Understanding sport, physical activity and wholistic health in First Nations youth

This thesis was completed and submitted at Nipissing University, and is made freely accessible through the University of Toronto’s TSpace repositoryHealth concerns among Indigenous peoples, including youth, are increasing at an alarming pace (Howell et al., 2016). In addition to experiencing physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual disconnect (Chansonneuve, 2005), Indigenous youth are at increased risk of poor health status, serious injury, suicide, developing chronic diseases later in life (Baillie et al., 2016).Consequently, sport and physical activity have been mobilized as a medium through which Indigenous youth can experience positive developmental outcomes and opportunities to thrive(Baillie et al., 2016; Bruner et al., 2016) given the capacity to assist Indigenous youth to attain their full potential, accrue wholistic health benefits, and live in balance (Bruner et al., 2019). Despite this knowledge, there is still limited research to understand Indigenous perspectives in the literature. Therefore, there has been a call from sport psychology researchers for more research to understand youth participation in sport and physical activity from diverse cultural perspectives, specifically Indigenous youth (Bruner et al., 2016; McHugh et al., 2015; Schinke &Hanrahan, 2009). It is in response to this call that this research has been conducted. As such, the purpose of this research was to explore and better understand how the wholistic health of First Nations youth is impacted through participation in sport and physical activity. The two objectives of this research were to (1) Examine the ways in which sport and physical activity participation impacts the wholistic health of the First Nations youth and (2) highlight key wholistic health outcomes of their sport and physical activity experiences. To achieve these objectives, this study applied a Two-eyed Seeing approach (Bartlett etal., 2012). Using purposeful sampling, eight Indigenous youth (5 males, 3 females) between the age of 14 and 18 years were recruited to participate in one of two virtual sharing circles. Both virtual sharing circles were facilitated by the Indigenous student researcher with the guidance of an Elder. Using thematic analysis, results highlighted that sport and physical activity are associated with positive outcomes related to interconnectedness, mental health, and physical adaptations in First Nations youth. However, despite the positives, findings also demonstrate important negatives of sport and physical activity participation. Findings from this research will improve our understanding of the relationship between sport and physical activity participation and wholistic health amongst Indigenous peoples.M.Sc