Culturally Competent Substance Abuse Prevention Research Among Rural Native American Communities

Substance abuse is seen as the major contributing factor to the disarray of many rural Indian communities. The majority of rural Native American communities exist either within the boundaries of tribal trust lands, commonly referred to as reservations, or in close proximity to reservations; these communities are often made up of members from a common tribal population. These tribal-specific populations are very diverse in terms of cultural norms, language, and, as studies have found, in their degree of illegal drug use (Beauvais and LaBoueff 1985; May 1992; Oetting et al. 1983).