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American Indian Life Skills Development

An Effective Practice

Description

The American Indian Life Skills Development curriculum is a school-based, culturally tailored, suicide-prevention curriculum for American Indian adolescents. Tailored to American Indian norms, values, beliefs, and attitudes, the curriculum is designed to build self-esteem; identify emotions and stress; increase communication and problem-solving skills; and recognize and eliminate self-destructive behavior, including substance abuse. The curriculum provides American Indian adolescents with information on suicide and suicide-intervention training and helps them set personal and community goals.

Each lesson in the curriculum contains standard skills training techniques for providing information about the helpful or harmful effects of certain behaviors, modeling of target skills, experimental activities, behavior rehearsal for skill acquisition, and feedback for skills refinement. The curriculum is delivered three times a week over 30 weeks, during the school year.

Goal / Mission

This program aims to drastically reduce suicidal thinking and behavior.

Results / Accomplishments

Overall, the evaluation produced evidence to suggest the curriculum succeeded in creating a healthier psychological profile. Students exposed to the curriculum scored better (lower) than the no-intervention group at posttest on suicide probability and hopelessness, and the intervention group showed greater ability to perform problem-solving and suicide intervention skills in a behavioral assessment. However, the evaluators noted potential threats to validity owing to the coexistence of the two groups throughout the intervention.

About this Promising Practice

Organization(s)
Stanford University
Primary Contact
Teresa LaFromboise, Ph.D., Associate Professor
Stanford University
485 Lasuen Mall
Stanford, CA 94305
(650) 723-2109
lafrom@stanford.edu
http://griefnet.org/library/reviews/a/amerindiansk...
Topics
Health / Mental Health & Mental Disorders
Health / Alcohol & Drug Use
Health / Adolescent Health
Organization(s)
Stanford University
Source
The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention's Model Programs Guide (MPG)
Date of publication
1996
Geographic Type
Rural
Location
Zuni Pueblo and Cherokee Nation, OK
For more details
Target Audience
Teens

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