Abstract
Tribal health educators across the United States have found it challenging to locate engaging, culturally-relevant sexual health curricula for American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) youth. Healthy Native Youth is a new online resource that provides a “one-stop-shop” for tribal health advocates to access age-appropriate curricula. The site was designed by a team of advisers representing a diverse group of tribal communities, using a collaborative planning process. The website content and navigation was then refined through usability testing with the target audience. The portal allows users to filter and compare curricula on multiple dimensions, including: age, delivery setting, duration, cost, and evidence of effectiveness, to determine best-fit. It includes all materials needed for implementation free-of-charge, including: facilitator training tools, lesson plans, materials to support participant marketing and recruitment, information about each program's cultural relevance, evaluation methods and findings, and references to publications and reports. The website currently includes mCircle of Life, Native It's Your Game, Native STAND, Native VOICES, and Safe in the Village, among others. Since its launch in August 2016, the site has had over 31,000 page views in all 50 States. The Healthy Native Youth portal provides educators in rural communities a promising new tool to support the dissemination and implementation of evidence-based health curricula in geographically-disbursed AI/AN communities. Lessons learned during the design and dissemination of the Healthy Native Youth website may be of value to other Indigenous populations interested in our approach and our findings.
Highlights
In the United States (U.S.), the federal government recognizes 573 distinct American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) tribes that represent 2% of population [1]
Many of the suggestions from workgroup members and usability test stakeholders were woven into the final design of the website, working within the available budget and timeline
The Healthy Native Youth site performs below the industry average on the total number of sessions (12% lower than the industry average), referral traffic, and social traffic
Summary
In the United States (U.S.), the federal government recognizes 573 distinct American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) tribes that represent 2% of population [1]. Reviewers offered ideas to market the site to educators in their communities, and expressed interest in stand-alone lesson plans, in addition to the comprehensive curricula available on the portal They discussed curricula that could be added to the site to address other important adolescent health needs, including suicide and coping skills; drug and alcohol use prevention; and trauma informed care. Many of the suggestions from workgroup members and usability test stakeholders were woven into the final design of the website (i.e., age-appropriate curricula, facilitator training videos and guides, implementation tools, and links to adolescent health resources), working within the available budget and timeline. I find that this curriculum is adaptable to the small rural towns that border and neighbor tribal communities; as the cultures for both have
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