Chronic absenteeism is a widespread and troubling phenomenon affecting high school students nationwide. Existing research identifies an inverse link between student health and chronic absenteeism. Illness is a top cause of student absence, suggesting that school-based health services may play an important role in mitigating chronic absenteeism.…

Objective: This study examines local identity and mental health at one of the most ethnically diverse universities in the United States to move beyond the dichotomy between international and domestic students. Participants: Undergraduate students (N = 1,098) attending a university in Hawai'i completed anonymous surveys during class. Results:…

Background: Youth may be reluctant to seek health care from school health providers due to feeling embarrassed or stigmatized in the health office environment or worried about their confidentiality. The purpose of this project was to create a set of youth-centered health posters that promote youth engagement with nursing staff and to standardize…

Little is known about health limitations and service utilization among the Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NHPI) children with developmental disabilities (DDs) due to limited data. Our study examined the prevalence of DDs, health limitations, services used, and the unmet needs of NHPI children aged 3 to 17 years using cross-sectional data…

Background: In 2014, the Hawaii Department of Education (DOE), the only statewide school system in the United States, predominately enrolled children (keiki) from underserved communities and lacked school nurses or a school health program. Chronic absenteeism due to health concerns was identified as a barrier to academic success. Methods: The DOE…

Educational perspectives from Hawaiian points of view in all areas of Native Hawaiian health are timely and critical to share today, as remarkable and unprecedented collaborations within the Hawaiian community are addressing not only the overall health and wellness of Hawaiians, but a range of additional culturally grounded issues, such as healing…

Over the past forty years, considerable attention and funding has been spent to improve the health status of Kanaka ?Oiwi. While gains have been made, Kanaka 'Oiwi continue to experience an average life span ten years shorter than that of the general population (Wu et al. 2017). This is caused in part by non-communicable diseases such as diabetes,…

This essay describes the collaboration of the author with a community-based organization of women serving a predominantly, but not exclusively, immigrant and diasporic Filipino community in the county of Hawai'i to co-create an education project. It offers an analysis of two seemingly divergent communities and their presumably distinct practices…

C. Mamo Kim is a Native Hawaiian leader and political activist in Hawai'i. In 1986 she began healing people of diseases from which their doctors had already pronounced they would be imminently dying or chronically doomed to suffer. By merely placing her hands on or near the body she was able to completely reverse the diseases or chronic illness…

Objective: Despite substantial progress in the development and identification of psychosocial evidence-based treatments (EBTs) in mental health, there is minimal empirical guidance for selecting an optimal "set" of EBTs maximally applicable and generalizable to a chosen service sample. Relevance mapping is a proposed methodology that…

Context: Health disparities between rural and urban communities are well documented. There are many suggested causes and many proposed solutions but no one-size-fits-all answer. The most successful community interventions have been introduced by communities themselves. However, before communities invest in such interventions, each group must…

In Hawaii, one of four national "vision for nursing education" projects focused on identifying themes for a community-based curriculum. Focus groups selected nursing history, culture, identity, knowledge, and practice as well as cross-disciplinary themes. (SK)

Background: Population and service characteristics were compared for youth (age 0-18 years) with and without schizophrenia-spectrum disorders, who received public mental health services in Hawaii's comprehensive system of care between July 1, 2000 and June 30, 2001. Methods: Electronic records of youth with a diagnosis in the…

Describes Hawaii's Healthy Start Program (HST), its ongoing evaluation study, and evaluation findings at the end of two of a planned three years of family-program participation and follow-up. HST uses home visitors to help prevent abusive and neglectful parenting. Found significant differences in program implementation among the three…

Child care professionals in Hawaii were surveyed to assess health training needs. Respondents reported a high degree of comfort in managing common health conditions. The most commonly requested health services involved speech/language testing and vision/hearing screening. The most requested health/safety workshop topic was behavioral problems. The…