Indigenous Young People Research Articles

Participation of Indigenous children and young people to improve health and wellbeing.

Participation of Indigenous children and young people to improve health and wellbeing.

The association between trajectories of structural disadvantage and mental wellbeing for Māori youth

Abstract Background Youth mental health is a major global concern with substantial inequities for Indigenous and other young people from minoritised ethnic groups. In New Zealand, Māori, the Indigenous people, experience poorer mental health than other young people, especially those living in high deprivation. Cultural connectedness is related to positive mental wellbeing, however, its potential to buffer against the harms of structural disadvantage for young Māori mental health has not been investigated. Methods We used data from 1224 Māori young people in the longitudinal Growing Up in New Zealand study. Structural disadvantage measures included material hardship, deprivation, employment, residential mobility. We conducted Latent Class Analysis and Social Sequence Analysis to identify clusters and longitudinal patterns of structural disadvantage. Cultural connectedness and mental wellbeing (depression & anxiety symptoms, quality of life) were measured at age 12. Linear regression analysis was used to determine associations between structural disadvantage, cultural connectedness and mental health. Results We identified 3 trajectories of structural disadvantage for Māori youth: 21% experienced persistent high structural disadvantage, 35% intermittent high structural disadvantage and 44% persistent relatively low structural disadvantage. Few differences in mental health were found between groups. Cultural connectedness was independently associated with positive mental wellbeing, yet there was mixed evidence it might buffer the impacts of structural disadvantage on mental health. Conclusions Our results highlight the importance of policies that uphold Indigenous rights to health and address structural disadvantage as a persistent threat to Indigenous wellbeing. Our findings call for holistic, early-life, family-centred strategies and to reduce barriers to accessing support. We highlight the need for policies that enable young people to flourish in their identity and culture. Key messages • Many Māori young people experience pervasive structural disadvantage starting before they are born, persisting throughout childhood and adolescence which is an omnipresent threat to their wellbeing. • Supporting cultural connectedness for Indigenous youth is important but cannot substitute for policies addressing structural disadvantages that contribute to health inequities.

Indigenous Spirituality, Health, and Well-Being in the Young: Yarns With the Victorian Aboriginal Community.

The extant literature has scant detail about everyday spiritual practices that aid Indigenous young people. This paper systematically explores Indigenous Spirituality, health, and well-being through Elder-governed yarns conducted via Zoom with 44 Aboriginal Elders, Healers, and Senior and Junior people involved in health and well-being of the Victorian Aboriginal community. These yarns were analyzed through an innovative, constructivist, multi-perspectival discursive grounded theory method. Key findings are that Spirituality is crucial for health and well-being, leading to a clear mind and at-peace "center" in a person. Aboriginal spiritual practices reflect the unique characteristics and essential rhythms of Country. Spiritual development is incremental and increases the obligations and responsibilities a person has to community and Country and leads to increased caring for Country. This paper provides rich detail about practical spiritual techniques to aid Indigenous young people and their kinship networks. It has the potential to shape future policy.

Storytelling and good relations: Indigenous youth capabilities in climate futures

AbstractHow can we support young citizens facing chaotic climate futures? This question is urgent, particularly for Indigenous communities who face disproportionate risks and impacts of climate change. For the past three decades, climate‐related education has focused largely on the acquisition of scientific knowledge in instrumental ways, while encouraging individual behaviour change. This approach centres the problem rather than human capabilities to generate solutions, which is especially misaligned with the increasing practice and significance of Indigenous communities’ regenerating self‐determining capabilities. This article reports on a pilot study that uses intergenerational storytelling methods or pūrākau to support leadership capabilities among Indigenous Māori and Pacific young people aged 10 to 14 years in communities at high risk of flooding in Ōtautahi/Christchurch, Aotearoa/New Zealand. The study showed how storytelling locates and scaffolds Indigenous young people into positions of individual and collective responsibility for grappling with “wicked problems” such as climate and injustice and climate‐related challenges as part of the future they will inherit and shape within a broader intergenerational journey of resilience and reclamation.

Examining community-level protection from Alaska Native suicide: An Indigenous knowledge-informed extension of the legacy of Michael Chandler and Christopher Lalonde.

