Grant: Tm. Gr.: Early Yrs Imple. Sc.-Early yrs mental health prog. - Indigenous Peoples

Through an interdisciplinary team of academics, community leaders, and knowledge users, we will (1) examine the factors associated with successful implementation of an evidence-informed, community-grounded early childhood program with Indigenous communities in Canada, and (2) co-create tools to evaluate implementation in ways that centralize Indigenous community priorities related to early childhood mental health. We will build on momentum established by a strong partnership between a national non-profit organization (the Martin Family Initiative; MFI), a First Nations health authority (Maskwacis Health Services) and the University of Alberta, and expand our partnership to the Yukon and Nunavut. We will ground our work together in the Early Years Program (EY), an evidence-informed, community-grounded approach to early childhood mental health promotion and prevention that catalyzes collaboration across health, education, and social service sectors through home visitation, a training course, preschool programming, transportation, and group gatherings. With EY pilot funding, we developed the EY and researched project outcomes, but have not yet examined implementation factors. Our research has also been limited by the lack of culturally grounded tools to assess and screen early childhood mental health. To achieve our aims, we will use a community-based participatory research approach guided by Indigenous Research Methods. During this 5-year project, we will generate data from interviews, sharing circles, photovoice, and community dialogues in Alberta, the Yukon, and Nunavut. We will create and pilot early childhood development assessment tools, along with training materials. Our project will equip Indigenous service providers and families to understand children's early mental health using tools that reflect their cultures. This will fundamentally shift the field of implementation science to enhance the mental health of Indigenous children.