Grant: Catalyst Grant : Indigenous Approaches to Wellness Research - Wellness in cancer

Indigenous peoples exhibit clear health and wellness disparities that must be addressed. We have worked extensively in Indigenous communities designing culturally appropriate health and wellness interventions (CIHR-funded). Several barriers to the translation and uptake of health knowledge have been identified, emphasizing the need to consider health from culturally appropriate and holistic manner. We have established how essential Indigenous community leaders are in the delivery and uptake of health and wellness information. As such, our interventions have been designed such that Indigenous community leaders are the key knowledge translation brokers. We recognize that the long- term sustainability of these interventions is challenging, particularly in remote and rural regions. Also, our Indigenous community leaders have acknowledged the need for advanced and on-going training to ensure a self-sustaining model wherein community leaders are the key advocates for health change. Accordingly, this proposal seeks to examine the effectiveness of a novel experiential and community-based learning program for healthy lifestyle behaviours within Indigenous communities. This program will be designed to empower Indigenous community leaders and youth in the effective translation and uptake of healthy lifestyle behavior information within their community. It is anticipated that this work will facilitate a self-sustaining model for improving health and wellness in Indigenous peoples.