SCORE!

About the Project

SCORE! Overview

Our proposed “connecting to nature” intervention seeks to nurture a love of the outdoors, gardening, and hiking among new immigrant families and optimize healthy active living to prevent obesity and type 2 diabetes. The behavioural risk factors we will target on the pathway to development of type 2 diabetes include unhealthy eating and physical inactivity. These two health behaviours contribute to establishing and sustaining considerable risk for chronic diseases including type 2 diabetes, a significant contributor to cardiovascular disease. Interventions that positively impact these health behaviours in children and young adults have the potential to reduce negative outcomes across the life span. The dietary and physical activity adaptations among new immigrants to Canada especially among those in low-income settings often have a predictable maladaptive pattern. The development of this intervention considers the built environment, social and cultural norms as well as individual and family level determinants of new immigrant families.

Household Survey Fill Out Our Eligibility Survey

Are you a resident in the Riverdale community? Are you interested in becoming a part of the SCORE! project?

Project Description

SCORE! aims to weave together theory-based approaches, evidence-informed practice, and lived experiences to co-design a relevant and accessible population-based intervention:

Use photovoice, an empowering visually-oriented methodology, to understand the barriers and facilitators to healthy active living experienced by newcomer families
Collaborate with local schools on a “Gallery Walk” workshop to learn about youth perspectives on outdoor/indoor activities, what activities they would like to do more often, preferred spaces/places, and ways these could be achieved
Create an interactive “Systems Map” of Hamilton-based programs, spaces, and places which offer health and wellness programs for children 5-11 years of age
Conduct evidence reviews of nature-based interventions, and other Healthy Active Living interventions among new immigrant communities in High Income Countries
Develop and pilot test the components of a family network-based intervention aiming to impact Healthy Active Living behaviours.

Project Goals & Vision

Using a health equity lens to develop and implement a program through which children of newcomer families grow, thrive, and reach optimal health.

3 Phases to this Project: Design, Implement, Scale

Design (Phase 1): 2 years to engage and understand community needs and potential solutions to the challenges experienced. Part of this is learning and characterizing family priorities, barriers faced, what has worked well in the past, and potential new solutions. Part of it is pilot testing and evaluating some of the proposed solutions.

Implement (Phase 2): All of the information from Phase 1 will be used to implement and formally evaluate the intervention which has the greatest chance of success.

Scale: (Phase 3): Develop and Implement the SCORE! Toolkit for different contexts, cities and towns across Canada with a high proportion of newcomer families.

Project Importance

SCORE! is a project where Health Equity meets Public Health and endeavours to discover effective strategies that can enable Newcomer families when they arrive in Canada to optimize the health trajectories of their children. This includes all aspects of Healthy Active Living in order to prevent early onset chronic disease risk factors such as overweight and type 2 diabetes for example, while promoting optimal mental health and well-being, community integration, and success at school.

SCORE! Project Updates

SCORE!’s End-of-Phase 1 Meeting Read End-of-Phase 1 Meeting Summary

On March 4th, 2024, SCORE! held its End-of-Phase 1 meeting at Mohawk College’s Stoney Creek Campus. At this event, the SCORE! team shared the SCORE! Intervention to gather feedback from experts, community members, and partners.

SCORE!’s December 12th Community Advisory-Action Board Meeting Read December 12th Meeting Summary

On December 12th, 2023, SCORE! held its latest Community Advisory-Action Board (CAB) meeting at the Ron Joyce Children’s Health Centre. This meeting fostered open discussion on encouraging children and parents to attend SCORE! programming, assessed members’ food literacy levels, and celebrated the CAB’s dedication to a healthier Riverdale community.

SCORE!’s September 18th Community Advisory-Action Board Meeting Read September 18th Meeting Summary

On September 18^th, 2023, SCORE! held its latest Community Advisory-Action Board (CAB) meeting at the Ron Joyce Children’s Health Centre. The focus of this meeting was to connect with community voices and partners to hear their input on our progress-to-date, introduce Momina Raza as the CAB Co-chair, and discuss barriers in accessing outdoor spaces in Riverdale.

SCORE!’s May 29th, 2023 Community Advisory-Action Board Meeting Read May 29th Meeting Summary

On Monday May 29th, 2023, SCORE! held its latest Community Advisory-Action Board (CAB) meeting at the Ron Joyce Children’s Health Centre.

