Project 450168

Persistent health inequities experienced by Indigenous youth (11-15 years old) in Canada, are at least in part, due to the failure to include Indigenous youth in the development, implementation, and evaluation of programs and interventions directed at them. A focus on youth-led approaches to the development of community-based health and social programs underscoring the formation of healthy relationships and gender wellness is particularly imperative to better meet the needs of youth who use these programs. In partnership with two Access-OM sites (Eskasoni & Puvirnituq) and a youth advisory committee made up of Access-OM participants, the Access team will develop and evaluate a culturally grounded, healthy relationships toolkit aimed at addressing gaps related to issues of gendered violence among youth of all genders and stigma faced by 2SLGBTQIA+ youth. The toolkit will provide support for families, increase health awareness of gender-based issues, and an evaluation framework will be developed that communities can use to gauge program impact. The participating ACCESS-OM teams will lead the project and utilize participatory methodologies to work with new and existing community organizations across Canada that serve Indigenous youth, as well as youth themselves to facilitate the co-development, implementation, and evaluation of the toolkit. First, we will work to develop content for the toolkit and culturally adapt it with community partners and youth through discussion groups and talking circles. Second, we will collaborate with community organizations delivering youth programs to understand how they use and integrate the toolkit in their programming. Finally, we will work with youth and community organizations to co-develop an evaluation framework that can be used to assess whether the toolkit is doing what it is intended to do, and to capture the experiences of service users. Our team will then use this feedback to revise the toolkit.