PROJECT TITLE:
American Indian Spirituality and Alcohol
FUNDING SOURCE:
NIAAA
DATES OF FUNDING:
2001-2003
PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR(S):
Paul Spicer, PhD.
CENTER STAFF INVOLVED:
Jan Beals, Marjorie Bezdek,Calvin Croy, Marvine Douville, Candace Fleming, Ann Wilson Frederick, Suzell Klein, Nohoon Kwak, Paul Spicer, and Shiela Young
SPECIFIC AIMS/RESEARCH GOALS:
This study has 5 Specific Aims:
- to better understand spirituality and religious practices in a random, community-based sample of members of two tribes in the U.S.;
- to explore potential relationships between spirituality/religiousness and concurrent patterns of alcohol use and misuse in these same two tribes;
- to articulate the role of spirituality and religion in changes in drinking behavior;
- to extend the emphasis on spirituality and religion in the Healing of the Spirit Project to more explicitly examine their role in the treatment and prevention of alcohol problems; and, finally,
- to apply the results of this work, in consultation with AI/AN community members, to inform future work on religiousness and spirituality with AI/AN people.
RESEARCH DESIGN:
Secondary analysis of religion and spirituality data collected in a large epidemiological study in two American Indian tribes.
Develop and use of open-ended questions on religion and spirituality in an on-going study of remission from alcohol dependence in one American Indian tribe.
Review of findings from both aspects of the study with community members to refine existing approaches to religion and spirituality in American Indian communities.
PARTICIPANTS:
Enrolled members of a Northern Plains Tribe who previously participated in AI-SUPERPFP.
MEASURES:
- AI-SUPERPFP Measures of Alcohol Use, Alcohol Diagnoses, and Spirituality
- The Multidimensional Measurement of Religiousness/Spirituality for Use in Health Research
PUBLICATIONS:
None currently.