An Evaluation of the Ho'ouna Pono Curriculum: A Pilot Study of Culturally Grounded Substance Abuse Prevention for Rural Hawaiian Youth

This pilot study evaluated the Ho'ouna Pono curriculum, which is a culturally grounded, school-based, drug prevention curriculum tailored to rural Native Hawaiian youth. The curriculum focuses on culturally relevant drug resistance skills training and is aligned with the State of Hawai'i a...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of health care for the poor and underserved 2016-01, Vol.27 (2), p.815-833
Main Authors: Okamoto, Scott K, Kulis, Stephen, Helm, Susana, Lauricella, Michela, Valdez, Jessica K
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Academic standards
Addictive behaviors
Adolescent
Aggressive behavior
Aggressiveness
Alcohol
Behavior
Confidentiality
Core curriculum
Cultural Competency
Curricula
Curriculum
Drug abuse
Drug education
Drug prevention
Drug resistance
Drug use
Feasibility studies
Female
Funding
Girls
Hawaii
Health disparities
Health Education
Humans
Intervention
Nesting
Pacific Islander people
Pilot Projects
Prevention
Prevention programs
R&D
Random effects
Research & development
Resistance
Resistance skills
Rural communities
School based
Schools
Sex education
Skill development
Skills
Substance abuse
Substance-Related Disorders - prevention & control
Youth
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Summary:This pilot study evaluated the Ho'ouna Pono curriculum, which is a culturally grounded, school-based, drug prevention curriculum tailored to rural Native Hawaiian youth. The curriculum focuses on culturally relevant drug resistance skills training and is aligned with the State of Hawai'i academic standards. Six Hawai'i Island public middle/intermediate schools randomly assigned to intervention or treatment-as-usual comparison conditions (N = 213) were evaluated in this study. Paired sample t-tests separating intervention and comparison groups were conducted, as well as mixed models that adjusted for random effects (nesting) at the school level. Findings suggested that the curriculum was effective in maintaining youths' use of culturally relevant drug resistance skills, as well as decreasing girls' aggressive behaviors, at six-month follow-up. Unanticipated findings also suggested areas for curricular improvement, including more emphasis on normative drug education. Implications for future research and development of the curriculum are discussed.
ISSN:1049-2089
1548-6869
DOI:10.1353/hpu.2016.0061