Chandler and Lalonde broadened the scope of inquiry in suicide research by providing theoretical grounding and empirical support for the role of community, culture, and history in understanding Indigenous youth suicide and reimagining its prevention. Their work pushed the field to consider the intersectional process of individual and collective meaning-making in prevention of Indigenous suicide, together with the central role culture plays in bringing coherence to this process over time. Their innovation shifted the research focus to include the shared histories, contexts, and structures of meaning that shape individual lives and behaviors. We describe here a new generation of research extending their pathbreaking line of inquiry. Recent work aims to identify complex associations between community-level structures and suicidal behavior by collaborating with Alaska Native people from rural communities to describe how community protective factors function as preventative resources in their daily lives. Community engagement and knowledge co-production created a measure of community protection from suicide. Structured interviews with rural Alaska Native community members allowed use of this measure to produce relevant, accessible, and actionable knowledge. Ongoing investigations next seek to describe their mechanisms in shaping young people's lives through a multilevel, mixed-methods community-based study linking community-level protection to protection and well-being of individual youth. These efforts to understand the multiple culture-specific and culturally mediated pathways by which communities build on their strengths, resources, and practices to support Indigenous young people's development and reduce suicide risk are inspired by and expand on Chandler and Lalonde's remarkable legacy.

ALONE, LOST, AND UNPREPARED BY THE SYSTEM: INDIGENOUS CARE LEAVERS’ EXPERIENCES OF AGING OUT OF CHILD WELFARE CARE IN MANITOBA

Limited research has been carried out on Indigenous young people transitioning out of care in Canada. This article provides a coherent and meaningful account of the journey of aging out of care in the province of Manitoba, as presented by 17 Indigenous care leavers. Using a qualitative multilevel approach grounded in first-person narratives, this study focused on incorporating and elevating the voices of Indigenous care leavers. Participants detailed their experiences of planning for the transition and aging out of care, and described their life post-care. The care leavers expressed that the Child and Family Services-led process of planning for and transitioning out of care was unclear and failed to engage them as partners, and as a result left them ill-prepared for life post-care. Additionally, participants’ experiences serve as evidence of enduring gaps in transition supports, namely in mental health and interpersonal supports. These supports were often unavailable or inaccessible, challenges that were amplified during participants’ transition out of care and in the post-care period. The experiential knowledge from this study contributes valuable information to inform responsive child welfare transition policies and practices that are reflective of the experiences and needs of the population it intends to serve.

Health and well-being needs of Indigenous adolescents: a protocol for a scoping review of qualitative studies

IntroductionImproving the health of Indigenous adolescents is central to addressing the health inequities faced by Indigenous peoples. To achieve this, it is critical to understand what is needed from the...

Exploring the association of Indigeneity, social adversity status and externalizing symptoms in children and adolescents.

The relationship between Indigeneity, social adversity status and externalizing symptoms is complex and unclear. This study investigates how Indigeneity, social adversity status and externalizing symptoms are related in young people. A total of 132 Indigenous and 247 non-Indigenous young people aged 6-16 years were recruited from a hospital mental health outpatient service. Normality plots with statistics for social adversity status and parent-reported externalizing symptoms were completed for the two groups, matched for age, gender, mental disorder symptom severity, symptom-linked distress and impairment. Standard multiple regression was used to examine how Indigeneity moderates the relationship between social adversity status and parent-reported externalizing symptoms. A scatterplot investigated the association between Indigeneity and social adversity status in young people with parent-reported externalizing symptoms. The distributions of the two groups and (1) social adversity status and (2) parent -reported externalizing symptoms were non-normal but acceptable for a moderator analysis. Indigeneity and social adversity status made independent significant positive contributions to externalizing symptoms. In contrast the interaction between Indigeneity and social adversity status made a nonsignificant negative trend to externalizing symptoms. A scatterplot revealed Indigeneity moderated the link between social adversity status and externalizing symptoms. High social adversity status is linked to externalizing symptoms in non-Indigenous young people but despite higher social adversity, Indigenous young people don't necessarily externalize. Potential protective resilience factors for externalizing symptoms in the Indigenous young people need to be ascertained and nurtured. Future systematic investigations of the contribution of these protective factors to Indigenous referral pathways and management are needed. It is also crucial that increased social adversity status is addressed and managed in all young people, regardless of Indigeneity.

