Healthy Tribal Nations

Strengthening tribal governance

to improve tribal Health

A research study funded by Grant R01AA028236
from the National Institutes of Health
Study Period: 02/26/2021-02/25/2026

study overview

Analyze Tribal alcohol policy environments

  • Obtain and analyze alcohol policies (a.k.a. liquor ordinances) of the 55 participating Tribes
  • Code and sort these policies in terms of their intensity
  • Interview leaders from the 55 Tribes who have specific knowledge about their Tribe’s laws codes and alcohol policy environment
  • Survey Tribal and Local law enforcement officials in the 55 Tribes on alcohol policy enforcement conditions
  • Use the results of Key Leader Interviews and Enforcement Surveys to create a Tribally-appropriate scoring system
  • Score the 55 Tribal alcohol policy environments

Assess alcohol policy environments by outcomes

Compare state and Tribal Alcohol Policy Scores with state-level data on alcohol-related problems (emergency department and hospital admissions, motor vehicle crashes), using zip code and race/ethnic identifiers in these datasets to assess the association of outcomes with Tribal or non-Tribal lands

Disseminate results

  • Peer-reviewed scientific reports to support incorporating alcohol policy environments into epidemiological assessments of alcohol-related outcomes among tribal communities
  • Tribal Leader Policy Briefs for improving Tribal alcohol policy environments

Healthcare-Seeking and Violence against American Indian and Alaska Native Women: Examining the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Supplemental award
(August 2022-July 2023)

With additional funds from the NIH Office of Research on Women’s Health, we are obtaining additional hospital records from the state of Arizona to examine rates of injurious for American Indian/Alaska Native (AIAN) women residing on and off American Indian reservations, before and during the COVID-19 pandemic (2006-2020). To our interviews with Tribal key leaders in Arizona we are adding a few questions about women’s access to emergency healthcare services on and near their reservations, and Tribal COVID-19 emergency response measures that might have limited or improved women’s emergency healthcare access.  

NIH grant 3R01AA028236-02S1  

Public Heath Need

The majority of American Indians and Alaska Natives (AIAN) do not drink alcohol. AIAN who do drink report higher rates of alcohol dependence and alcohol-related health problems compared to non-Hispanic Whites of the same age and gender. Research has focused on individual-level determinants of problem drinking—such as trauma response and coping—and the majority of alcohol intervention programs for AIANs focus on behavior change. Few studies consider social-political determinants of alcohol issues that may be specific to AIAN communities. This research is critical to identify and scale environmental-level opportunities to reduce the risk of alcohol-related harm in AIAN communities.

Opportunity to Reduce the Risk of Alcohol-Related Harms

Research on alcohol regulatory policies has shown that policies are related to problem drinking and related health outcomes. States have adopted a range of alcohol policies to restrict the economic, social, physical, and legal availability of alcohol. These policies have been assessed and scored and shown to have an impact on alcohol use and alcohol-related outcomes.

No studies have assessed the impacts of state and Tribal alcohol policy environments on alcohol-related problems on Tribal lands. Researchers at Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation (PIRE)’s Prevention Research Center have developed and tested geospatial methods needed to study the combined effects of state and tribal alcohol policies on drinking and alcohol-related outcomes. PIRE also has access to a uniform health outcomes dataset for 13 US states co-located with 55 Tribal nations, and has traffic records for these areas. We combine these resources and our expertise in alcohol policy research with expertise in Federal Indian law and Tribal community engagement developed by scientists at the University of Washington’s Indigenous Wellness Research Institute and Seven Directions Center for Indigenous Public Health.

More intense state Alcohol Policies are associated with:

  • less underage drinking
  • less drink-driving
  • fewer alcohol-involved crashes
  • less alcohol dependence and abuse
  • less alcohol-involved violence (e.g., homicides and child abuse and neglect).

Tribal Sovereignty

Tribal sovereignty provides the basis for tribal governments to establish alcohol control policies on tribal lands. Tribal policies reflect the unique interests and contexts of their Tribal communities. Tribal alcohol policies may align with or differ from the policies of nearby states.

Staff and Advisors

Project Staff

William R. Ponicki

William R. Ponicki, M.A., is a Research Scientist at Prevention Research Center, Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation. He has extensive experience applying econometric…

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Shino Someya

Institution: University of Washington Graduate Student. Concentration: School Psychology program. Personal Interests: I like to play soccer and bake in…

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Tribal Community Advisory Board

CONTACT:

healthytribalnations@pire.org

This project is a collaboration between Seven Directions and the Prevention Research Center.