Indigenous Recovery Planning for American Indians

Randomized Controlled Trial of Indigenous Recovery Planning for American Indians

This research project uses a Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) framework to test the efficacy of a culturally adapted relapse prevention intervention developed collaboratively by community partners from the Fort Peck Indian Reservation in northeastern Montana and research partners from Montana State University. The Indigenous Recovery Planning intervention employs trained Fort Peck community members to deliver manualized intervention content to American Indian adults with substance use disorder (SUD). By increasing access to culturally responsive evidence-based treatment, this research aims to decrease SUD-related health disparities and improve public health outcomes for underserved Native communities locally and nationally.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Substance Use Disorders; Alcohol Use Disorder
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Indigenous Recovery Planning

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 201
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Montana
    • Poplar, Montana, United States, 59255
      • Fort Peck Community College

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• American Indian, 18 years of age or older, living on the Fort Peck reservation, meeting diagnostic criteria for Substance Use Disorder, wanting treatment/help with recovery.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Not meeting inclusion criteria.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Single

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Treatment Group; Receives Indigenous Recovery Planning (IRP) intervention, which includes 6 weekly group intervention sessions lasting about 2 hours each.	Behavioral: Indigenous Recovery Planning; The Indigenous Recovery Planning (IRP) intervention consists of a 6-week group-based intervention. Each of the 6 weekly sessions is delivered by a community member facilitator. Facilitators lead the group through a series of culturally adapted relapse prevention exercises designed to change their substance use. Focus areas for the 6 sessions are: 1) introduction and goal setting; 2) relapse and recovery; 3) craving, mindfulness, and self-compassion; 4) coping with trauma and stress; 5) enlisting social support for recovery; 6) envisioning and planning for the future.
No Intervention: Waitlist Control Group; Participants in the waitlist control group do not receive the intervention until after treatment group completes the intervention. Outcomes will be compared between the 2 study arms at baseline and at follow-up, at which point the treatment group will have completed the intervention and the waitlist control group will have not yet been exposed to the intervention, thereby serving as the control group.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Percent days absent	Percent days absent will be measured using the Timeline Followback (TLFB), a widely used calendar-based recall instrument shown to yield valid and reliable estimates of substance use behavior. Additional analyses will be conducted with other variables derived from TLFB data, including number of drinks per drinking day, percent heavy drinking days, and percent drug use days.	At Time 1, we will assess alcohol and drug use in the 90 days prior to assessment, and each subsequent assessment will measure use in the time since the previous one (approximately 6 weeks).

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Number of substance-related consequences experienced within the past 6 weeks	Measured by the Drinker Inventory of Consequences, modified for alcohol and drug use	Measured at baseline and each 6 week follow-up assessment time point (time 1-time 5)

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Quality of life score	Measured by the World Health Organization Brief Quality of Life Scale	Measured at baseline and each 6 week follow-up assessment time point (time 1-time 5)

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Montana State University
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Monica Skewes, PhD, Montana State University

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Skewes MC, Gonzalez VM, Webber E, Gameon JA, Oosterhoff B, Adams AK. The sequential cohort randomized clinical trial: A study design for community-engaged clinical research in a rural American Indian community. Contemp Clin Trials. 2026 Jul 4:108389. doi: 10.1016/j.cct.2026.108389. Online ahead of print.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): November 2, 2022
• Primary Completion (Actual): May 6, 2026
• Study Completion (Actual): May 6, 2026

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: November 3, 2022
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: November 3, 2022
• First Posted (Actual): November 10, 2022

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): July 7, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: July 6, 2026
• Last Verified: June 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Mental Disorders; Chemically-Induced Disorders; Alcohol-Related Disorders; Alcoholism; Substance-Related Disorders
• Other Study ID Numbers: 5R01DA053791-02 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO
• IPD Plan Description: The data belong to the tribal community; data may be shared upon request to the tribe.

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No