Developing Empirically Based, Culturally Grounded Drug Prevention Interventions for Indigenous Youth Populations

This article describes the relevance of a culturally grounded approach toward drug prevention development for indigenous youth populations. This approach builds drug prevention from the “ground up” (i.e., from the values, beliefs, and worldviews of the youth that are the intended consumers of the program) and is contrasted with efforts that focus on adapting existing drug prevention interventions to fit the norms of different youth ethnocultural groups. The development of an empirically based drug prevention program focused on rural Native Hawaiian youth is described as a case example of culturally grounded drug prevention development for indigenous youth; the impact of this effort on the validity of the intervention and on community engagement and investment in the development of the program are discussed. Finally, implications of this approach for behavioral health services and the development of an indigenous prevention science are discussed.