DEVELOPING CULTURALLY SENSITIVE HIV AIDS AND SUBSTANCE-ABUSE PREVENTION CURRICULA FOR NATIVE-AMERICAN YOUTH/

In 1990, researchers and health care professionals joined with members of several southwestern Native American communities to form an HIV/AI DS and substance abuse prevention partnership. Culturally sensitive ap proaches to theory-based interventions were developed into highly repl icable, structured, school-based and community-based intervention prog rams. Process evaluations indicated high levels of program acceptance and fidelity. Outcome evaluations demonstrated significant positive pr eventive intervention effects among participants. This article reports how NAPPASA school prevention curricula were developed and discusses three critical processes in developing these successful curricula: 1) selection of integrative theory to address the multi-dimensional antec edents of HIV/AIDS and substance abuse among Native Americans, 2) use of ethnographic methodology to obtain intensive input from target grou ps and community members to ensure cultural and developmental sensitiv ity in the curriculum, and 3) use of process and outcome evaluations o f pilot and field trials to develop an optimal curriculum.