Center for
Native Child
and Family Resilience
Prevention. Intervention. Respect.
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Living in 2 Worlds (L2W) & keepin' it REAL (kiR)

Summary
keepin' it REAL (kiR)

A multicultural prevention program, the Keepin' it REAL is a culturally grounded curriculum that helps students assess the risks associated with substance abuse, enhance decision-making and resistance strategies, improve anti-drug normative beliefs and attitudes, and reduce substance use. Living in 2 Worlds (L2W) adapts Keepin' it REAL for Native adolescents living in urban areas.

A multicultural substance use prevention program, the Keepin' It Real curriculum consists of 10 lessons taught by trained classroom teachers to help students assess the risks associated with substance abuse, enhance decision-making and resistance strategies, improve antidrug normative beliefs and attitudes, and reduce substance use. The curriculum draws from communication competence theory and a culturally-grounded resiliency model to incorporate traditional ethnic values and practices that protect against substance use. Living in 2 Worlds (L2W) was adapted specifically for Native adolescents living in urban areas using the core components of the keepin' it REAL curriculum.

Retrieved from https://www.theathenaforum.org/sites/default/files/keepin_it_real_4-21-…
Contact

4520 North Central Ave, #250

Phoenix, Arizona 85012

(602) 264.6768

info@phxindcenter.org
Details

A study comparing the outcomes of Living in 2 Worlds (L2W), the culturally adapted version of keeping it REAL (kiR), found differences “between the L2W and kiR groups reached statistically significant thresholds for four outcomes. Youth receiving L2W, compared to kiR, reported less growth in cigarette use from pretest to posttest, less frequent use of the Leave drug resistance strategy, and less loss of connections to AI spirituality and cultural traditions. For other substance use behaviors and antecedents, the direction of the non-significant effects in small sample tests was toward more positive outcomes in L2W and small to medium effect sizes. Results suggest that evidence-based substance use prevention programs that are culturally adapted for urban AI adolescents, like L2W, can be a foundation for prevention approaches to help delay initiation and slow increases in substance use. In addition to study limitations, we discuss implementation challenges in delivering school-based interventions for urban AI populations.” Retrieved from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5313372/

Full citation for the study:

Kulis, S. S., Ayers, S. L., & Harthun, M. L. (2017). Substance use prevention for urban American Indian youth: An efficacy trial of the culturally adapted Living in 2 Worlds rogram. The Journal of Primary Prevention, 38(1-2), 137–158. 10.1007/s10935-016-0461-4
Tribally adapted
  • Child
  • Tribe
Substance abuse
  • Self-regulation skills
  • Social and emotional competence
  • Connecting with cultural resources
  • Cultural identity/sense of belonging to cultural group
Setting

Child Trends Program Overview: Keepin’ it R.E.A.L. (Refuse, Explain, Avoid, Leave) https://web.archive.org/web/20170807163758/https://www.childtrends.org/programs/keepin-it-r-e-a-l/

Living in 2 Worlds, Culturally-Specific Substance Abuse Prevention for Urban American Indian Youth, Arizona State University Southwest Interdisciplinary Research Center https://sirc.asu.edu/content/living-2-worlds

Crime Solutions Program Profile: keepin’ it REAL https://www.crimesolutions.gov/ProgramDetails.aspx?ID=239

Theodore L. Caputi & A. Thomas McLellan (2017) Truth and D.A.R.E.: Is D.A.R.E.’s new Keepin’ it REAL curriculum suitable for American nationwide implementation?, Drugs: Education, Prevention and Policy, 24:1, 49-57. http://doi.org/10.1080/09687637.2016.1208731

Kulis, S. S., Ayers, S. L., & Harthun, M. L. (2017). Substance Use Prevention for Urban American Indian Youth: An Efficacy Trial of the Culturally Adapted Living in 2 Worlds Program. The Journal of Primary Prevention, 38(1-2), 137–158. http://doi.org/10.1007/s10935-016-0461-4 and https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5313372/

Dixon, A. L., Yabiku, S. T., Okamoto, S. K., Tann, S. S., Marsiglia, F. F., Kulis, S., & Burke, A. M. (2007). The Efficacy of a Multicultural Prevention Intervention among Urban American Indian Youth in the Southwest U.S. The Journal of Primary Prevention, 28(6), 547–568. http://doi.org/10.1007/s10935-007-0114-8 and https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3042736/