Promoting Linguistic and Cultural Identity through Bilingual Children's Stories to Address Nutrition and Health in Indigenous Communities

项目总结 来自美国印第安人和阿拉斯加原住民(AI/AN)背景的孩子在美国的经历 不成比例的健康差距，包括糖尿病、肥胖症和龋齿的高发病率 所有其他团体。从传统饮食到更现代的高营养饮食的历史过渡 饱和脂肪、胆固醇和钠是导致健康状况下降的一个独特因素。 这些社区。然而，土著青年不仅面临重大的健康挑战，而且他们还 在学校和社区环境中面临破坏其母语重要性的社会文化障碍 身份。越来越多的研究表明，通过母语和文化赋予年轻人权力 身份发展和社区对土著知识系统的确认可导致改进 健康结果。 使用社区参与框架，该项目将开发一个平台，用于创建、分发和 为土著家庭消费土著编写的双语资源，涉及健康、营养和 传统食品。其结果将是一个充满活力的双语儿童电子书图书馆，以美洲原住民语言编写 和英语，并伴随互动活动，促进亲子对话和共同阅读。我们会 与土著社区组织合作，建立定制实施工具包并进行评估 在一项为期数月的混合方法试点研究中，使用这些资源的有效性。符合 越来越多的证据表明，语言和文化参与与改善健康状况有关，我们将 评估图书和活动的参与度与(1)的关联程度 增加了与语言和文化认同的联系；(2)提高了对健康的积极态度 饮食；以及(3)更频繁的有利于健康的行为，如选择更健康的食物。

PROJECT SUMMARY Children from American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) backgrounds in the United States experience disproportionate health disparities, including high rates of diabetes, obesity, and dental caries, when compared to all other groups. The historial nutrition transition from a traditional diet to a more contemporary diet that is high in saturated fats, cholesterol, and sodium presents a unique factor that has contributed to the lower health status of these communities. However, not only do indigenous youth experience significant health challenges, but they also face socio-cultural barriers in school and community settings that undermine the importance of their Native identity. A growing body of research suggests that youth empowerment through Native language and culture identity development, and community validation of the indigenous knowledge system, can result in improved health outcomes. Using a community engagement framework, this project will develop a platform for the creation, distribution, and consumption of Native-authored, bilingual resources for indigenous families related to health, nutrition, and traditional foods. The result will be a library of dynamic, bilingual children’s ebooks in Native American languages and English, with accompanying interactive activities to promote parent-child dialog and co-reading. We will work with indigenous community-based organizations to build customized implementation toolkits and evaluate the effectiveness of using these resources over a multi-month mixed-methods pilot study. In line with the emerging evidence positing that linguistic and cultural engagement is associated with improved health, we will evaluate the extent to which the level of engagement with the books and activities will be associated with (1) increased connection to one’s linguistic and cultural identity; (2) elevated positive attitudes toward healthy eating; and (3) higher frequency of pro-health behaviors such as making healthier food choices.