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

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.