Personal Health Practices Around Physical Activity as Perceived by the Aboriginal Children of Prince Edward Island

• Main Authors: Critchley, Kim A., Walton, Fiona, Timmons, Vianne, Bryanton, Janet, McCarthy, Mary Jean, Taylor, Jennifer
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Waakebiness-Bryce Institute for Indigenous Health 2013
• Subjects: Prince Edward Island; Aboriginal children’s health; perceptions; community; multidisciplinary; physical activity; First Nations; Mi’kmaq
• Online Access: https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/ijih/article/view/28952; https://doi.org/10.3138/ijih.v3i1.28952

During the past decade, there have been several health surveys involving Canada’s Aboriginal people. In many of these studies, the Aboriginal population of Prince Edward Island (P.E.I.) has not been adequately represented. Given the lack of information regarding the health status of this population, the Abegweit and Lennox Island First Nations bands collaborated with the University of Prince Edward Island’s Faculty of Education, School of Nursing, and Department of Family and Nutritional Sciences to gain a more comprehensive profile of the perceptions, health behaviours and needs of Aboriginal children living on reserve in both of these Island communities.The study focused primarily on three of the determinants of health: early childhood development, education, and personal health practices and coping. Individuals from the two P.E.I. communities were interviewed, including 18 children in the 6-8 year age group, 22 children in the 9-12 year age group, 28 youth in the 13-18 year age group, 27 parents or caregivers, and 6 pregnant mothers.This research is important as there is little, if any, research undertaken with the Mi’kmaq communities of P.E.I. Unique features of this study are the inclusion of children as informants, the use of a multidisciplinary team and the active involvement of the Mi’kmaq community in all stages of the project.The purpose of this article is to disseminate some of the personal health practices around physical activity as perceived by the Aboriginal children and to identify current health behaviours and/or needs of active, healthy lifestyles.Therefore, only the results focusing on these children’s perceptions of their health, and their perceptions and behaviours about physical activities, will be discussed.