Skip to main content

Table 4 Themes and illustrative quotes from pilot workshop discussions

From: Feasibility and acceptability of incorporating social network visualizations into a culturally centered motivational network intervention to prevent substance use among urban Native American emerging adults: a qualitative study 

Theme

Participant quotes

Feasibility

(Discussions of comfort with group discussions of social network graphs)

•“Yeah, I was comfortable with sharing in that way.”

•“We were just able to talk about it without having to say names, so I thought it was really good.”

•“I like the level of anonymity that there was where the people leading the discussion were just kind of like, ‘Oh, who is assigned to which variable? Which groups are assigned to it?’ No names asked. The anonymity is still there, so I liked that. And there weren’t really any assumptions made by the people leading the discussion as far as I could tell.”

•“The Native community is small. But…I’m actually surprised I don’t know anyone in here personally or see them around at events. So I think maybe possibly that’s why the conversation was a lot smoother.”

Acceptability

•“I personally liked it because we are who we surround ourselves with.”

•“We know who we talk to but to actually see it that way was really cool.”

•“Super interesting, new perspective of our social networks.”

•“Well, it’s kind of a fun thing, ‘cause we don’t normally think about it, so it’s kind of fun, I think, to look at and see, ‘Oh, this is who I’m hanging out with and this is how they all go together.’”

•“I was actually pretty surprised, because it got the exact people who actually use drugs, and I know they do…It was very accurate.”

•“I kind of always knew but…it was never really in front of me, where it's like a proven fact…more clarity is what I gained from the map, which is really crazy because I never thought that it would be right in front of me, like physically… It’s not just in my head”

•“Just lightbulb in my head, just filling out the survey… seeing wow, I do know people that harbor that duality of being in the traditional spiritual practices and being a user at the same time. And it's just that pull is constant, as well.”

• “I think it was good, but there were some variables that I think were brought to light afterwards, after creating the social network…there’s a difference between people who moderately use substances and those who struggle with them…if the evaluation is simply amended to assign somebody either to moderate use or…problematic use or heavy use… that definitely would have helped me conceptualize and visualize how moderate and heavy substance use connects together.”

New and important insights

•“What I noticed with mine was that a lot of the people that I know only know each other or are connected because of me.”

•“I noticed that everybody knew each other like through me or through…activities that we do, like pow-wows or ceremonies and stuff…except for two that were not Native. They didn’t connect with anybody. Everyone else was connected.”

•“I noticed that I don't have…many friends that are outside of…ceremony or powwows…I was like, oh, dang, I need more friends of…different ethnicities.”

•“I think mine was interesting to see because everybody in my network kind of had an interaction. And I think that's maybe just because of me being able to talk to them, having them talk to me and—kind of like a telephone effect. So that was interesting to see everybody was connected in some way…I didn’t really see—with the example that you showed, I didn’t really see any separate outside. So yeah, that was interesting.”

•“A lot of people I know connect through sports or tradition, ‘cause that’s how it had been, well, for the past four years. That’s how I’ve been breaking up my, I guess you could say my friend group, ‘cause there’s sports, tradition, and school. So there’s a point where the substance abuse stops once you start getting into the traditional mix and then also where it begins and it's very…complex”

•“Something that was pretty good is that…there was way less people likely to use and abuse drugs than people who are sober. I only had a few people in my network who were kind of in that area.”

•“I liked it, because we could see different patterns and trends in our social networks and talk about them”

•“I think the diagrams…and then while they were talking about it while it was right in front of us were the most helpful for me”

•“I wouldn’t say I learned much new from it. I kind of already understood who used or didn’t use certain substances. But it was definitely grounds or a foundation for further discussion. Having it there was a very necessary tool to talking about what we did then. I would say it was pretty basic stuff when it was laid out before me. It was a nice visualization, but it was mostly tools for discussion thereafter. So I liked that.”

(Discussing diagrams visualizing traditional practices and AOD use)

•“It kind of like assumes that people that do traditional things don’t ever struggle or slip up with their sobriety.”

•“Some people in my network…they participate in traditional practices in their culture, but they also have a habit of partying and being on the scene…So that was a huge eye-opener for me.”