A Sanford Research initiative to prevent alcohol-exposed pregnancies (AEP) and fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) in American Indian communities has been granted funding of more than $800,000 by the National Institutes of Health.
Titled “Tribal collaborations in the prevention of alcohol-exposed pregnancies,” the three-year project will focus on non-pregnant American Indian women and will be led by Jessica D. Hanson, PhD, an assistant scientist for the Center for Health Outcomes and Prevention Research at Sanford Research.
Hanson and her team plan to use a community-based participatory research (CBPR) model. That model is currently in use with the Oglala Sioux Tribe in South Dakota as part of Project CHOICES, which--through the use of motivational interviewing and encouragement of contraception use--is focused on the prevention of AEP in non-pregnant American Indian women seen at tribal clinics.
The study aims to implement and sustain the already successful CHOICES program, or a similar initiative, at other tribal health facilities in South Dakota. > > > > Read More