Ho'ouna Pono implementation: applying concept mapping to a culturally grounded substance use prevention curriculum in rural Hawai'i schools.

BACKGROUND: Despite their potential to ameliorate health disparities and address youth substance use, prevention programs have been poorly disseminated and implemented across Hawai'i, which begs the question: Why are effective prevention programs not being used in communities most in need of them? Implementing and sustaining culturally grounded prevention programs is critical to address equitable healthcare and minimize health disparities in communities. The field of implementation science provides frameworks, theories, and methods to examine factors associated with community adoption of these programs. METHOD: Our project applies concept mapping methods to a culturally grounded youth drug prevention program with state level educational leadership in rural Hawai'i schools. The goal is to integrate barrier and facilitator salience collected through teacher and school staff surveys and specific implementation strategies to regionally tailored implementation plans on Hawai'i island. This protocol paper describes the concept mapping steps and how they will be applied in public and public-charter schools. DISCUSSION: Improving prevention program implementation in rural schools can result in sustained support for populations that need it most. The project will integrate implementation science and culturally grounded methods in rural Hawai'i, where most youth are of Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander descent. This project addresses health disparities among Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander youth and provides actionable plans for rural Hawai'i communities to implement effective prevention programming.

A Novel Method to Examine Public Communications and Policy Representations: A Case Example of Hawai'i's Perspective on Juveniles Involved in Commercial Sexual Activity.

Public policy may be strongly influenced by the language used in the media to discuss issues. This language can create a policy image or policy representation that frames the issue as being either deserving or undeserving of policy aid. This policy representation, in turn, may influence the direction of public policies proposed to address the issue. This article presents the development of a codebook for systematically examining the language used in the media to create these policy representations. Framing theory and a qualitative content analysis approach were used to develop the codebook, using a 4-part taxonomy: problem definition, causal interpretation, moral evaluation, and policy recommendation. The issue of juveniles involved in commercial sexual activity in Hawai'i was used as a case study to guide creation of the codebook. Pilot study data were drawn from Hawai'i's local newspapers and from testimony submitted to the Hawai'i State Legislature during 1985-2016. A set of coding schemes built on the 4-part taxonomy was based on the dichotomous attitude of juvenile criminality and juvenile exploitation. Pilot data indicated that juveniles are increasingly being represented as victims of sexual exploitation (newspaper, 45%; testimony, 90%), and the presence of thematic elements in the media strongly correlated with this overall shift. A key lesson learned was the ability of the codebook to capture episodic and thematic elements, which may have strong implications for those concerned with populations that are exploited, politically marginalized, and in need of policy aid. Another key lesson learned was the strength of the codebook to collect quantitative and qualitative data that may lie outside carefully constructed dichotomous frames (eg, a policy representation of juveniles as survivors) and the media's prevailing narratives (eg, the experience of sexual minority juveniles).

Increasing Native Research Leadership Through an Early Career Development Program.

Inequities impact American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian populations across various health conditions; in particular, many Native communities bear a disproportionate burden of substance use disorder. Such inequities persist despite concerted efforts of communities and significant research directed toward prevention and intervention. One factor hampering these efforts is the underrepresentation of researchers who are themselves Native and uniquely equipped to respond to the needs of their communities. This paper describes the innovative Native Children's Research Exchange (NCRE) Scholars program, now entering its ninth year of successful career development support for emerging Native scholars. We summarize the history of NCRE Scholars, outline the mentoring and training approaches taken to meet the unique needs of early-career Native scholars, and present key progress of program alumni. The current cohort of Scholars provide first-person perspectives on how four key program elements have supported their career development to date. NCRE Scholars has been an effective approach for supporting the next generation of Native research leaders and for helping to build an essential mass of Native researchers prepared to respond to Native community health priority needs.

He 'A'ali'i Ku Makani Mai Au: Developing a Cultural Framework for Advancing COVID-19 Related, Community-informed Health Policies.

The Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander community found itself on the front pages of national news when the COVID-19 pandemic struck the United States. By April 2020, the small, frequently overlooked community experienced the highest COVID-19 case rates in 5 states including Hawai'i. In response, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander networks across the US were mobilized to address the crisis. In Hawai'i, the Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander COVID-19 Response, Recovery, and Resilience Team was created. Framed by Indigenous Pacific based cultural values, protocols, and practices, the team consists of multiple committees that examine policy; testing, contract tracing, and isolation; communications; social supports and resources; and data and research. Inherent in this work are the shared core values of pono (righteousness, goodness), aloha (love, compassion), laulima (cooperation), and imua (moving forward with strength) as well as an 'ohana/aiga (family)-based, kuleana (responsibility)-centric approach that acknowledges, honors, and values 'ike kupuna (ancestral knowledge). With the burden of not only COVID-19 disparities, but also chronic diseases and socioeconomic disparities that place Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander communities at increased risk for adverse impacts from COVID-19, an effective response is critical. This article, authored by members of the Team's Policy Committee, discusses the development of a cultural framework that guides its advocacy efforts. The Policy Committee's work presents a cultural framework that grounds and guides their efforts for effectively promoting a strong voice in governmental and agency policies which would ultimately contribute to a healthy and thriving Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander community.

Deep-Structure Adaptations and Culturally Grounded Prevention Interventions for Native Hawaiians: a Systematic Review of the Literature.

Research has shown that Native Hawaiians disproportionately suffer from behavioral disorders and chronic physical diseases, yet they have historically lacked effective and culturally relevant prevention interventions to address their pervasive health disparities. This article systematically reviewed the recent culturally relevant prevention intervention literature focused on Native Hawaiians. In this review, we assessed 14 peer-reviewed articles published between 2015 and 2020 that met inclusion and exclusion criteria pertaining to the development and/or evaluation of prevention interventions for Native Hawaiians. The reviewed studies evaluated ten different interventions that were developed using deep-structure adaptation or culturally grounded procedures, and primarily focused on prevention of substance use, obesity/diabetes, and pregnancy/sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Compared with the prior related literature reviews, the present review suggests an overall advancement in prevention science for Native Hawaiians, evidenced by an increase in federal funding and randomized controlled clinical trials of prevention interventions for the population. This review provides an update to the state of the science for Native Hawaiian prevention interventions and points to areas of future research and development.