This meeting brought together community members, partners, and SCORE! team members to foster dialogue and gather community perspectives. Conducted in a ‘gallery walk’ style, CAB members visited different stations to discuss and provide their input on curriculum development, the SCORE! Systems Map, and Healthy Active Living policy. In addition, members provided feedback on the SCORE! project’s progress to date, which includes the household survey, photovoice study, and intervention piloting. The CAB members also participated in an interactive gardening activity designed by Green Venture, in which they planted seedlings in pots to take home.

SCORE! Photovoice Exhibition Learn About the Photovoice Exhibition

On Saturday March 4, 2023, we held a Photovoice exhibition, “A Landscape of Colours, a Lifetime of Memories,” in the atrium of the Mohawk Stoney Creek Campus. The purpose of this activity was to engage with community members and multi-sectoral leaders on the findings and to strengthen the conversation on action-oriented steps that we can take to address barriers and uplift facilitators. 26 participants across different local sectors (school board, city, local organizational leaders, etc.) engaged in the guided tour of the exhibit, contributing to rich dialogue on how we can work together on these issues.

SCORE! Co-Design Workshop

In our first co-design workshop on Wednesday, January 18, 2023 at the Dominic Agostino Riverdale Community Centre, the people who live in the community, work in the community, and lead organizations that provide programs and services in the community came together to discuss their perspectives on healthy active living in Riverdale. 8 community partners, 4 community members and 1 organization collaborated to share their ideas on healthy active living for children. Through their discussions, we identified problems and assets and had participants design activities that could avoid these issues and improve participation in healthy active living. These ideas will be further discussed, refined, and pilot tested with the community.

SCORE! Logo Contest Learn About the Contest

On May 7^th and 8^th 2022, the SCORE! team held a Gallery Walk at Lake Avenue Elementary school. During the Gallery Walk, we ran a Logo Contest where we invited all students at the school in grades K-8 to submit logo designs based on the principles of SCORE!. Students were asked to design a logo that captured healthy active living and nature-based activities within the Riverdale community, and we received over 60 submissions! Of these submissions, the SCORE! team picked a winner based on artistic merit, alignment with SCORE! objectives, and overall impression. Though it was a tough decision, we picked Samiha (Grade 4) as our winner! Congratulations Samiha and all contest participants!

Introducing SCORE!’s Community Advisory-Action Boards (CAB) Learn About CAB

To date, SCORE! has hosted two Community Advisory-Action Board meetings (September 6, 2022 & November 24, 2022).

The purpose of these Community Advisory-Action Boards (CAB) is to learn from and integrate expertise and experiences from members to guide research activities within the SCORE! program. The main tasks will include supporting the operationalization of the research protocol and providing feedback on intervention design and pilot-testing. The CAB convenes once every 3-4 months to collaborate on research guidance activities.

Click here to view SCORE!’s November CAB Report.

About the Riverdale Community

Learn about the people and landscape that make up the Riverdale community.

Where is Riverdale?

Riverdale is a small neighbourhood in East Hamilton, right next to the border between Stoney Creek and the original Hamilton. Riverdale West is home to a vibrant mix of residents from around the world. 51% of the population is foreign-born and the percentage of recent immigrants (arriving in Canada between 2001 and 2006) is 16% in Riverdale West compared to 3.3% for Hamilton as a whole. In fact, 7% of Hamilton’s recent immigrants live in Riverdale West (in contrast, Riverdale West has only 1% of the city’s overall population).

What are Riverdale’s Demographics?

Many residents of Riverdale experience the challenges that often come with immigrating to a new country. These may include adapting to a new culture, precarious employment, little extra time to engage with wellness programs/spaces, financial barriers, housing, and accessing welcoming and inclusive spaces.

What is in Riverdale?

Riverdale is home to key locations such as the Lake Avenue Elementary School, St. Agnes Catholic School, high schools, Dominic Agostino Community Centre, the Hamilton Community Garden Network, Green Venture programming, many organizations committed to improving newcomer experiences, and outdoor greenspaces.

Project Team

Sonia Anand

Canada Research Chair in Ethnic Diversity and Cardiovascular Disease / Heart and Stroke Foundation / Michael G. DeGroote Chair in Population Health Research