Peer and land-based approaches for fostering empowering and healthy relationships with Indigenous and northern young people in the Northwest Territories.

Indigenous and Northern women in Canada experience high rates of intimate partner violence (IPV), and this is particularly true in the Northwest Territories (NWT). Adolescents are also at increased risk of IPV, which has far-reaching, lifelong effects. Indigenous youth are particularly vulnerable to IPV due to ongoing effects of intergenerational trauma caused by colonialism, racism and residential school legacies. We explored attitudes towards IPV and the healthy relationship knowledge, skills, and experiences among participants of Fostering Open eXpression among Youth (FOXY) and Strength, Masculinities, and Sexual Health (SMASH) Peer Leader Retreats in the NWT. Multi-method approaches included quantitative surveys youth completed before and immediately following retreats. Quantitative analysis from retreats (2018-2021) included 240 participants aged 12-19 (mean age 14.5) who reported ever having an intimate partner. Most were from the FOXY program (64.2%), Indigenous (69.6%) and heterosexual (66.4%). Qualitative methods included Focus Group Discussions (FGD) (n = 69) conducted with peer leaders and apprentices (n = 311) and youth and adult staff (n = 14 FGDs, n = 165 participants). We thematically analysed FGDs to explore healthy relationship knowledge and skills, alongside paired t-tests to examine pre/post retreat changes in attitudes towards IPV. Qualitative findings suggest that leadership and embodied learning were effective in equipping youth with violence prevention and healthy relationship skills. While young women were committed to sharing knowledge and skills about healthy relationships in their communities, young men resonated with values of respect and appreciated support to identify and express emotions. Participants across programmes demonstrated their belief that healthy intimate relationships have communal, relational and intergenerational benefits. Quantitatively, we found a statistically significant reduction in attitudes accepting of IPV among young women, but no changes were noted among young men. Findings contribute to emergent evidence on strengths-based, culturally-responsive IPV prevention programming. Components of effective IPV prevention programming with young men merit further exploration.

Engaging Young People in Occupations Served by Vocational Education: Case Study From Healthcare

Purpose: Globally, countries with both developed and developing economies are struggling to secure sufficient participation in vocational education to generate the range and quantum of skills required for their communities and realising national social and economic goals. In an era of high aspiration, vocational education and the occupations it serves are increasingly seen as being a less than desirable outcome by young people and their parents. Hence, there is a need to identify means by which to inform and engage young people in considering vocational education and the occupations it serves. The case study discussed in this paper is contextualised within the Australian state of Queensland, which, like many other countries is struggling to have a workforce sufficient to meet communities' healthcare needs as its population both grows and ages. Methods: The study data were collected from 1) interviews with healthcare-related stakeholders including health industry representatives, teachers or practitioners, and healthcare providers, 2) focus groups with senior secondary students, and 3) surveys with these participant groups. It provides a descriptive analysis of efforts to secure greater participation by young people in allied health roles, and, in particular, young Australian Indigenous people. Findings: The study participants included those from regional and metropolitan centres and from state and independent schools, and in all of which the focus on engagement was central. Findings indicated that engagement was necessary to advise young people about these occupations, the effective preparation for them, and likely retention in the workforce. Conclusion: This study highlights the need for intentional strategies to engage young people, their parents/guardians and with those efforts likely needing to be organised and enacted at the local level. This requires collaboration and engagement from education, industry, and local communities. Essentially, a systemic approach is required, specifying roles for government, employers, educational systems, and teachers and parents who engage directly with young people. In all, engagement, advice and opportunities locally are all emphasised in the study reported here.

