Faculty of Agricultural, Life & Environmental Sciences, University of Alberta, 11405 87 Avenue, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6G 2P5.
School of Public Health, University of Alberta, 8303 - 112 Street, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6G 2P5.
Health Promot Int. 2021 Aug 30;36(4):913-923. doi: 10.1093/heapro/daaa090.
The Indigenous Youth Mentorship Program (IYMP) is a peer-led health promotion program developed for elementary school students in Indigenous school communities in Canada. A local young adult health leader (YAHL) and high school mentors offer students healthy snacks, physical activity games, relationship building activities and cultural teachings. IYMP aims to improve children's health and wellbeing and empower Indigenous youth and communities. The purpose of this focused ethnography was to describe the key characteristics of successful IYMP delivery. Two focus groups were conducted with 16 participants (8 YAHLS and 8 youth mentors) from 7 schools followed by 4 individual interviews (3 YAHLs, 1 youth peer mentor). Transcripts were analyzed using content analysis. Findings were triangulated with IYMP program field observations and notes from IYMP national team meetings. The five characteristics identified as important for IYMP delivery were a sense of ownership by those delivering the program, inclusion of Indigenous Elders/knowledge keepers, establishing trusting relationships, open communication among all stakeholder groups, including community and academic partners, and adequate program supports in the form of program funding, manuals that described program activities, and local and national gatherings between academic and community partners for sharing ideas about the program and its components. This study indicates the importance of respectful partnerships between community and academic leads for program success and sustainability. As IYMP is implemented in more communities and becomes community autonomous, program sustainability may be ensured and implementation challenges mitigated by embedding the identified five essential characteristics within the fabric of IYMP.
原住民青年指导计划（IYMP）是一个由同龄人领导的健康促进计划，专为加拿大原住民学校社区的小学生设计。当地的青年健康领袖（YAHL）和高中导师为学生提供健康小吃、体育游戏、关系建立活动和文化教学。IYMP 旨在改善儿童的健康和福祉，增强原住民青年和社区的权能。本聚焦民族志的目的是描述成功实施 IYMP 的关键特征。在 7 所学校中进行了 2 次焦点小组讨论，共有 16 名参与者（8 名 YAHL 和 8 名青年导师）参加，随后进行了 4 次个人访谈（3 名 YAHL 和 1 名青年同伴导师）。使用内容分析对转录本进行了分析。研究结果与 IYMP 项目现场观察和 IYMP 国家团队会议记录进行了三角剖分。确定了五个对 IYMP 交付很重要的特征：交付计划的人具有归属感、纳入原住民长者/知识守护者、建立信任关系、所有利益相关者群体之间（包括社区和学术合作伙伴）进行开放沟通、以及以计划资金、描述计划活动的手册以及学术和社区合作伙伴之间的本地和国家聚会的形式提供充足的计划支持。这项研究表明，社区和学术领导者之间建立尊重的伙伴关系对于计划的成功和可持续性至关重要。随着 IYMP 在更多社区中实施并实现社区自治，通过将确定的五个基本特征嵌入到 IYMP 的结构中，可能会确保计划的可持续性并减轻实施挑战。
