Healthy Living in Two Worlds: Testing a Wellness Curriculum for Urban Native Youth

Abstract

The Healthy Living in Two Worlds project developed a wellness curriculum for urban, Northeastern Native American youth. The curriculum sought to increase physical activity, decrease or prevent recreational tobacco use, and increase healthy eating practices. The program was delivered in a summer day camp format to 16 Native American youth ages 9-13. These youth have considerable exposure to recreational tobacco use in their households and among their peers but they express an intention to resist pressure to use recreational tobacco products. Some of these youth do not eat regular meals, particularly breakfast and lunch. Program participants appear to be physically active and their activity seems to have increased after the program.

Physical activity interventions to promote positive youth development among indigenous youth: a RE-AIM review

“…While the 10 studies all aimed to enhance various dimensions of PYD, interventions primarily did so via a main goal of reducing risky behaviors (n = 6) [17,19,22,23,25,26], preventing the onset of chronic diseases (n = 3) [11,20,21], or promoting cultural connectedness (n = 1) [24]. Most of the studies were quasi-experimental (n = 8) [11, 17, 19, 21-23, 25, 26], but randomized controlled trial designs (n = 2) [20,24] were also utilized.…”

“…Most of the studies were quasi-experimental (n = 8) [11, 17, 19, 21-23, 25, 26], but randomized controlled trial designs (n = 2) [20,24] were also utilized. Studies were conducted in the USA (n = 6) [11,17,19,22,23,26], Canada (n = 2) [21,25], and Australia (n = 2) [20,24]. Studies reported an average of 9.70 (±3.24) out of 21 RE-AIM items, ranging from 5 to 14 reported items ( Table 3).…”

“…In the Healthy Living in Two Worlds Project [26], program coordinators were described by their decades of social worker experience and indigenous background and each component of the intervention setting-a large university with a gym, pool, outdoor space, and kitchen-was explained. These details, related to external validity, provide practitioners with the necessary information to enhance the adaptability SYSTEMATIC REVIEWS of similar interventions to new settings, especially when cost and resources are limited [27].…”

“…These details, related to external validity, provide practitioners with the necessary information to enhance the adaptability SYSTEMATIC REVIEWS of similar interventions to new settings, especially when cost and resources are limited [27]. Furthermore, programming like the Health Living in Two Worlds Project [26] that is delivered by indigenous community members for indigenous youth tends to be more effective than programs delivered by nonindigenous people [22].…”

“…Interventions promoting PYD for indigenous youth are primarily delivered using structured physical activity and educational classes [11,[19][20][21] or traditional land-based experiences such as canoeing and powwows [17,[22][23][24] as strategies. Regardless of the strategy used, changes in PYD outcomes such as resiliency, leadership, cultural competence, and general life skills have been demonstrated across diverse indigenous populations [17,22,23,25] in addition to improvements in physical activity, weight, body mass index, and blood pressure [11,20,26].…”