Henderson, RitaMortimore, Emma2023-10-042023-10-042023-09-25Mortimore, E. (2023). The role of sport in promoting wellness among Indigenous youth: a qualitative study for policy and practice (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.https://hdl.handle.net/1880/117293https://doi.org/10.11575/PRISM/42135This work builds on a multi-year community outreach platform led by the Indigenous, Local and Global Health Office at the University of Calgary’s Cumming School of Medicine, to investigate how sport may be supportive of wellness in Indigenous youth. It builds on literature that has shown the promise of sport as a population-level approach for promoting wellness among youth. For this qualitative study, we interviewed eight Indigenous individuals involved in sport, either in their youth or in a leadership capacity as an adult, asking: how do sports support Indigenous youth wellness? Two rounds of iterative thematic analysis were conducted, first investigating how participants described wellness, then assessing how sport acted to promote their concepts of wellness. Participants described the concept of wellness through four core components: i) belonging to something greater than yourself, ii) developing identity, iii) overcoming adversity, and iv) belonging and contributing to a community of support. In investigating how sport supports wellness, one major theme emerged that crosscut all others: connectedness. This manifested at the personal, interpersonal, and wider social levels in the lives of participants. This work culminates in considering how existing frameworks for youth wellbeing can be expanded to better include Indigenous perspectives. Findings are oriented to policy action in the Cumming School of Medicine, as well as aim to influence change of practice for those working with Indigenous youth in sport more broadly.enUniversity of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission.IndigenousYouthSportWellnessEducation--HealthPublic HealthAnthropology--Culturalmaster thesis