NWT RESEARCH DATABASE

Regions: Inuvialuit Settlement Region, Gwich'in Settlement Area, Sahtu Settlement Area, Dehcho Region, North Slave Region, South Slave Region

Tags: social sciences, sexually transmitted infection, youth, sexual health, art

Objective(s): To build capacity and leadership in HIV prevention and research among Northern and Indigenous youth in the NWT; and, to evaluate the effect of arts-based HIV prevention programs on Northern and Indigenous youth’s HIV and STI knowledge, cultural connectedness, self-esteem, empowerment and safer sex self efficacy.

Project Description: This licence has been issued for the scientific research application No.4827. The objectives of this research are to build capacity and leadership in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) prevention and research among Northern and Indigenous youth in the NWT; and, to evaluate the effect of arts-based HIV prevention programs on Northern and Indigenous youth’s HIV and sexually transmitted infection (STI) knowledge, cultural connectedness, self-esteem, empowerment and safer sex self efficacy. Quantitative Evaluation of FOXY in the NWT—Survey: Hypotheses: Participants engaging in the arts-based HIV preventions programs FOXY (Fostering Open eXpression among Youth) will report higher primary (HIV knowledge) and secondary (self-esteem, empowerment, safer sex self-efficacy, cultural connectedness) outcome scores from t0 to t1 and t2. All participants will complete the same survey irrespective of their self-identified gender. This is a multi-centre non-randomised pragmatic cohort pilot study using a pre-test/post-test design with a multi-year 12-month follow-ups for FOXY/SMASH. Participants in FOXY (n=500) and its counterpart SMASH (Strengths, Masculinities & Sexual Health ) for young men (n=300) will complete a structured interview directly before participating in the intervention at baseline (t0), directly following the completion of the intervention (t1) and at 12 month follow up (t2). The research team will pilot test the survey with peer research assistants and integrate feedback to enhance validity, cultural relevance and clarity. The primary outcome, HIV knowledge, will be measured using the Brief HIV Knowledge Questionnaire. Secondary outcomes include: 1) resilience, using The Child and Youth Resilience Measure-28, 2) self-esteem, assessed using the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale; 3) empowerment using the Empowerment Measure that assesses power within (e.g. confidence), power to (e.g. relationship dynamics) and power with (e.g. social membership), 4) safer-sex self efficacy using the Safer Sex Self-Efficacy Scale and 5) cultural connectedness using the Awareness of Connectedness Scale developed to assess culture-specific factors with Alaska Native Youth. The research team will conduct descriptive analyses of socio-demographic variables, including means and standard deviations (SD) and proportions to provide an overview of participant characteristics. The team will sum items for each scale to calculate total/subscale scores for each measure and calculate means (SD). Outcome measures will be tested for pre-intervention differences by socio-demographic characteristics using Pearson product-moment correlation for continuous variables, Student t-tests for dichotomous variables, and analysis of variance for variables of 3 or more categories. The team will use mixed-effects regression to model each continuous outcome measure as a function of 2 time dummy variables, one for post-intervention interview time point and one for 12 month follow-up. This method accounts for the correlated structure of 3 repeated measures (pre-intervention, post-intervention, 12 month follow-up and uses maximum likelihood estimation for inference that allows inclusion of cases with missing data. While accounting for within- and between-subject variability, regression based models also allow the flexibility to adjust for socio-demographic covariates. The model coefficients for the model dummy variables represent the change in outcome scores from pre-intervention to post-intervention and from pre-intervention to 12-month follow-up. Phase 3 of this study will involve Knowledge Translation and Exchange. During Phase 3, the research team aim to share knowledge about experiences of promoting HIV prevention and capacity building with Indigenous Northern youth using arts-based strategies. The research team will work in collaboration with partners in NWT (Institute for Circumpolar Health Research, Aurora College, Government of NWT, Aurora Research Institute) to implement participatory KTE. The team will produce infographics, a project report, and national/international conference presentations and peer-reviewed journal article submissions. We regularly collaborate with Hotiì ts’eeda NWT SPOR Support Unit to produce communication materials. The fieldwork for this study will be conducted from October 22, 2020 to December 31, 2020.