School-based interventions for preventing substance use in indigenous children ages 7-13: a scoping review protocol

Family-based Interventions of Preventing Substance Use Among Immigrant Youth: A Scoping Review

Introduction

Immigrant youth face heightened risks of substance use due to the stress associated with immigration and acculturation. While parental intervention can have a preventative impact on substance use, parents need to be well-informed about substance use and effective interventions that can prevent substance use among immigrant youth. Such interventions ought to be culturally sensitive, family-based, and targeted at the specific substances that are prevalent in a given context. Identifying and curating interventions that can empower parents in addressing substance use can help mitigate the risks that immigrant youth may face.

Methods

This scoping review aimed to identify the types, characteristics, and effectiveness of family-based substance use intervention programs. Based on Arksay and O'Malley's guidelines, interventions included in the review must have met the following criteria: (a) was a family-based intervention aiming to prevent substance use; (b) targeted immigrant teens aged 12 to 17 years old; (c) was published in English; (d) originated from Australia, Canada, New Zealand, or the United States. The pinch table was used to synthesize included articles, after which studies were compared and categorized, and cross-cutting categories were identified.

Results

After screening 4551 searched literature, 13 studies that utilized family-based interventions were included in the review. All interventions were face-to-face programs, and most interventions involved parents and youth as participants. Eco-developmental theory and active learning strategies were used by multiple interventions. Given immigrant families were target stakeholders, both deep structure and surface structure cultural adaptations were utilized. Interventions increased parents' knowledge and skills regarding substance use prevention and delayed substance use initiation among youth.

Conclusion

From the review, it was evident that parents are an essential element in any program aiming to prevent or reduce children's substance use. Besides information about substance use prevention, the curriculum also involves parenting and communication skills for parents to understand the protective effects of family. Effective family-based interventions for immigrant youth require attention to parenting and immigration stress, while also considering cultural adaptation. Future directions and limitations are also discussed.

Diversifying Indigenous Vulnerability and Adaptation: An Intersectional Reading of Māori Women’s Experiences of Health, Wellbeing, and Climate Change

Despite evidence that Indigenous peoples’ multiple subjectivities engender diverse lived experiences both between and within Indigenous groups, the influence of multiple subjectivities on Indigenous peoples’ vulnerability and adaptation to climate change is largely un-explored. Drawing on ethnographic research with Indigenous Māori women in Aotearoa New Zealand, this paper provides empirical evidence that subjectivity-mediated power dynamics operating within Indigenous societies (at the individual and household scale) are important determinants of vulnerability and adaptation which should be considered in both scholarship and policy. Using an intersectional framework, I demonstrate how different Māori women and their whānau (families) live, cope with, and adapt to the embodied physical and emotional health effects of climate change in radically different ways because of their subject positionings, even though they belong to the same community, hapū (sub-tribe), or iwi (tribe). In underlining these heterogenous experiences, I provide an avenue for reconsidering how climate adaptation scholarship, policies, and practices might better engage with the complex, amorphous realities within Māori and other Indigenous communities. I argue it is possible to develop more inclusive, tailored, and sustainable adaptation that considers divergent vulnerabilities and adaptive capacities within Indigenous communities, groups, and societies and supports customised vulnerability-reduction strategies.

Exploring family based immigrant youth substance use prevention programmes: a scoping review protocol

INTRODUCTION

Canada has one of the highest rates of problematic opiate and alcohol use in the world. Globally, Canada was the second country that legalized marijuana for non-medical use. As Canada is an immigrant-receiving country, newcomers and immigrants contend with a substance use landscape that was likely absent in their countries of origin. Although immigrants have lower rates of substance use than the host population, the risk of substance use, especially among youth, increases with acculturation and peer pressure. While parents are best placed to mitigate the risks for substance use among their youth, immigrant parents often do not have the knowledge and skills to do so. Therefore, culturally adaptable family based interventions need be explored to build immigrant parents' capacities to mitigate substance use risks.

AIM AND PURPOSE

The aim of this scoping review is to explore family based substance use prevention interventions for immigrant youth, which will be guided by two questions:What is known about family based interventions for preventing immigrant adolescents' substance use?What are the features and study results of these intervention protocols?

METHODS AND ANALYSIS

We will apply Arksey and O'Malley's procedure for reporting scoping review and report study findings based on the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines for scoping reviews.

DISCUSSION

We hope that the knowledge translation emanating from this review will increase immigrant parents' knowledge of substance use and enable them to effectively intervene to prevent substance use among their youth. We also hope that this work can inform policy development on best practices for substance use prevention and for the creation of culturally sensitive programmes and services for immigrant youth.

A scoping review of school-based indigenous substance use prevention in preteens (7-13 years)

BACKGROUND

Early-onset substance use is a risk factor for continued use, dependency, and poor long-term health outcomes. Indigenous youth are more likely to engage in early-onset substance use than their non-Indigenous counterparts. In Canada, culturally appropriate prevention programs are needed for Indigenous youth in elementary schools. Therefore, this scoping review aims to explore the published, international literature examining school-based substance use prevention programs for Indigenous children aged 7-13.

MAIN TEXT

Methods: This scoping review followed a six-step approach: 1) identifying the research questions, 2) identifying relevant studies, 3) selecting the studies, 4) charting the data, 5) collating, summarizing, and reporting the results, and 6) consulting with experts. The review was reported using guidelines from Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses extensions for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR).

RESULTS

Eleven articles (3 Canadian; 7 American and; 1 Australian) were included in the review. The prevention programs they studied were based on existing research or were adapted from existing interventions. The programs were tailored to each communities' culture by including Indigenous stakeholders in developing or adapting prevention programs to be culturally safe and responsive. The articles evaluated the programs' Effectiveness in changing student knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors using pre- and post-intervention surveys, randomized control trials, longitudinally designed analysis, and mixed methods. Mixed quantitative findings and qualitative findings highlighted the programs' value in building community capacity and fostering cultural revitalization.

CONCLUSION

This review highlights best practices for developing school-based substance use prevention programs for Indigenous youth. Findings suggest that prevention programs should be culturally responsive and provide students with the knowledge and skills to prevent and manage substance use in real-life situations. Making Indigenous beliefs, values, languages, images, and worldviews central to the prevention curriculum enhanced the Effectiveness, appropriateness, and sustainability of prevention programs. Indigenous communities are best positioned to facilitate cultural tailoring without compromising the fidelity of evidence-based prevention programs.