Beyond the patient: lessons from community engagement in a rural First Nation

Aboriginal children experience substantial and persistent health disparities compared with their mainstream peers; innovative methods are needed to assess the effectiveness of new interventions. Health leaders in Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory engaged with a team of scientists at Laurentian University to address these disparities, and developed a strong and respectful engagement. This collaboration began with the Outdoor Adventure Leadership Experience project (https://oalevideo.laurentian.ca) and led to the development of a culturally relevant measure of health for children 8 to 18 years of age: the Aboriginal Children’s Health and Well-being Measure (ACHWM). In this paper, we share the lessons learned through a community-engaged project to evaluate a new intervention for health promotion.