Strong Lakota Families | Thiwáhe Gluwáš’akapi 2

Evaluation of an optimized intervention to prevent early substance use among American Indian youth: Examination of expanded impacts on youth and parents

The Strong Lakota Families Study is a randomized controlled trial of the Thiwáhe Gluwáš'akapi (TG; sacred home in which family is made strong) program, a family-based substance use prevention program for young adolescents developed as part of a previous grant (R01 DA035111; Whitesell, PI). TG is delivered as a seven-week series of sessions to groups of 8-10 families. Young adolescents (10-13 years old) are enrolled with at least one parent or guardian to participate in program sessions and three years of follow-up data collection. After baseline data collection, families are randomly assigned to either the TG program or a comparison group receiving a brief healthy eating and exercise intervention adapted for this community (Woyute Waśte; good food). In addition to testing program effects on adolescent substance use, the study will also examine effects on youth suicide risk and adult substance use outcomes.