiences with online harassment, emotional responses to online harassment, and their relationship with the sender of harassing messages. Findings suggest that online harassment is linked to issues of intimate partner violence. Those who were harassed by a partner reported feelings of depression and anxiety. Using a gendered framework to explore online harassment is warranted because young women who are 18 to 29 years of age have higher rates of intimate partner violence than other demographic groups. Findings suggest future research is needed to understand the time ordering of these issues.