Collaborative Measurement Development as a Tool in CBPR: Measurement Development and Adaptation within the Cultures of Communities

Fok

et al. 2014

This study provides an empirical test of a culturally grounded theoretical model for prevention of alcohol abuse and suicide risk with Alaska Native youth, using a promising set of culturally appropriate measures for the study of the process of change and outcome. This model is derived from qualitative work that generated an heuristic model of protective factors from alcohol (Allen at al., 2006; Mohatt, Hazel et al., 2004; Mohatt, Rasmus et al., 2004). Participants included 413 rural Alaska Native youth ages 12-18 who assisted in testing a predictive model of Reasons for Life and Reflective Processes about alcohol abuse consequences as co-occurring outcomes. Specific individual, family, peer, and community level protective factor variables predicted these outcomes. Results suggest prominent roles for these predictor variables as intermediate prevention strategy target variables in a theoretical model for a multilevel intervention. The model guides understanding of underlying change processes in an intervention to increase the ultimate outcome variables of Reasons for Life and Reflective Processes regarding the consequences of alcohol abuse.

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Meetings were conducted through mixed face-to-face, audio, and video conferencing hosted at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Gonzalez and Trickett (this issue) describe important elements of this collaborative measurement development process while Allen (online Appendix S1) provides more detailed mapping of the constructs.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Protective Factors Model for Alcohol Abuse and Suicide Prevention Among Alaska Native Youth

Allen

Fok

et al. 2014

“…In response to deeply held community concerns regarding the ongoing epidemic of AN youth suicide (Allen, Levintova & Mohatt, 2011), the CBPR partnership determined to expand the focus of intervention development to prevent both AUD and suicide (Allen, Mohatt, Beehler et al, this issue). With this, the process of CBPR moved from qualitative and mixed methods discovery-based research seeking to describe an indigenous model of protection, to the intricacies of culturally appropriate measurement development described by Gonzalez and Trickett (this issue). Allen, Mohatt, Fok et al (this issue) then report on the next step in this programmatic research effort, which was to test the operating characteristics and further refine these measurement instruments.…”

Section: People Awakening Program Of Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Feasibility of a Community Intervention for the Prevention of Suicide and Alcohol Abuse with Yup'ik Alaska Native Youth: The Elluam Tungiinun and Yupiucimta Asvairtuumallerkaa Studies

Fok

Henry

et al. 2014

The Elluam Tungiinun and Yupiucimta Asvairtuumallerkaa studies evaluated the feasibility of a community intervention to prevent suicide and alcohol abuse among rural Yup’ik Alaska Native youth in two remote communities. The intervention originated in an Indigenous model of protection, and its development used a community based participatory research (CBPR) process. Feasibility assessment aimed to assess the extent to which (1) the intervention could be implemented in rural Alaska Native communities, and (2) the intervention was capable of producing measurable effects. Scales maximally sensitive to change were derived from earlier measurement work, and the study contrasted implementation process and outcomes across the two communities. In one community, medium dose response effects (d = .30–.50), with dose defined as number of intervention activities attended, were observed in the growth of intermediate protective factors and ultimate variables. In the other community, medium dose effects were observed for one intermediate protective factor variable, and small dose effects were observed in ultimate variables. Differences across communities in resources supporting intervention explain these contrasting outcomes. Results suggest implementation in these rural Alaska settings is feasible when sufficient resources are available to sustain high levels of local commitment. In such cases, measureable effects are sufficient to warrant a prevention trial.

“…For these reasons, we assert that application of a CBPR perspective in measurement development is a crucial, though neglected dimension in the CBPR literature (Trimble, 2010). Gonzalez and Trickett (this issue) describe our efforts directed towards an engaged, collaborative measurement development approach to the creation of culturally appropriate outcome measures. The article involves two interrelated stories.…”

Section: A New Approach In the Community Intervention Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

“…The measures described in Gonzalez and Trickett (this issue) were used to test this culturally grounded model. A path analysis provides an empirical test of the prevention model, including an understanding of the workings of proximal and mediating variables as important mechanisms of change.…”

Section: A New Approach In the Community Intervention Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

Introduction to Ecological Description of a Community Intervention: Building Prevention Through Collaborative Field Based Research

Allen

2014

This special issue of the American Journal of Community Psychology is the result of a 18-year partnership with Alaska Native communities using collaborative field based research methods. Its goal is to provide a case study fulfilling the spirit of ecological inquiry, offering a detailed and nuanced description of a community intervention. The articles describe the nature of our work, including some of our successes, as well as challenges, dilemmas, and even disappointments we experienced along the way. Our primary aim was to develop and assess the feasibility of a complex, multi-level intervention to increase protective factors hypothesized to reduce suicide and alcohol abuse among rural Yup’ik Alaska Native youth ages 12 to 18. The articles that follow include descriptions of the cultural context, relevant literature and project history, our methods of community engagement in measurement development strategies, an empirical test of the prevention model that guided the intervention, the development and implementation of the intervention, a feasibility and impact assessment, and an evaluation of community engagement. A final article summarizes what is generalizable from the work in field based intervention research with rural and culturally distinct populations, and future prospects for decolonizing community intervention research methods. These papers raise important issues, including (1) need for deep, contextual ecological descriptions, (2) reconceptualization of time in the research relationship, (3) distinctions between populations and communities, and (4) the conflict between values of communities and intervention science.