{"id":19837,"date":"2025-08-09T18:07:20","date_gmt":"2025-08-09T17:07:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/?p=19837"},"modified":"2025-10-21T20:57:05","modified_gmt":"2025-10-21T19:57:05","slug":"cherokee-nation-behavioral-health-and-emory-team-up-to-prevent-youth-substance-use","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/2025\/08\/cherokee-nation-behavioral-health-and-emory-team-up-to-prevent-youth-substance-use\/","title":{"rendered":"Cherokee Nation Behavioral Health and Emory team up to prevent youth substance use"},"content":{"rendered":"

From Emory University<\/span><\/span><\/span>\u00a0– Aug 6 2025<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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While overdose deaths in the U.S. sharply declined in 2024, they remain high. Almost\u00a090,000 Americans\u00a0died from drug overdoses between October 2023 and September 2024. Overdose death rates are\u00a0particularly high\u00a0in American Indian and Alaska Native (AI\/AN) people.<\/span><\/p>\n

The earlier someone starts substance use, the\u00a0more likely\u00a0they are to have substance use problems later in life. So, it is important to work with young people to prevent substance use early in life. Researchers at Emory’s Rollins School of Public Health recently partnered with Cherokee Nation Behavioral Health to design and implement programs to help prevent youth substance use in their community.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

They created\u00a0two programs. Connect Kits for Family Action delivers activity kits to families of teens in 10th to 12th grade to help strengthen family relationships. Connect Brief Intervention uses technology to deliver individualized coaching to high school students.<\/span><\/p>\n

Testing the programs<\/span><\/h2>\n

A randomized trial of the interventions, with results\u00a0published\u00a0in the\u00a0American Journal of Public Health<\/em>, found that they worked to reduce alcohol and other substance use in high school students in rural Oklahoma.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the trial, Cherokee Nation Behavioral Health implemented the programs at 10 high schools. Ten other schools did not receive programming to serve as a comparison. The 10 high schools that did not receive the programs during the trial received them after the study ended. Most students at participating schools were either white or AI\/AN.<\/span><\/p>\n

The trial lasted for three years, and students completed surveys every six months to report on their alcohol and substance use.<\/span><\/p>\n

What they found<\/span><\/h2>\n

Students at the schools that received the intervention had lower alcohol and other substance use than students at the comparison schools.<\/span><\/p>\n

Every six months, these students reported:<\/span><\/p>\n