Publications by authors named "Kaholokula J"

The purpose of this study is to describe the development and initial validation of a survey focused on problematic situations involving e-cigarette use by rural Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NHPI) youths. A 5-phase approach to test development and validation was used. In Phase 1 (Item Generation), survey items were created from a series of focus groups with middle school youths on Hawai'i Island ( = 69).

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Background: Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders (NHPI) are disproportionately burdened by pregnancy-related deaths in the United States and have the lowest engagement in prenatal care compared to all other US racial groups. Aside from access barriers, studies suggest that NHPI face challenges with patient-clinician communication, perceived discrimination, and cultural conflicts within healthcare settings. This paper describes the cultural adaptation of the 14-item Mothers On Respect index for NHPI, originally developed by Vedam et al.

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Article Synopsis
  • Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NHPI) adults have historically been grouped with Asian adults in mortality data, but since 2018, they've been reported separately, allowing better insights into their health statistics.
  • From 2018 to 2022, NHPI adults experienced 10,870 deaths from cardiovascular disease (CVD), with a mortality rate of 369.6 deaths per 100,000, which is significantly higher than the rate for Asian adults (243.9 per 100,000).
  • The study highlights the need for further research into NHPI health issues since their high CVD mortality rate was previously obscured when grouped with Asian populations.
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Over the past decade, youth e-cigarette use has grown into a national epidemic, with Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NHPI) youths' rates among some of the highest in the nation. Family factors significantly contribute to NHPI youths' decisions to engage in or resist substance use, yet few studies have specifically examined familial influences on NHPI youths' substance use decision-making and behaviors. The objective of this study is to examine adult familial influences on rural NHPI youths' decisions to engage in e-cigarette use.

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  • The study examines the psychometric properties of two scales, the adapted Historical Loss Scale (aHLS) and the Historical Loss Associated Symptoms Scale (HLASS), for Native Hawaiians, to measure the impact of Historical Loss.
  • Data was collected from 491 Native Hawaiian adults through surveys from 2014 to 2020, revealing the factor structures of both scales which include aspects like cultural loss and symptoms of depression.
  • The findings highlight the importance of understanding Historical Loss in Native Hawaiian and Indigenous communities, suggesting potential pathways for future research and healing practices.
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Ka Malu a Wa'ahila, an Indigenous-centered and student-informed program, was established in 2022 to meet the growing behavioral health needs of Native Hawaiian college students at the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa. Utilizing a cultural safety foundation and relying on the wisdom of community voices articulated by the Pilinahā framework, clinicians provide prevention, direct intervention, and outreach services. As the program continues to evolve, future plans include expanding to other Pacific Islanders and developing an additional layer of systemic change through building an Indigenous behavioral health training pathway and training curriculum for clinicians serving Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NHPI) communities.

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This study examined the e-cigarette and vaping resistance strategies used by Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NHPI) youths in rural Hawai'i. Focus groups (N = 17) were conducted in eight geographically dispersed elementary, middle/intermediate, and multilevel schools in low-income communities on Hawai'i Island. Sixty-nine youths (67% NHPI, Mage = 12.

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Federal race and ethnicity data standards are commonly applied within the state of Hawai'i. When a multiracial category is used, Native Hawaiians are disproportionately affected since they are more likely than any other group to identify with an additional race or ethnicity group. These data conventions contribute to a phenomenon known as data genocide - the systematic erasure of Indigenous and marginalized peoples from population data.

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This article describes recommendations for standardized race data collection developed by the Hawai'i Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander COVID-19 Response, Recovery, and Resilience Team (NHPI 3R Team). These recommendations attempt to address the expressed desires of Native Hawaiians and the diverse Pacific Islander communities in Hawai'i who seek greater visibility in data and research. The Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NHPI) racial category is 1 of the 5 racial categories listed in the 1997 Statistical Policy Directive #15 issued by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).

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Objective: The prevalence of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD) is elevated for Native Hawaiians but the basis for this differential is not well understood. We analyze data on asthma and COPD in two samples including Native Hawaiians Pacific Islanders, and Filipinos to determine how ethnicity is related to respiratory disease outcomes.

Methods: We analyzed the 2016 and 2018 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey (BRFSS), a telephone survey of participants ages 18 and over in the State of Hawaii.

