Open AccessCree Youth Engagement in Health Planning
Author(s) -
Nickoo Merati,
Jon Salsberg,
Joey Saganash,
Joshua Iserhoff,
Kaitlynn Hester Moses,
Susan Law
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
international journal of indigenous health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2291-9376
pISSN - 2291-9368
DOI - 10.32799/ijih.v15i1.33985
Subject(s) - indigenous , thematic analysis , youth engagement , community engagement , focus group , community based participatory research , general partnership , participatory action research , citizen journalism , positive youth development , recreation , qualitative research , political science , psychology , sociology , public relations , social science , ecology , anthropology , law , biology
Indigenous communities experience a greater burden of ill health than all other communities in Canada. Across the (Indigenous Region), all nine (Name) communities experience similar health challenges. In 2014, the (REGIONAL_BOARD) supported an initiative to stimulate local community prioritization for health change. While many challenges identified were specific to youth (10-29 years of age), youth’s perspectives in these reports to date have been limited. We sought to understand how (Indigenous) youth perceived youth health and their engagement in health and health planning across (Region). As part of a (REGIONAL_BOARD-University) partnership, this qualitative descriptive study adopted a community-based participatory research approach. Ten (Indigenous) youth participated in two focus groups, and five (Indigenous) youth coordinators participated in key informant interviews. Thematic analysis was conducted and inductive codes were grouped into themes. (Indigenous) participants characterized youth engagement into the following levels: participation in community and recreational activities; membership in youth councils at the local and regional levels; and, in decision-making as planners of health-related initiatives. (Indigenous) youth recommended greater use of social media, youth assemblies, and youth planners to strengthen their engagement and youth health in the region. Our findings revealed an interconnectedness between youth health and youth engagement; (Indigenous) youth described how they need to be engaged to be healthy, and need to be healthy to be engaged. (Indigenous) participants contributed novel and practical insights to engage Indigenous youth in health planning across Canada.