Native American Youth Empowerment Project: Using creative expression as a prevention modality

In order to address the substance abuse and HIV risks among American Indian adolescents, an 8-session wellness and video/creative expression intervention was implemented with 115 urban youth. This intervention was funded by the SAMHSA Center for Substance Abuse Prevention and was a collaboration between the Tucson Indian Center and the University of Arizona Zuckerman College of Public Health. The eight three-hour sessions included a health promotion component that focused on wellness issues, such as the importance of staying healthy, social problem-solving skills, healthy relationships, reproductive health and safe sex, and enhancing Native identity and involvement in traditional cultural events. These health promotion activities were interactive and incorporated the use of video and creative expression modalities to reinforce the health education and provide an opportunity for youth to practice the skills they learned. Through community presentations of their videos and artwork after completing the eight sessions, youth disseminated health messages to their families and friends. This presentation will review the curriculum in detail, discuss the program's theoretical background, and show youth videos as well as videos illustrating the intervention activities.