The Aboriginal Youth Mentorship Program (AYMP): A Peer-Led Healthy Living After-School Program for Achieving Healthy Weights in First Nations Children Living in a Northern Remote Setting

Abstract

Few school-based programs that promote healthy weights to Aboriginal youth living in rural communities have been empirically tested. Using a participatory action design, we tried to overcome this limitation by testing the efficacy of a peer-led after-school mentoring program for improving measures of healthy weights in grade 4 students in a remote fly-in community in Northern Manitoba. This was a non-randomized experimental trial with a parallel non-equivalent control group delivered for 5 months during the 2010/2011 and 2011/2012 school years. The intervention was offered as a weekly after-school program facilitated by volunteer high school mentors to grade 4 students, while students in grade 5 served as controls. Outcome measures included waist circumference (WC), body mass index z-score (BMI-z), healthy living knowledge (HLK), self-efficacy, and body image. Of the 151 students studied 72.67% were overweight/obese and 42% were girls. The change in WC was significantly attenuated in children who received the intervention compared to those that did not (0.39 ± 0.66 cm vs. 3.4 ± 1.37 cm; p= 0.0001). A similar trend was observed for BMI-z score group (-0.05 ± 0.03 vs. 0.07 ± 0.2), however this did not reach statistical significance (p = 0.199). No significant differences were observed in HLK, however a trend towards improved self-efficacy was noted. We found that the Aboriginal Youth Mentorship Program is successful in attenuating WC in Aboriginal youth living in a remote First Nation community. The success of this pilot study provides the foundation for future school-based peer-led interventions among Aboriginal students in rural communities.