PROJECT SUMMARY
This study, “Cradling Our Future Long-Term (16-year) Follow-Up,” will determine if a culturally tailored, evidence
based early childhood home visiting intervention, called “Family Spirit®,” reduces long-term substance use,
suicide, and related consequences among Indigenous mothers and their children16 years after they exited
the program (at 3 years postpartum). Substance use and suicide comprise the largest and most devastating
health inequities for American Indians and are the result of generations of racial trauma and oppression. Family
Spirit was designed over an 8-year period specifically for and by American Indian communities through an
intensive community based participatory process to promote behavioral and mental health across two
generations. The original “Cradling Our Future” study (NIDA R01 DA019042-01A1) was a 1:1 randomized
controlled trial that enrolled N = 322 expectant teen mothers by 32 weeks gestation and followed them and their
children to 3 years postpartum. Mothers randomized to the intervention group received culturally tailored home
visiting lessons delivered by local American Indian paraprofessionals focused on positive parenting and content
addressing maternal stress, substance use, and depression. The control condition was transportation to prenatal
and well-child visits and facilitated connections to community resources, which mothers in both the intervention
and control arms received. Trial results demonstrated Family Spirit significantly improved parenting efficacy,
reduced marijuana and illicit drug use and depressive symptoms in mothers, and improved social, emotional,
and behavioral development for children until 3 years postpartum in ways that would predict less substance use
and lower suicide risk and related problems across teen mothers' and youth's developmental life course. Based
on this evidence, home visitors and supervisors have been trained to implement Family Spirit in over 150 tribal
and additional non-tribal communities across the US, but long-term impacts of this and other home visiting
programs on problematic substance use, overdose, and suicide are vastly understudied. The aims of this follow-
up study are to identify long-term impacts of Family Spirit on mothers' (at 30-39 years old) and their children's
(at 18-19 years old) substance use and suicidal thoughts and behaviors, while exploring moderators (i.e.,
discriminatory stress, cultural engagement) and mediators (i.e., continued positive parenting) of effects. We will
also use qualitative narrative inquiry methodology to explore individual and intergenerational drug use pathways
(e.g., first use, misuse, polydrug use, pre-addiction, abstinence, recovery) with a sub-sample of participants. If
favorable long-term impacts are found, findings could leverage federal support for evidence-based home visiting
implementation that is still under-utilized in tribal communities. Tribal populations deserve greater evidence for
effective cultural strengths-based solutions to redress lasting behavioral and mental health effects of colonization
and racism.
Public Health Relevance Statement
Data not available.
NIH Spending Category
No NIH Spending Category available.
Project Terms
19 year oldAbstinenceAddressAffectAffordable Care ActAgeAlaska NativeAlaska Native populationAmerican Indian PopulationAmerican Indian communityAmerican IndiansBehavioralBlack, Indigenous, People of ColorChildChild DevelopmentChild RearingCommunitiesCountryDataDevelopmentDrug usageEffectivenessEmotionalEnsureEquityEthnic PopulationExpectancyFamilyFeeling suicidalFollow-Up StudiesFutureGenerationsGoalsGrowthHomeHome visitationImpairmentIndigenousIndividualInterventionIntervention TrialInterviewKnowledgeLeadershipLife Cycle StagesMarijuanaMediatorMedicalMedical RecordsMental DepressionMental HealthMethodologyMothersNational Institute of Drug AbuseOutcomeOverdoseParentsParticipantPathway interactionsPatient Self-ReportPoliciesPostpartum PeriodPregnancyPsyche structureRaceRandomizedRandomized, Controlled TrialsRecording of previous eventsRecoveryResearchResearch Project GrantsResourcesRiskRisk FactorsSamplingSocial ProblemsStressSuicideTrainingTransportationTraumaTribal groupTribesWell Child VisitsWell in selfYouthaddictionadolescent substance usearmbehavioral healthchildren of colorcommunity based participatory approachdepressive symptomsdesigndisparity gapearly childhoodevidence basefollow-upgroup interventionhealth equityhealth inequalitiesillicit drug useimprovedintergenerationalmarginalized populationmaternal stressmeetingsmultiple drug useoverdose deathpersonalized approachpost interventionprenatalprogramsprotective factorsracial populationracismreduced substance usesecondary outcomesocialstandard caresubstance usesuicidal behaviorsuicidal morbiditysuicidal riskteenage mothertrial enrollmenttribal communityyoung adult
No Sub Projects information available for 5P50DA058619-02 5751
Publications
Publications are associated with projects, but cannot be identified with any particular year of the project or fiscal year of funding. This is due to the continuous and cumulative nature of knowledge generation across the life of a project and the sometimes long and variable publishing timeline. Similarly, for multi-component projects, publications are associated with the parent core project and not with individual sub-projects.
No Publications available for 5P50DA058619-02 5751
Patents
No Patents information available for 5P50DA058619-02 5751
Outcomes
The Project Outcomes shown here are displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Institutes of Health. NIH has not endorsed the content below.
No Outcomes available for 5P50DA058619-02 5751
Clinical Studies
No Clinical Studies information available for 5P50DA058619-02 5751
News and More
Related News Releases
No news release information available for 5P50DA058619-02 5751
History
No Historical information available for 5P50DA058619-02 5751
Similar Projects
No Similar Projects information available for 5P50DA058619-02 5751