Recidivism outcomes for young people who have committed a sexual offence and received treatment: A systematic narrative review of studies conducted in Australia and New Zealand

ABSTRACT Young people who have committed a sexual offence present unique and serious challenges to the criminal justice systems of Australia and New Zealand. To understand the current state of existing literature, we systematically collated and critically appraised studies using narrative synthesis, examining the recidivism outcomes of young people who have committed a sexual offence and received treatment. Eight studies were identified utilising a sample of 1528 young people. Recidivism was higher among participants who did not complete treatment, compared to those who completed treatment, but highest in those who commenced but subsequently “dropped out”. Our findings highlight a need for more Australian and New Zealand research addressing the recidivism rates post-treatment. More specifically, three future research directives are identified: the need for methodologically strong research, identification of recidivism outcomes for Indigenous young people, and the need for qualitative research to explore the profiles of young people who terminate treatment. PRACTICE IMPACT STATEMENT Our findings identified gaps in three key areas in current research within the Australian and New Zealand context: (1) a need for more methodologically strong evaluative research, (2) identification of recidivism outcomes for Indigenous young people, and (3) qualitative research to explore the profiles of young people who terminate treatment to compliment current research findings.

Culture, Health and Wellbeing: Yarning with the Victorian Indigenous community

Indigenous young people around the world suffer poorer mental health outcomes than their non-Indigenous counterparts. Currently, how culture matters for health, what cultural practices are used in community to support health and wellbeing, and how culture is passed on in Aboriginal contemporary life in south east Australia – a region most affected by settler-colonisation – is not well understood. This paper presents findings from yarns with a representative sample of 45 Indigenous participants working in the field of health and wellbeing that explored how culture interleaves with health and wellbeing. It used Grounded Theory as the overarching methodology with community participation in all aspects of the project. Participants were nominated through snowballing and screened by a governing Board of Elders. They included men and women of varied ages, half residing in urban areas and half from rural Victoria, Australia. They had declared affiliations to 31 Traditional tribal groups. The yarns were held over zoom between a FN research assistant who was part of the community, and each participant. Each was recorded, transcribed, coded and analysed by a multi-perspectival team. Culture was viewed as central to individual and communal life, and passed on through relationships with people and Country itself. A wide variety of cultural practices were used by community members to aid and maintain health and wellbeing in profound ways. Myriad obstacles to health and wellbeing exist were also described, from experiences of disconnection through to barriers for accessing services. These findings have the potential to shape future holistic care and policy.

Community-led diversion of Indigenous young people from the justice system: The role of government administrative data

Indigenous communities in Australia have grave concerns about the high rates of incarceration of their young people, and advocate for the need for holistic community-led solutions. This article details the use of administrative data in the evaluation of a model of youth diversion led by an Elders group in a remote community, developed in partnership with a university. The model views effective diversion as addressing all underlying factors driving contact with the justice system for Indigenous young people. The methodology includes linking data from relevant government agencies for holistic understanding of young people's institutional engagement over time, including unmet health, housing, education and disability needs and opportunities for positive pathways. Administrative data has not conventionally been subject to ethical scrutiny nor seen as compatible with community priorities. However, we demonstrate how it can enable communities to investigate questions and build change meaningful to them, and improve evidence and policy.

Identifying key dimensions of indigenous led child welfare services: A qualitative literature review

AbstractNational and state governments in settler colonial countries are increasingly committing to policies and practices aimed at strengthening Indigenous frameworks, programmes and leadership in child protection services. However, research‐based information on Indigenous child welfare services and programmes is sparse. This qualitative literature review explores and documents key features of Indigenous child welfare and protection models and/or frameworks in an international context, with a specific focus on Indigenous children, young people, families, and communities. Twenty‐four publications meeting the inclusion criteria were included in the analysis. Published frameworks, models, services, interventions and/or programmes within the broader area of child welfare and children protection that are Indigenous‐designed and/or led or developed in partnership or collaboration with Indigenous peoples were identified. The review highlights 11 key dimensions that underpin the frameworks, models, services, interventions and/or programmes. Findings of the review also reveal commonalities across Indigenous cultures and contexts that from an Indigenous perspective are considered fundamental to supporting Indigenous children, young people and families involved with child protective services. Additionally, the findings point to the critical need for ongoing advocacy for Indigenous‐designed and led services and programmes, including support for Indigenous research, evaluation and intellectual leadership.

