Strong culture, healthy lifestyles: an afterschool Aboriginal cultural activity program to promote healthy lifestyles in children

The afterschool cultural activity program is a 10-week program delivered to Aboriginal children and their siblings delivered by two local Aboriginal people (known as mentors; one male and one female) who hold the appropriate cultural knowledge and are identified by local Elders as being appropriate program leaders. In addition, visiting Aboriginal mentors also attend the program each to share community-specific knowledge that relate to the programmed activities (e.g. community-specific dances, stories, bush tucker). A program coordinator for each community is employed to oversee the running of the program. The mentors and program coordinators are required to hold a Working with Children Check and skills in engaging children. The program runs for two afternoons for 10-weeks (3:30-5:30pm). Each afternoon, the children are provided with healthy afternoon snacks. The program agenda is designed by the local Aboriginal mentors and Elders. The activities chosen in the agenda are specific to each participating community to reflect specific community cultural knowledge. Activities are developed to reinforce and build on the children’s connection to Country and promote healthy lifestyle behaviours, such as physical activity in the local natural landscapes (e.g. fishing, bushwalks, dancing), learning and celebrating culture through song and dance, and preparation and eating of local native foods. Participants will receive the following program resources: - pedometers to monitor their steps during the program - cameras to document their cultural learning journey The program is delivered either in a community centre or on school grounds (the appropriate location is identified by the Elders and Mentors). Also, participants engage in excursions on Country to places of cultural importance that relate to the program agenda. Transport is provided where necessary. Program adherence is assessed via: - attendance records at each session (taken by the mentors at the start of each session) - a record of activities completed at each session and if necessary, reasons for why activities are not completed or modified from the planned agenda (completed by the mentors) - direct observation of two randomly selected sessions using a checklist developed specifically for the study (completed by a research data collector from the University of Wollongong with appropriate training in direct observation). The direct observation and record of activities are compared with the planned agenda to determine how much of the program is delivered as planned. If it is identified that the program adherence is poor, the following strategy will be applied: - Additional training for the Mentors if required (led by the Program Coordinator, and supported by members of the research team)