“Alcohol is Something That Been With Us Like a Common Cold”: Community Perceptions of American Indian Drinking

Abstract

This study examined tribal members’ perspectives on alcohol, risk factors, consequences, and community responses. Focus groups were conducted with five American Indian tribes between 1997 and 2001. Participants were knowledgeable of the cultural lives of their reservation communities. Although there was agreement regarding the pervasiveness of heavy drinking, participants reported different opinions about the meaning of alcohol and appropriate intervention strategies. Three dilemmas were identified, suggesting that community ambivalence may serve as a barrier to reducing problem drinking. Implications, limitations, and future research directions are discussed. The study was funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.

RÉSUMÉ

Titre: “L’alcool est quelque chose qui nous a accompagné comme le rhume” : Les perceptions de la communauté sur les relations à l’alcool des indiens d’Amérique.

Cette étude a examiné les perspectives des membres des tribus du point de vue de l’alcool, les facteurs de risque, les conséquences et les réponses de la communauté. Les groupes de discussion ont été menés avec cinq tribus indiennes américaines entre 1997 et 2001. Les participants connaissaient très bien la vie culturelle des communautés de leur réserve. Bien qu’il y ait eu un accord sur l’universalité de la consommation excessive d’alcool, les participants ont exprimé des opinions différentes quant au sens de la consommation trop grande de l’alcool et les stratégies d’intervention appropriées pour la contrôler. Trois problèmes ont été identifiés, ce qui suggère que l’ambivalence de la communauté pourrait faire obstacle à la réduction des problèmes d’alcool. Les implications, les limites, et les directions futures de la recherche ont été discutées. L’étude a été financée par le National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.

RESUMEN

Título: “Alcohol nos acompaña como si fuera resfriado”: percepciones de la comunidad sobre el alcoholismo entre los indígenas norteamericanos

Este estudio examinó la perspectiva de miembros de varios tribus indígenas sobre el alcohol, los factores que presentan riesgos, las consequencias y las respuestas de la comunidad. Entre los años 1997 y 2001 cinco tribus de indígenas norteamericanos fueron intrevistados por medio de Grupos Integrados (“focus groups”) con el intento to encontrar los puntos centrales de sus respectivas ideas. Los participantes tenían conocimiento de la vida social-cultural de la comunidad en las reservaciones donde vivían. A pesar de que había un acuerdo entre ellos de como era el conumo del alcohol, los participantes en el estudio reportaron opiniones diferentes acerca de lo que el alcohol representaba y cuales eran las estrategias adecuadas para la intervención. Tres problemas fueron identificados, sugeriendo que la ambivalencia de la comunidad era una barrera para reducir el problema del alcoholismo. Implicaciones, limitaciones, y direcciones para estudios futuros fueron discutidos. El estudio fue fundado por el Intituto para el Estudio del Abuso del Alcohol y el Alcoholismo.

Keywords :

• American Indian
• alcohol
• prevention
• qualitative research

THE AUTHORS

Nicole P. Yuan, Ph.D., is an assistant professor in the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health at the University of Arizona. She is a recipient of a Mentored Patient-Oriented Research Career Development Award funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. She is also principal investigator of a sexual violence prevention and education program supported by the Arizona Department of Health Services with pass through funds from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Her research interests include alcohol abuse, interpersonal violence, American Indian health, and community-based participatory research methods.

Emery R. Eaves, M.A., is a research specialist in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Arizona. She specializes in collection and analysis of qualitative and ethnographic data from a medical anthropological perspective. Her interests include complementary and alternative health care and treatment approaches to the treatment of chronic social and individual health issues.

Mary P. Koss, Ph.D., is a Regents’ Professor in the Mel and Enid Zuckerman Arizona College of Public Health at the University of Arizona. She served on the National Academy of Sciences Panel on Violence Against Women, is the sexual violence coordinator of the CDC-funded national online resource on research on violence against women, www.VAWnet.org, and currently a member of the Coordinating Committee of the Sexual Violence Research Initiative based in Johannesburg, South Africa. She is coediting for the American Psychological Association a two book series that will appear in 2010, Violence against women and children: Consensus, critical analysis, and emerging directions including maltreatment, sexual and physical violence. She was the principal investigator of the Ten Tribes Study.

Mona Polacca, M.S.W., has over 20 years of practical experience working on health and social issues affecting Native American tribes throughout the nation. She has been a featured conference speaker both nationally and internationally, themes focusing on indigenous peoples human rights, aging, mental health, addiction, and violence. In December 2008, she had the honor of being the representative of the Indigenous Peoples on a panel of world religious leaders who drafted and signed a statement “Faith in Human Rights,” in commemoration of the 60th Year of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. She served as the field team leader on the Ten Tribes Study.

Keith V. Bletzer, Ph.D., M.P.H., is an adjunct faculty in the School of Human Evolution and Social Change at Arizona State University. He has conducted extended fieldwork in Central America, and worked on field projects in four regions of the United States. He was a recent recipient of a National Research Service Award through Arizona State University and has received intermittent funding for field research. His substantive interests include medical anthropology, social adversity in resource-poor communities, and narrative analysis.

David Goldman, M.D., has been chief of the Laboratory of Neurogenetics at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism since 1991. Throughout his career, he has focused on the identification of genetic factors responsible for inherited differences in behavior, and he has authored over 300 papers. His laboratory is currently exploring the genetics of alcoholism and related psychiatric diseases, and is well known for his work identifying effects of functional genetic variants on intermediate phenotypes for complex behavioral diseases.