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Deborah M. LaVeaux, BS¹, Suzanne Christopher, PhD², Alma Knows His Gun McCormick³, and Adina J. Smith, PhD³. (1) Department of Health and Human Development, Montana State Univeristy, 314 Herrick Hall, Bozeman, MT 59717, 406-994-4454, dmlaveaux@montana.edu, (2) Department of Health and Human Development, Montana State University, 318 Herrick Hall, Bozeman, MT 59717, (3) Health & Human Development, Montana State University, 318 Herrick Hall, Bozeman, MT 59717-3540

The purpose of this paper is to present the development and outcome of a sexual health curriculum for Native American high school students on the Apsáalooke (Crow) reservation in Montana. This curriculum was developed as a part of Messengers for Health, a community based participatory research program on the Crow reservation that is focused on decreasing cervical cancer rates among that population. The curriculum project came about through community member requests to the Messengers' Project Coordinator to provide an effective, culturally sensitive school sexual health education program. High rates of early sexual activity, teen pregnancy, and high incidence of sexually transmitted disease in Native American communities support the development of sexual education programs directed toward this population. Women of the plains tribes in this region have statistically higher mortality rates associated with cervical cancer than their non-Indian counterparts. This disparity in survival rates necessitates a proactive approach to encourage preventive sexual health practices and behaviors among the younger generation of the Apsáalooke tribe. Educational resources are limited for directing successful and culturally sensitive Native American/Alaska Native HIV/AIDS/STD prevention education. Few current resources address the use of tribally-specific cultural components to improve the effectiveness of school-based sex education programs in reservation schools. Current research based-curricula and traditional teaching techniques such as story telling were used to create a culturally-based comprehensive sexual health curriculum specifically directed toward high school students of the Crow Reservation. Evaluation of the curriculum will also be addressed.

Learning Objectives: