Psychometric evaluation of protective measures in Native STAND: A multi-site cross-sectional study of American Indian Alaska Native high school students.

American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) youth are strong in culture and rich in heritage and experience unique strengths and challenges throughout adolescence. Documenting conditions that protect against risk factors associated with poor health outcomes are needed. We explored scales that measure self-esteem, culture, social support, and community from a sample of 1,456 youth involved in Native STAND, a culturally-relevant evidence-based sexual health intervention. We established content validity by reviewing existing literature and community feedback. Construct validity was examined using factor analysis. The final self-esteem model included seven items, factor loadings ranged from 0.47 to 0.63 for positive self-esteem and 0.77 to 0.81 for negative self-esteem. The final culture model included three items, factor loadings 0.73 to 0.89. The social support scale included four items, factor loadings ranged from 0.86 to 0.87 for family social support and 0.75 to 0.77 for friends social support. The community and community safety scale included three items; factor loadings ranged from 0.52 to 0.82. Coefficient alphas for scales ranged from α = 0.63 to α = 0.86. This study validated scales in a national sample of AI/AN youth-psychometric scales provide an essential tool for documenting the needs and strengths of AI/AN youth.

Putting program evaluation to work: a framework for creating actionable knowledge for suicide prevention practice.

The economic and human cost of suicidal behavior to individuals, families, communities, and society makes suicide a serious public health concern, both in the US and around the world. As research and evaluation continue to identify strategies that have the potential to reduce or ultimately prevent suicidal behavior, the need for translating these findings into practice grows. The development of actionable knowledge is an emerging process for translating important research and evaluation findings into action to benefit practice settings. In an effort to apply evaluation findings to strengthen suicide prevention practice, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) supported the development of three actionable knowledge products that make key findings and lessons learned from youth suicide prevention program evaluations accessible and useable for action. This paper describes the actionable knowledge framework (adapted from the knowledge transfer literature), the three products that resulted, and recommendations for further research into this emerging method for translating research and evaluation findings and bridging the knowledge-action gap.

The power of protection: a population-based comparison of Native and non-Native youth suicide attempters.

This study provides actionable information about intervening with American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) youth to prevent suicide. Statewide school survey data were used to model the impact of risk and protective factors on self-reported suicide attempts (both AI/AN and non-AI/AN). The cumulative risk and protective model worked similarly for both groups. AI/AN youth had a higher threshold of risk before making a suicide attempt. Protective factors buffered the impact of risk, particularly for the higher risk youth.

Preliminary evaluation of extended-release naltrexone in Michigan and Missouri drug courts.

This pilot study, a retrospective case series analysis, examined the feasibility and effectiveness of treating alcohol dependence with extended-release naltrexone (XR-NTX) in the drug court setting. In two Michigan courts and in one Missouri court, 32 clients were treated with XR-NTX and were matched with 32 clients with standard care in an open-label, voluntary recruitment design. Treatment with XR-NTX was associated with relative risk reductions (RRRs; p = ns) of 57% fewer missed drug court sessions, a 35% reduction in the monthly ratio of positive drug and alcohol tests to total tests, and 35% fewer individuals with greater than 25% overall positive alcohol or drug tests. In the principal end-point analysis of annualized number of new arrests, 26% of standard-care clients were rearrested versus 8% on XR-NTX (RRR = 69%; p < .05). Treatment with XR-NTX appeared to be feasible and was associated with a consistently large treatment effect across multiple outcomes relevant to the drug court setting.