Uniting Our Nations: Strengths-Based Violence Prevention with Aboriginal Youth

Introduction: Aboriginal / Native American youth experience higher rates of peer violence than their non-Aboriginal counterparts, and there is a significant need for effective school-based prevention programming. Within the socio-political context, strengths-based approaches are preferred. These approaches have the advantage of building competencies that lead to increased well-being and adjustment, and also help protect youth against a range of negative outcomes (Crooks, et al., 2010). Furthermore, conceptualizing strengths within an ecological framework provides the opportunity to consider individual, relational, and systemic components (Hage et al., 2007).  Uniting Our Nations is a suite of program components for Aboriginal youth that grew out of the Fourth R, an evidence-based violence prevention program (Crooks et al., 2011; Wolfe et al. 2009; Wolfe et al., 2012). Similar to the other Fourth R programs, Uniting Our Nations uses a skill-based approach focusing on health relationships and preventing violence, but it is embedded in a cultural identity framework, and includes traditional concepts of well-being and healthy relationships appropriate for the particular local context. The adapted Fourth R programs are based on extensive work with partners, and there are now Cree-informed, Anishinabe-informed, and Dene-informed versions.

The goal of this presentation is two-fold: (1) to present a partnership-oriented process for appropriate adaptation and expansion of evidence-based programs in an Aboriginal (Canadian) context; and (2) to present the results of a longitudinal evaluation.

Methods: A multi-method evaluation was undertaken with an entire cohort of Aboriginal youth (n=106) in a large school board in Ontario. Data were collected annually from grades 8 to 10 and included self-report measures of violence, other risk behaviors and protective factors; interviews with a subset of participants; and official school academic records. In addition, interviews were conducted with 12 adult stakeholders (including school principals, educators, and community partners).

Results:  Results are still being finalized, but preliminary results suggest that the culturally-relevant strengths-based approach both increased positive indicators of adjustment, and decreased problematic behaviors and academic outcomes, particularly among more vulnerable youth. Interviews with adult stakeholders identified the importance of the cultural identity framework and the centrality of relationships in successfully implementing and evaluating the programs.

Conclusion: Uniting Our Nations expands on the evidence-based Fourth R program to deliver culturally-relevant, strengths-based programming for Aboriginal youth. Participants benefit both in terms of increasing protective factors and also decreasing negative outcomes. The importance of partnerships in developing, implementing, and evaluating the programming cannot be underestimated.