Interventions for Treatment of Alcohol Use Disorder

The NativeAIR treatment section includes interventions designed to treat alcohol use disorder (AUD) and support recovery among American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) communities. Alcohol treatment and recovery services are often limited on reservations, and even Indian Health Services clinics may have limited resources to offer specialty services. Some epidemiological studies have found high rates of AUD among AI/AN populations, while others have found high rates of abstinence or drinking in moderation with large variations by age, gender, Tribe, cultural group, and residential pattern.

Historically, alcohol treatment services and research were conducted mostly in residential settings located far from the communities with relatively few outpatient and recovery services. Alcohol treatment research in AI/AN communities is in the early stages in terms of the number of studies and the scientific rigor of the interventions tested. Nearly all the studies included in NativeAIR focus on the treatment of adults. Many of the older treatment studies utilized pre-post designs with newer studies utilizing more rigorous multisite, controlled trials.

Of the interventions reviewed, many do not report longer term follow-up data, making it difficult to determine long-term effectiveness. Some studies did not separate alcohol outcomes from broader substance use outcomes. In addition to the need for more treatment interventions, there is a growing interest in developing culturally appropriate recovery interventions.

The following interventions were selected from published peer-reviewed studies and reviewed according to a rigorous set of criteria. Native and non-Native researchers conducting alcohol research in Native populations led this review. About NativeAIR presents information about the intervention selection criteria and coding scheme, which includes elements of cultural or Tribal inclusion.

Interventions can be filtered and sorted by different variables to find the interventions that may be most appropriate for your needs. The Description of Intervention Variables page describes all intervention variables.