A Silver Fluoride Intervention to Improve Oral Health Trajectories of Young Indigenous Australians: Protocol for a Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial

Background Indigenous Australian children and adolescents experience profound levels of preventable dental disease. The application of silver fluoride (AgF) to active dental caries is a noninvasive alternative to traditional dental treatment approaches. There is particular utility among Indigenous children and young people with dental fear, who may not have access to timely or culturally safe dental service provisions. Objective The aims of this study are to: (1) assess levels of active dental caries among Indigenous children and young people in 6 Australian states and territories; (2) determine if an AgF intervention reduces levels of active disease over 12-24 months; (3) measure the impact of improved oral health on social and emotional well-being (SEWB) and oral health-related quality of life; and (4) calculate the cost-effectiveness of implementing such an initiative. Methods The study will use a 2-arm, parallel cluster randomized controlled trial design. Approximately 1140 Indigenous children and youth aged between 2 and 18 years will be recruited. Each state or territory will have 2 clusters. The intervention group will receive the AgF intervention at the start of the study, with the delayed intervention group receiving the AgF intervention 12 months after study commencement. The primary outcome will be the arrest of active carious lesions, with arrested caries defined as nonpenetration by a dental probe. Secondary outcomes will include SEWB, oral health-related quality of life, and dental anxiety, with covariates including dental behaviors (brushing and dental visits). Effectiveness measures for the economic evaluation will include the number of children and young people managed in primary oral health care without the need for specialist referral, changes in SEWB, the numbers and types of treatments provided, and caries increments. Results Participant recruitment will commence in May 2023. The first results are expected to be submitted for publication 1 year after a 24-month follow-up. Conclusions Our findings have the potential to change the way in which active dental disease among Indigenous children and young people can be managed through the inclusion of specifically tailored AgF applications to improve dental health and SEWB delivered by Indigenous health care workers. Desired impacts include cost savings on expensive dental treatments; improved SEWB, nutrition, social, and learning outcomes; and improved quality of life for both children and young people and their caregivers and the broader Indigenous community. The AgF application could be easily implemented into the training program of Indigenous health workers and yield critical information in the management armamentarium of health and well-being recommendations for Australia’s First Peoples. International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID) PRR1-10.2196/48558

Oshkibiimaates Wiidoogakewin: A Partnership between Matawa First Nations Management and St. Joseph's Care Group.

Many Indigenous young people who live in remote northern communities are required to relocate to larger urban centres to pursue their secondary education. These youth have often experienced significant hardships that are exacerbated by the stresses of relocation. When seeking help for these struggles, it can be complicated to navigate complex systems in an unfamiliar city and difficult to engage with services that may not be designed to address these unique needs. The question then becomes: what would happen if those specialized supports were easily accessible and provided in a space where the youth felt safe and valued? A unique program providing holistic and culturally sensitive mental health and substance use services has been developed through a partnership between the Matawa First Nations Management and St. Joseph's Care Group in Thunder Bay, ON. The Oshkibiimaates Wiidoogakewin program has eliminated barriers to accessing service, reduced stigma and met the individual wellness needs of hundreds of students since its inception, with continuous improvements to serve students better. Creativity, flexibility and collaboration are at the heart of this program's success, as well as a shared vision of building a community that helps youth thrive.

“Strive with pride”: the voices of Indigenous young people on identity, wellbeing, and schooling in Australia

Indigenous Australian young people comprise over 50% of the total Indigenous population (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2017). Yet, the voices of Indigenous young people are seldom centred in policy or scholarship (Shay & Sarra, 2021). This paper shares findings from a three-year national transdisciplinary, qualitative study that explored the identity and well-being of Indigenous young people in diverse school settings. The data told counter-stories through the lens of Indigenous young people currently absent in mental health and educational wellbeing scholarship. This article illustrates how the theoretical/methodological approach and data provide a strengths-based alternative to trauma-informed and medicalised mental health frameworks that dominate policy and practice approaches. This paper shares key findings from Indigenous young people who articulated their identities as underpinned by respect, pride and collectivism and shaped by culture, where you are from, physicality and role models. These expressions are clearly at odds with broader deficit discourses on Indigenous identity and have implications for health and schooling settings.

