School of Public Health, Indiana University, 1025 East 7th Street, 47405, Bloomington, IN, USA.
Arizona State University, 7271 E. Sonoran Arroyo Mall Santa Catalina Hall Rm. 330Q, 85212, Mesa, AZ, USA.
BMC Public Health. 2023 Feb 3;23(1):239. doi: 10.1186/s12889-023-15048-5.
Childhood is a critical developmental time of wellness patterns, yet little is known about what children know and believe. Even less is known about non-majority cultures like American Indian youth. The purpose of this study was to explore American Indian students' understandings of nutrition and physical activity.
This mixed methods study took place in 10 schools in an American Indian community in the Southwestern U.S. Ninety American Indian students in grades 3-12 (8-19 years old) were interviewed. The interview included an 8-point body size chart. Numerical data were analyzed via t-test statistics while a constant comparison process and analysis was used for the interview data.
Students rated approximately 85% of students in Category 5 or smaller on the scale while placing 60% of adults at or above that size. There was a general trend of a larger body type for boys seen as healthy compared to that for girls. Students generally believed that their classmates were larger than the healthy body size. For students, a healthy body was the result of compliance with "eat right and exercise" rules. They exhibited little understanding of nutrition or physical activity and there were few developmental differences in understanding. Health was a corporeal concept and violators of the eat right and exercise rules were seen as lazy.
Students held narrow and corporeal focused notions of health focused on simple rules. People who violated the rules were "lazy", a concept that seemed to underlie multiple constructs and a finding that holds true in other investigations. Students also reported few adult role models, a topic that should be explored with expanded family groups to better represent the multi-generational (e.g. grandparents, uncles, aunts) family housing common in the community. The findings are limited to a single American Indian community and a mixed design of relatively small numbers. This addition to the literature from a non-majority cultural group expands our knowledge of student perspectives on health. These findings can be used to create more effective curricula and interventions. Schools need more effective, but also alternately framed approaches that promote broader views of health.
儿童时期是养成健康习惯的关键时期，但人们对儿童的认知和信念知之甚少。对于像美国印第安青年这样的非主要文化群体，了解就更少了。本研究的目的是探讨美国印第安学生对营养和身体活动的理解。
这项混合方法研究在美国西南部的一个美国印第安社区的 10 所学校进行。对 90 名 3-12 年级（8-19 岁）的美国印第安学生进行了访谈。访谈包括一个 8 点的体型图表。数值数据通过 t 检验统计进行分析，而访谈数据则采用恒定比较过程和分析。
学生们在量表上给大约 85%的学生打了 5 分或以下的分数，而给 60%的成年人打了 5 分或以上的分数。与女孩相比，男孩体型较大被认为更健康，这是一种普遍趋势。学生们普遍认为他们的同学比健康体型大。对学生来说，健康的身体是遵守“饮食正确和锻炼”规则的结果。他们对营养或身体活动几乎没有了解，对理解也没有多少发展差异。健康是一种肉体上的概念，违反“饮食正确和锻炼”规则的人被视为懒惰。
学生们对健康的概念狭隘而局限于肉体，侧重于简单的规则。违反规则的人是“懒惰的”，这一概念似乎是多种结构的基础，这一发现与其他调查结果一致。学生们还报告说，他们很少有成年榜样，这是一个应该与扩展的家庭群体探讨的话题，以更好地代表社区中常见的多代（如祖父母、叔叔、阿姨）家庭住房。研究结果仅限于一个单一的美国印第安社区和相对较小数量的混合设计。这一来自非主要文化群体的文献补充，扩展了我们对学生健康观的了解。这些发现可用于创建更有效的课程和干预措施。学校需要更有效的，但也需要采用替代性框架的方法，以促进更广泛的健康观。
