Cultural and spiritual coping in sobriety: Informing substance abuse prevention for Alaska Native communities

Culture and spirituality have been conceptualized as both protecting people from addiction and assisting in the recovery process. A collaborative study, utilizing focus group and survey methods, defined and examined cultural and spiritual coping in sobriety among a select sample of Alaska Natives. Results suggest that the Alaska Native worldview incorporates a circular synthesis and balance of physical, cognitive, emotional, and spiritual processes within a protective layer of family and communal/cultural beliefs and practices embedded within the larger environment. Cultural‐spiritual coping in sobriety is a process of appraisal, change, and connection that leads the person toward achieving an overarching construct: a sense of coherence. Cultural and spiritual processes provide important areas for understanding the sobriety process as well as keys to the prevention of alcohol abuse and addiction. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.