Ecologically Based Assessment for Indigenous Youth Populations
Ecologically Based Assessment for Indigenous Youth Populations
This paper describes a five-stage approach toward conducting an ecologically based assessment with Indigenous youth populations, and the implications of this approach for the development and implementation of culturally grounded prevention interventions. A description of a pilot study funded by the National Institutes of Health/National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIH/NIDA) focused on drug use and American Indian youth is presented as one model for operationalizing ecologically based assessment with Indigenous youth populations, and issues related to translating the pilot study into a prevention intervention are discussed. This paper suggests that ecologically based assessment can serve as a foundation for culturally grounded prevention interventions, promoting the social and ecological validity of those interventions.
Editors' Strategic Implications: By basing the intervention components on assessments of population needs and abilities, the authors demonstrate how programs may be responsive to participants embedded in specific cultural contexts. This type of forward engineering changes the focus of adaptation to program development and should serve as a model for all those developing interventions as well as those working to adapt effective programs to meet the needs of specific populations.
Ecological perspectives in health promotion have been adopted by numerous social sciences including public health, sociology, psychology, education, and nursing. The universality of this paradigm lies in its description and application of addressing the interaction of reciprocal determinism between the individual and the environment (Green, Richard, & Potvin, 1996). With growing interest in primary prevention of disorders, ecological frameworks are particularly salient in that greater emphasis is placed on the role of persons, groups, and organizations as active agents in shaping health practices, risk reduction efforts, and policies intended to optimize both individual wellness and collective well-being (Stokols, 1996).
An ecological perspective in assessment and prevention is particularly relevant for Indigenous youth populations (e.g., American Indian, Alaskan Native, and Native Hawaiian youth). For example, the unique impacts of poverty, discrimination, and social isolation on the psychosocial development and adjustment of Indigenous youth are ideally examined through an ecological perspective (Gibbs & Huang, 1998). However, because of the breadth and complexity of ecological assessment, questions arise as to which components of the ecosystem are most relevant, particularly for Indigenous youth populations.
The purpose of this paper is to describe the relevance of an ecologically based assessment approach for studying "at-risk" behaviors of Indigenous youth populations, and to describe its implications for the development of culturally grounded primary prevention interventions. A specific body of literature related to the social ecology of Indigenous youth populations is reviewed in this paper to contextualize one approach toward ecologically based assessment with these youth. The methodology from the American Indian Youth Pilot Project, a pilot study that is part of a larger infrastructure grant funded by the National Institutes of Health/National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIH/NIDA), is used to illustrate one approach toward ecological assessment with one potentially vulnerable subpopulation of Indigenous youth. This paper argues that ecologically based assessment serves as the foundation for culturally grounded prevention for Indigenous youth because it identifies the most salient environmental and cultural variables that form the basis of effective prevention practices.
Abstract and Introduction
Abstract
This paper describes a five-stage approach toward conducting an ecologically based assessment with Indigenous youth populations, and the implications of this approach for the development and implementation of culturally grounded prevention interventions. A description of a pilot study funded by the National Institutes of Health/National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIH/NIDA) focused on drug use and American Indian youth is presented as one model for operationalizing ecologically based assessment with Indigenous youth populations, and issues related to translating the pilot study into a prevention intervention are discussed. This paper suggests that ecologically based assessment can serve as a foundation for culturally grounded prevention interventions, promoting the social and ecological validity of those interventions.
Editors' Strategic Implications: By basing the intervention components on assessments of population needs and abilities, the authors demonstrate how programs may be responsive to participants embedded in specific cultural contexts. This type of forward engineering changes the focus of adaptation to program development and should serve as a model for all those developing interventions as well as those working to adapt effective programs to meet the needs of specific populations.
Introduction
Ecological perspectives in health promotion have been adopted by numerous social sciences including public health, sociology, psychology, education, and nursing. The universality of this paradigm lies in its description and application of addressing the interaction of reciprocal determinism between the individual and the environment (Green, Richard, & Potvin, 1996). With growing interest in primary prevention of disorders, ecological frameworks are particularly salient in that greater emphasis is placed on the role of persons, groups, and organizations as active agents in shaping health practices, risk reduction efforts, and policies intended to optimize both individual wellness and collective well-being (Stokols, 1996).
An ecological perspective in assessment and prevention is particularly relevant for Indigenous youth populations (e.g., American Indian, Alaskan Native, and Native Hawaiian youth). For example, the unique impacts of poverty, discrimination, and social isolation on the psychosocial development and adjustment of Indigenous youth are ideally examined through an ecological perspective (Gibbs & Huang, 1998). However, because of the breadth and complexity of ecological assessment, questions arise as to which components of the ecosystem are most relevant, particularly for Indigenous youth populations.
The purpose of this paper is to describe the relevance of an ecologically based assessment approach for studying "at-risk" behaviors of Indigenous youth populations, and to describe its implications for the development of culturally grounded primary prevention interventions. A specific body of literature related to the social ecology of Indigenous youth populations is reviewed in this paper to contextualize one approach toward ecologically based assessment with these youth. The methodology from the American Indian Youth Pilot Project, a pilot study that is part of a larger infrastructure grant funded by the National Institutes of Health/National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIH/NIDA), is used to illustrate one approach toward ecological assessment with one potentially vulnerable subpopulation of Indigenous youth. This paper argues that ecologically based assessment serves as the foundation for culturally grounded prevention for Indigenous youth because it identifies the most salient environmental and cultural variables that form the basis of effective prevention practices.