Entrepreneurship education: A strength-based approach to substance use and suicide prevention for American Indian adolescents

Abstract

American Indian (AI) adolescents suffer the largest disparities in substance use and suicide. Predominating prevention models focus primarily on risk and utilize deficit-based approaches. The fields of substance use and suicide prevention research urge for positive youth development frameworks that are strength based and target change at individual and community levels. Entrepreneurship education is an innovative approach that reflects the gap in available programs. This paper describes the development and evaluation of a youth entrepreneurship education program in partnership with one AI community. We detail the curriculum, process evaluation results, and the randomized controlled trial evaluating its efficacy for increasing protective factors. Lessons learned may be applicable to other AI communities.

Microenterprise intervention to reduce sexual risk behaviors and increase employment and HIV preventive practices in economically-vulnerable African-American young adults (EMERGE): protocol for a feasibility randomized clinical trial

“…Currently, there is limited research on community-based interventions in the U.S. that address economic disparities as they relate to HIV. The experimental intervention draws from prior published HIV prevention microenterprise interventions conducted primarily in low-income countries and targeting women [13,[44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52]. We have adapted these models for use in an impoverished U.S. urban setting with a focus on both African-American women and men.…”

“…It is based on prior qualitative formative research conducted by the PI that examined health-focused entrepreneurial education [40,41], cell phone behaviors [42], uptake of text message surveys, and behavioral economics relating to sexual risk behaviors [43] in young adults experiencing homelessness. It is also based on prior published microenterprise interventions for HIV risk reduction used primarily in low-income countries, and adapted for use in a U.S. urban minority setting [13,[44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52]. Participants assigned to the experimental intervention will receive the following:…”

Entrepreneurial, Economic, and Social Well-Being Outcomes from an RCT of a Youth Entrepreneurship Education Intervention among Native American Adolescents

“…We also conducted focus groups and in-depth interviews to collect qualitative data with a subset of youth who participated in ABG. A detailed description of the study rationale, methods including a CONSORT diagram illustrating the study flow, and baseline characteristics of participants may be found elsewhere [41,42]. The study design was reviewed and approved by the Apache Tribal Council and Health Advisory Board, and the JHU Institutional Review Board (IRB) (#5616).…”

“…The purpose of this paper is to report on entrepreneurship, economic, and social well-being outcomes from the 5-year RCT of ABG (#NCT02157493; clinicaltrials.gov). The original aims of the study were to longitudinally evaluate ABG for impacts on: (1) Adolescent behavioral and mental health outcomes, including substance use, suicide, and violence to self and others; (2) social well-being; (3) educational; and (4) entrepreneurship/economic outcomes [41,42]. This paper focuses on outcomes from aims 2 and 4.…”

“…The ABG intervention and evaluation design was developed over a two-year formative period by the White Mountain Apache Tribe (WMAT/Apache) in collaboration with Johns Hopkins University (JHU) Center for American Indian Health. Described in more detail elsewhere, ABG consists of 16 lessons delivered through a residential summer camp followed by 6 monthly follow-on workshops, 4 to 6 h in length, to develop business plans [41,42]. Lessons and activities are taught by two Apache paraprofessional facilitators to groups of 25 youth participants, aged 13 to 16 years old.…”