Role of Self-Determination in Health and Wellness: A qualitative study with Indigenous youth health leaders across Canada

This work centers the voices of Indigenous young people to explore how they are defining and enacting self-determination, and how these expressions of self-determination influence the wellness of these young people and their communities. Thematic analysis was used to analyze 15 interviews with Indigenous young people about how they understood wellness in the context of their community work. Interview transcripts were analyzed to understand how young people conceptualized and enacted self-determination and its relationship to wellness, and to identify underlying connections to Indigenous self-determination theory. Results indicate that Indigenous young people define and enact self-determination through traditional healing and embracing cultural wellness practices; through sharing lived experience and meeting people where they are at; and. through community inclusion and intuitive practice. Implications for researchers, policymakers, and care providers who work with Indigenous young people are considered.

The Cedar Project: Racism and its impacts on health and wellbeing among young Indigenous people who use drugs in Prince George and Vancouver, BC.

Racism continues to drive health disparities between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples in Canada. This study focuses on racism experienced by young Indigenous people who have used drugs in British Columbia (BC), and predictors of interpersonal racism. Cedar Project is a community-governed cohort study involving young Indigenous people who use drugs in Vancouver and Prince George, BC. This cross-sectional study included data collected between August 2015-October 2016. The Measure of Indigenous Racism Experiences (MIRE) scale was used to assess experiences of interpersonal racism across 9 unique settings on a 5-point Likert scale, collapsing responses into three categories (none/low/high). Multinomial logistic regression models were used to examine associations between key variables and interpersonal racism. Among 321 participants, 79% (n = 255) experienced racism in at least one setting. Thirty two percent (n = 102) experienced high interpersonal racism from police, governmental agencies (child 'welfare', health personnel), and in public settings. Ever having a child apprehended (AOR:2.76, 95%CI:1.14-6.65), probable post-traumatic stress (AOR:2.64; 95%CI:1.08-6.46), trying to quit substances (AOR:3.69; 95%CI:1.04-13.06), leaving emergency room without receiving treatment (AOR:3.05; 95%CI:1.22-7.64), and having a traditional language spoken at home while growing up (AOR:2.86; 95%CI:1.90-6.90) were associated with high interpersonal racism. Among women, experiencing high interpersonal racism was more likely if they lived in Prince George (AOR:3.94; 95%CI:1.07-14.50), ever had a child apprehended (AOR:5.09; 95%CI:1.50-17.30), and had probable post-traumatic stress (AOR:5.21; 95%CI:1.43-18.95). Addressing racism experienced by Indigenous peoples requires immediate structural systemic, and interpersonal anti-racist reforms.

Competency-Based Training Versus Teacher Training in Professional Performance: A Debate in Educational Sciences Programs

The purpose of this article is to conduct a descriptive-interpretative analysis of the systematized and emerging theoretical assumptions in academic literature in initial teacher training, which show hints of a model based on professional performance as an alternative in contexts of social and cultural diversity. The article is based on an intercultural educational approach which has an indigenous perspective. This raises the urgency of rethinking teacher training processes in relation to indigenous and intercultural contexts based on appraisal and respect for indigenous children and young people's episteme, who hold cultural, ethnic, and linguistic differences. This article discusses the main limitations of the competency-based training model in educating teachers who take on inclusion and diversity of indigenous individuals as part of their professional performance. This research is qualitative and is grounded on content analysis of literature selected from internationally renowned databases. The literature review was organized around three areas of professional education: teaching, research, and practice. Results taken from this search were interpreted from the perspective of the educational model of the universities of the Araucanía region, Chile. An intercultural context that is characterized by a high enrollment of students from indigenous and rural communities. Results show associations among conceptual, attitudinal, procedural, and relational contents in professional training areas that might be subject of reconceptualization, this is, to enlarge the scope in the initial teacher training model by including intercultural professional performance in the context of social and cultural diversity. These areas fall into three categories: (a) development of intercultural critical thinking, (b) autonomous search of intercultural knowledge, and (c) intercultural communication, which are interpreted as useful for professional performance and are highly recommended in literature for their inclusion in educational sciences curricula.