Native STAND is a comprehensive sexual health curriculum for Native high school students that focuses on sexually transmitted infections, HIV/AIDS, and teen pregnancy prevention, while also covering drug and alcohol use, suicide, and dating violence. Twenty-seven sessions support healthy decision-making through interactive discussions and activities that promote diversity, self-esteem, goals and values, team building, negotiation and refusal skills, and effective communication. The 1.5 hour lessons contain stories from tribal communities that ground learning in cultural teachings.
Formal training is not required to implement the Native STAND curriculum. If you would like to request training on Native STAND, you can do so through our TA Request Form.
Native STAND is an inter-tribal curriculum for high school-aged teens (14-18 years old) that draws on cultural teachings and values from across Indian Country and Alaska. We hope that learning other Native cultures, traditions, and perspectives will serve to strengthen a sense of pride, not only for one’s own tribe, but for all Native American tribes. The curriculum is flexible and can be easily adapted to include specific stories and traditions from your own community. The Native STAND curriculum was adapted by the Indian Health Service, the National Coalition of STD Directors, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from an evidence-based intervention: Students Together Against Negative Decisions (STAND). The original STAND was developed for rural youth to promote healthy decision making around sexually transmitted infections, HIV/AIDS, and teen pregnancy prevention, by Dr. Mike Smith at the Mercer University School of Medicine in Macon, Georgia. The adaptation process for Native STAND included:
Native STAND is based on the Transtheoretical Model (Stages of Change). Evaluation data show that participation in Native STAND can lead to increased communication about sexual health topics, improvements in knowledge and self-efficacy, and substantial adoption of risk-reducing behaviors among teens who complete the program. Evaluation results demonstrate the effectiveness of Native STAND when delivered in a wide variety of settings.
From 2015-2019, the Prevention Research Center at Oregon Health & Sciences University and the Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board teamed up to evaluate the implementation and dissemination of Native STAND across the U.S. Over three years, 48 sites signed up to participate in the study.
At the end of the project, site facilitators reported strong community support for the Native STAND program:
During the study, over 925 AI/AN youth completed pre- and post-surveys:
This was the first sufficiently powered study to evaluate the impact of Native STAND. The results demonstrate it had an immediate post-intervention effect on important psycho-social predictors of sexual health outcomes for AI/AN youth, including peer and family communication skills and condom use intention and self-efficacy. The Native STAND curriculum helps fill a critical gap in evidence-based sexual health programs that reflects the unique needs and experiences of AI/AN youth.
Native STAND Findings: Healthy Native Youth YouTube Channel
In 2010, a mixed-methods study was conducted to evaluate Native STAND in four Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) boarding schools. Eighty students were selected by fellow students to be trained as peer educators using the curriculum. Native STAND was delivered in 1½ hour classes by two or three adult staff at each school, each of whom had been trained to facilitate the curriculum. A comprehensive pre- and post- computer assisted self-interview (CASI) survey was administered to participating students to assess changes in knowledge, attitudes, intentions, behaviors, and skills over time. At the end of the program, a series of focus groups and key informant interviews were also carried out with separate groups of students, facilitators, and school staff not directly involved in the program to identify programmatic strengths and weaknesses and to inform final program revisions.
Using similar methods, OHSU’s Prevention Research Center, a Northwest Tribe, and the Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board collaborated to evaluate Native STAND in a tribal Jr High/High School between 2010-2012. In each study:
At first I didn’t know what I was to be doing because the Native STAND curriculum was given to me and I didn’t have any idea what I was getting myself into with the program. As I worked and communicated with other educators, it was great that others were willing to share what and how they have been implementing Native STAND in their communities. Since our tribal program had strong collaborations with the local and neighboring schools, we decided to implement Native STAND at these three sites. Working with students at all three school was a great experience! I, too, had learned from the students as they taught me new teen vocabulary about sex which changed a lot since my days in school! We had the chance to build a great relationship, the trust they had in us as educators was strong, and all the students started to open up more. They talked about anything they wanted to talk about -- Native STAND class was an open and safe place for them to learn about sensitive topics -- not one student at any of the schools were left but used their voice. The Native STAND curriculum has given me the opportunity to be more confident in what I do at work, while also opening me up on how to communicate and work with students. It also taught me how to gain trust. Implementing Native STAND was extremely awesome! I’m really happy that I was the one to implement this curriculum. We will keep continuing to implement Native STAND!
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