Talking Circle for Native American Youth Living Well (A Yo Li)

University Of Texas At Austin, Austin TX

Investigators

Abstract

Abstract/Summary The ongoing mental health crisis among Native Americans manifests in extraordinarily high rates mental, emotional, and behavioral health disorders such as anxiety, stress, depression, substance use, and suicide in Native American youth as young as 10. The loss of Tribal Elders and Native speakers has taken an incalculable toll on the cultural ties of language and tradition that flow from Elder Native American generations to the young. Native American people of all ages, have reported some of the highest rates of psychological distress that include depression, anxiety, life stressors, substance use (alcohol, drugs, commercial tobacco use). Suicide fatalities for Native American youth between the ages of 15–19 has more than doubled. For some Native American communities, suicide is the leading cause of death for youth ages 10-14. Moreover, Native American youth begin to use alcohol, other substances and commercial tobacco at younger ages (around the age of 11), and at higher rates, than all other groups. For a population already struggling, they are at high risk for suicide and other mental health disorders among the youth. Thus, interventions to improve Native American youth mental, emotional, and behavioral health outcomes are urgently needed. To meet this urgent need, our overarching objective is to leverage the empirically proven, highly effective, school based, Talking Circle Intervention to promote the mental, emotional, and behavioral health of geographically different (rural vs. urban) Native American youth. This study, “Talking Circle for Native American Youth Living Well (A Yo Li)” uses a Community Based Participatory Research (CBPR) approach to evaluate Talking Circle effectiveness, partnering with the United Keetoowah Band (UKB) of Cherokee Tribe in Oklahoma, with members living in two geographically different areas, rural and urban. “A Yo Li” in the UKB tribal language means “youth”. The Talking Circle Intervention will be implemented as an after-school program in each of the participating schools. After-school programs are an ideal setting for the Talking Circle intervention. After-school programs are preferred by parents, students, and teachers in many Native American communities, as they provide structured, educational opportunities and activities for youth after regular school hours, while parents/guardians are still busy with work or other responsibilities. Based upon the preference of our UKB tribal partners, and ethical considerations, all students will eventually receive the intervention, thus the control condition is waitlist-control.