%0 Journal Article
%@ 2561-6722
%I JMIR Publications
%V 3
%N 2
%P e21155
%T Smart Indigenous Youth: The Smart Platform Policy Solution for Systems Integration to Address Indigenous Youth Mental Health
%A Katapally,Tarun Reddy
%+ Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy, University of Regina, 3737 Wascana Parkway, Regina, SK, S4S 0A2, Canada, 1 3065854544, tarun.katapally@uregina.ca
%K Indigenous youth
%K mental health
%K school policies
%K health policy
%K digital health interventions
%K mHealth
%K systems integration
%K land-based learning
%K physical activity
%D 2020
%7 25.9.2020
%9 Viewpoint
%J JMIR Pediatr Parent
%G English
%X Indigenous youth mental health is an urgent public health issue, which cannot be addressed with a one-size-fits-all approach. The success of health policies in Indigenous communities is dependent on bottom-up, culturally appropriate, and strengths-based prevention strategies. In order to maximize the effectiveness of these strategies, they need to be embedded in replicable and contextually relevant mechanisms such as school curricula across multiple communities. Moreover, to engage youth in the twenty-first century, especially in rural and remote areas, it is imperative to leverage ubiquitous mobile tools that empower Indigenous youth and facilitate novel Two-Eyed Seeing solutions. Smart Indigenous Youth is a 5-year community trial, which aims to improve Indigenous youth mental health by embedding a culturally appropriate digital health initiative into school curricula in rural and remote Indigenous communities in Canada. This policy analysis explores the benefits of such upstream initiatives. More importantly, this article describes evidence-based strategies to overcome barriers to implementation through the integration of citizen science and community-based participatory research action.
%M 32975527
%R 10.2196/21155
%U http://pediatrics.jmir.org/2020/2/e21155/
%U https://doi.org/10.2196/21155
%U http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32975527