Community Perceptions of Alcohol Exposed Pregnancy Prevention Program for American Indian and Alaska Native Teens

Abstract

A community needs assessment during a tribally-led Changing High-Risk Alcohol Use and Increasing Contraception Effectiveness Study (CHOICES) intervention highlighted the need to reduce the risk for alcohol exposed pregnancy (AEP) among American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) adolescent girls. The CHOICES for American Indian Teens (CHAT) Program aims to reduce the risk of AEP among AIAN teens in one Northern Plains tribal community. The CHAT team adopted an iterative process to modify the tribally-led CHOICES curriculum for AIAN teens. This paper describes the iterative process as well as the community perception towards AEP prevention among AIAN teens. The CHAT team conducted several levels of formative and qualitative research, including one-on-one interviews (n = 15) with community members, AIAN elders and school counsellors; and three focus groups with AIAN adolescent girls (n = 15). A qualitative data analysis identified several recommendations that centered on making the information regarding alcohol and birth control appealing to teens; ensuring the confidentiality of the participants; making the program culturally relevant; and including boys in the program. This study outlines various components prioritized by community members in creating a culturally-relevant and age-appropriate AEP prevention program and provides community perceptions of AEP prevention for the teens in this community

Reach, Acceptability, and Sustainability of the Native Changing High-Risk Alcohol Use and Increasing Contraception Effectiveness Study (CHOICES) Intervention: A Qualitative Evaluation of an Alcohol-Exposed Pregnancy Prevention Program

“…Participants in Native CHOICES agreed the intervention would appeal to other women in their social groups, specifically younger generations, and they wished to see the benefits passed onto others. Taken together, our findings and the extant literature highlight the need for prevention efforts such as Native CHOICES to serve younger generations [ 29 , 30 ]. Lastly, participants provided community-specific ways to sustain the intervention, for example, by partnering with other community programs serving individuals who have a need for or interest in Native CHOICES.…”

Acceptability of an eHealth Intervention to Prevent Alcohol‐Exposed Pregnancy Among American Indian/Alaska Native Teens

“…Once developed using REDCap, focus groups with AI/AN teens were vital to gathering additional input on the acceptability of CHAT and an online intervention with AI/AN teens. Specifics on suggested changes to the CHOICES curriculum for AI/AN teens are reported in more detail in an earlier paper from this team and include options for making alcohol and birth control information and activities more appealing to teens (Shrestha et al, 2019).…”

Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders: Fixing Our Aim to Aim for the Fix

“…We, as editors of this special issue on Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD), are proud to present eleven papers [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11]. These studies focused on prevention, systems development, clinical practice, and public policy.…”