Exploring Thriving of Inuit Youth Through an Engagement Lens: A Strengths-Based Focus on Factors Related to Nunavummiut Youth's Participation in a Psycho-Educational Mental Health Project

Abstract

Few studies have investigated strategies to support Inuit youth engagement in mental wellness using a strengths-based, culturally grounded approach. Existing literature primarily focuses on environmental science and addresses solely physical and educational barriers. The current study aimed to identify multi-systemic factors that may directly or indirectly support Inuit youth leaders and participants engagement in two mental wellness research initiatives: the Making I-SPARX Fly in Nunavut [I-SPARX] and the Virtual Qaggiq projects. For Inuit youth leaders/ research assistants, this was explored through semi-structured interviews. For Inuit youth testers in the I-SPARX game evaluation trial, demographics and response patterns on a pre/post intervention wellness questionnaires were analyzed. Thematic analysis identified common themes in the qualitative data, while multiple linear regression and an adaptive lasso analysis extracted key factors from the quantitative data. The findings revealed multiple interrelated individual, contextual, relational, and cultural influences on youth’s engagement. Clinical and research implications are discussed.