Conducting Drug Abuse Prevention Research in Partnership with Native American Communities: Meeting Challenges Through Collaborative Approaches

SUMMARY Many prior drug abuse studies conducted in Native American communities have been almost exclusively directed by researchers with little community input. This paper focuses on the challenges in conducting research in Native American communities and provides a multi-step model for developing, implementing, and evaluating drug abuse prevention programs in partnership with Native American communities. Key steps in the model include: building collaborative relationships with community members, developing interventions to fit local culture and norms, training indigenous staff to implement the program(s), and obtaining on-going feedback from participants using both qualitative and quantitative methods. A case study, the Native American Prevention Project Against AIDS and Substance Abuse (NAPPASA), serves to illustrate how integrating cultural and community input into the project can lead to empowerment of community members and successful program outcomes.