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  • Food insecurity is linked to higher blood pressure, especially among Native Hawaiians, who already face significant health challenges.
  • This study analyzed the effects of both food insecurity and financial instability on blood pressure in a sample of 124 participants, accounting for other factors like physical activity and diet.
  • Results showed that food insecurity, along with being female and having a higher BMI, were key factors associated with increased systolic blood pressure, highlighting the need for targeted interventions to improve food security in this community.
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  • Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the top cause of death in the US, with various demographic and cultural factors influencing its incidence, particularly among Asian and Pacific Islander (API) populations, but research on these groups is limited.
  • The study analyzed the health records of over 684,000 adult patients from two medical foundations to assess coronary heart disease (CHD), stroke, peripheral vascular disease (PVD), and overall CVD across different API subpopulations.
  • Findings revealed significant disparities in CVD prevalence, with Filipinos showing the highest rates and Chinese individuals the lowest; multi-racial groups generally had higher CVD prevalence compared to single-race groups, highlighting the complexity of health disparities within APIs.
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Culturally-responsive health promotion initiatives are important to the creation of health equity for Indigenous and minority populations and these initiatives are complex and time-intensive to establish. The knowledge and resources of cultural experts are often pivotal in programs, yet there is minimal research on effective collaborations. The KāHOLO Project demonstrated strong success in the management of uncontrolled hypertension in the high-risk Indigenous population through a 6-month program based on the Hawaiian cultural dance of hula.

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Purpose: Breast cancer is the second cause of death from cancer in Guam and Hawai'i and disproportionately impacts Native Hawaiian, CHamoru, and Filipino women. Although a few culturally informed interventions addressing breast cancer survivorship exist, none have been developed or tested for Native Hawaiian, CHamoru, and Filipino women. To address this, the TANICA study began with key informant interviews in 2021.

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Background: Medical researchers have historically utilized the variable of race uncritically, rarely defining race, rarely acknowledging it as a social construct, and often omitting information about how it was measured. In this study, we use the following definition of race: "a system of structuring opportunity and assigning value based on the social interpretation of how one looks." We examine the influence of racial misclassification, racial discrimination, and racial consciousness on the self-rated health of Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders (NHPI) living in the United States of America (USA).

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This study compared the effectiveness of two Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) interventions on weight loss among overweight and obese Marshallese adults. The study was a two-arm cluster randomized controlled trial conducted in 30 churches in Arkansas and Oklahoma. Marshallese adults with a body mass index ≥25 kg/m were eligible for the study.

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Native Hawaiians have a disproportionately high prevalence of hypertension, which is an important and modifiable risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD). To reduce CVD among Native Hawaiians, we must better understand facilitators and barriers to hypertension management (i.e.

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Experiences of racism and discrimination are stressors that adversely affect the well-being of marginalized populations, including Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders (NHPI). However, commonly used data aggregation methods obscure information on NHPI communities and their lived experiences. The aim of our study is to understand the types and frequency of discrimination experienced by NHPI adults in the USA.

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The COVID-19 pandemic disproportionately impacted Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders (AA/NHPIs) in the United States. AA/NHPIs have historically been subjected to discrimination, which was exacerbated by the pandemic. To bring attention to their unique concerns, an AA/NHPI Interest Group of the National Institutes of Health Community Engagement Alliance Against COVID-19 Disparities (CEAL) was formed.

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Objective: To estimate the prevalence of dementia among American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) Medicare beneficiaries and compare the prevalence of dementia in AIANs and other racial and ethnic minority groups-non-Hispanic Blacks (NHBs) and Hispanics-with non-Hispanic Whites (NHWs) Medicare beneficiaries.

Methods: We used survey data from Round 5 of the National Health and Aging Trends Study (NHATS, 2015) (N = 7,449), a nationally representative study of Medicare beneficiaries ages 65 years and older. We used logistic regression to estimate the age- and sex-adjusted prevalence of dementia with 95% confidence intervals by race/ethnicity as well as prevalence differences between groups.

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A mixed-methods study was performed to identify the physical and emotional needs of Hawai`i health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the degree to which these needs are being met by their clinic or hospital. Qualitative interviews and demographic surveys were conducted with two cohorts of health care workers. Cohort 1 (N=15) was interviewed between July 20 - August 7, 2020, and Cohort 2 (N=16) between September 28 - October 9, 2020.

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