Documenting tribal community readiness to support substance abuse prevention

Abstract

Documenting community readiness to support substance abuse prevention in tribal communities is needed to maximize the impact of prevention programming. Semi-structured interviews with 26 tribal community members from Montana and Wyoming served as the primary data source for this evaluation. The Community Readiness Assessment was used to guide the interview process, analysis, and results. This evaluation found that community readiness was vague, meaning most community members recognize it as a problem, but there is little motivation to do anything about it. There was a significant increase in overall community readiness between 2017 (pre) and 2019 (post). Findings underscore the need for continued prevention efforts targeted at a community’s readiness to address the problem and move them to the next change stage.