An exploration of ethnic, immigration and acculturation differences on tobacco smoking among public high school girls in Hawai'i.

This cross-sectional study explores the differences in ethnicity, sex, immigration (place of birth of student and parents), and acculturation (based on language spoken at home) on current cigarette smoking among public high school students in Hawai'i, and especially examine if this affected smoking among girls. Previous behavior risk surveys of youth in Hawai'i showed higher smoking rates among girls, although these were not found to be statistically significant differences. Multiple years of data were compiled from the Hawai'i Youth Tobacco Survey (YTS) for years 2005, 2007, 2009, and 2011, for a total sample size of N=5,527. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was conducted to evaluate the likelihood of current cigarette smoking (in the past 30 days) in relation to a variety of factors. The analysis revealed that Hawai'i-specific ethnicity, grade, and sex were all significant predictors of smoking. Girls whose mothers were born in Hawai'i or in another United States state were more likely to smoke than those whose mothers were born in a foreign country. The model showed girls were more likely to smoke than boys. Eleventh and twelfth graders were more likely to smoke than ninth graders. Whites, Filipinos, Native Hawaiians, Pacific Islanders, and Other ethnic groups were more likely to smoke than those who identified themselves as Japanese.

The Childhood Obesity Prevention Task Force (ACT 269): recommendations for obesity prevention in Hawai'i.

Obesity in both adults and children is a critical issue in Hawai'i, as well as nationally and internationally. Today in Hawai'i, 57 percent of adults are overweight or obese as are almost 1 in 3 children entering kindergarten. Each year, obesity costs Hawai'i more than $470 million in medical expenditures alone.(1) These staggering human and economic costs underscore the serious need for Hawai'i to address obesity now. Due to the urgent need to reverse the current trends in obesity Senate Bill 2778 was signed into law, on July 6, 2012, as Act 269 by Governor Neil Abercrombie, creating The Childhood Obesity Prevention Task Force. The task force was charged with developing policy recommendations and proposed legislation for the 2013 legislature. The task force ultimately identified eleven recommendations for the 2013 legislative session and one recommendation for the 2014 legislative session. When implemented together, these recommendations could profoundly reshape Hawai'i's school, work, community, and health care environments, making healthier lifestyles obtainable for all Hawai'i residents.

Community based participatory approaches to address health disparities in Hawai'i: recent applications in cancer prevention, detection and treatment programs.

Assessment of recent trends in the prevalence and incidence of cancer, and its associated risk and protective factors in the State of Hawai'i illustrate that there are definite ethnic, socio-economic, and geographic health disparities. Disparities in access to health care are reflected in decreased and under utilization of all types of preventive cancer screening tests and decreased proportions of people with health insurance coverage. Increases in obesity mirror U.S. national trends and disproportionately affect certain ethnic groups and those with low income. Tobacco use has increased among at-risk populations including: certain ethnic groups, those with low-income and/or low education and those in rural areas. Data that reveal continuing or worsening health disparities imply that either the old methods have not been effective and/or resources are not available or are not being applied to address such disparities. Promising methodologies and programmatic focuses to reduce health disparities are needed as mechanisms for improving the circumstances of at-risk populations. Community based participatory approaches are described here for cancer prevention, detection, and treatment programs that utilize culturally appropriate methods.