Search

The Research Centers in Minority Institutions (RCMI) program was established by the US Congress to support the development of biomedical research infrastructure at minority-serving institutions granting doctoral degrees in the health professions or in a health-related science. RCMI institutions also conduct research on diseases that disproportionately affect racial and ethnic minorities (ie, African Americans/Blacks, American Indians and Alaska Natives, Hispanics, Native Hawaiians and Other Pacific Islanders), those of low socioeconomic status, and rural persons. Quantitative metrics, including the numbers of doctoral science degrees granted to underrepresented students, NIH peer-reviewed research funding, peer-reviewed publications, and numbers of racial and ethnic minorities participating in sponsored research, demonstrate that RCMI grantee institutions have made substantial progress toward the intent of the Congressional legislation, as well as the NIH/NIMHD-linked goals of addressing workforce diversity and health disparities. Despite this progress, nationally, many challenges remain, including persistent disparities in research and career development awards to minority investigators. The continuing underrepresentation of minority investigators in NIH-sponsored research across multiple disease areas is of concern, in the face of unrelenting national health inequities. With the collaborative network support by the RCMI Translational Research Network (RTRN), the RCMI community is uniquely positioned to address these challenges through its community engagement and strategic partnerships with non-RCMI institutions. Funding agencies can play an important role by incentivizing such collaborations, and incorporating metrics for research funding that address underrepresented populations, workforce diversity and health equity.

Native Hawaiian women have the highest breast cancer incidence and mortality rates when compared with other large ethnic groups in Hawai'i. Like other women, they rely on the support of their families as co-survivors. This project explored the feasibility and effects of a culturally tailored educational intervention designed to build family capacity by improving the knowledge and skills of the woman and her family in dealing with breast cancer, particularly in the latter stage of recovery care. Twenty-nine Native Hawaiian women with breast cancer, along with a close family member, were randomly assigned to the intervention (n = 15) or a wait-list control group (n = 14). The authors assessed the knowledge, self-efficacy, and coping skills of women and their family members and the recovery care behaviors of the women at baseline and at four months (after the intervention or control period). The intervention group made significant improvements in self-efficacy and coping; the wait-list control group did not. Evaluation of the intervention suggests that it was well received by participants. This work has relevance for social workers wanting to design and test culturally appropriate interventions for minority groups.

Native Hawaiians constitute 401,000 or 0.1 percent of the total U.S. population, with approximately 60 percent residing in the state of Hawai'i. In Hawai'i, Native Hawaiian elders ("na kupuna") face a number of social and health disparities when compared with their non-Native Hawaiian counterparts: higher rates of poverty, greater disability rates, higher rates of specific life-threatening diseases, shorter life expectancies, and lower utilization rates of some services. Integrating life course literature and resiliency theory, the authors propose a model that provides a context from which to analyze and understand social and health disparities found among older Native Hawaiians. The authors introduce a historical timeline that identifies key cultural and historical markers in the lives of "na kupuna" and then link this timeline to health and social-health delivery strategies. This model offers a rationale for the development and implementation of culturally based solutions for "na kupuna" and underscores the need for social workers to intervene at the micro, meso, and macro levels to affect the well-being for this and other ethnic populations.

The increase in the nation's present and projected multicultural aged population is both dramatic and well documented. One result of this growth is a sharpened focus on racial and ethnic disparities in health, health care access, and utilization of services that impact aging adults. This paper presents work conducted by a university-community collaborative project in gerontology. The thrust of the project is that cultural competency is a key ingredient for preparing social work students for work with ethnic minority elders and for potentially improving services to older minority populations. A brief description of the project is presented with highlights of the standards of cultural competencies that were developed for three specific populations: Japanese, Filipino, and Native Hawaiians. In general, standards organized around knowledge, values and skills consistently reflect the importance of the family system in caring for older adults. (Contains 1 table.)

Native Hawaiian women have high cancer rates and low survival rates. As with other women, a major source of support for Native Hawaiian women is their families. This pilot study reports on the feasibility of providing and measuring a culturally appropriate intervention designed to help Native Hawaiian women and their families deal with cancer. The feasibility evaluation indicated that a major strength of the intervention was its incorporation of Hawaiian values and practices, and a major limitation reflected the difficulties in recruiting Native Hawaiians for research studies. Despite the small sample size, the six Native Hawaiian women and their 10 family members in the intervention group showed improved self-efficacy and coping when compared with the four Native Hawaiian women and their eight family members in the control group. Pilot study data established the feasibility and potential effectiveness of this culturally tailored intervention for Native Hawaiians, and feasibility findings will be useful in designing follow-up studies. Steps taken to incorporate cultural values into an intervention also provide a model for other social workers in developing culturally appropriate interventions for minority populations.

Describes a two-year, multisite, curriculum-development project aimed to increase the pool of professionals trained in geriatric and/or gerontological social work. Methods included providing advanced training in aging, cultural competence, and interdisciplinary practice; developing, implementing, and testing an innovative student curriculum based on standardized learning competencies; revising the university curriculum to support such competencies; and producing a practical handbook. (Contains 21 references and 2 tables.) (GCP)

Of 87 baccalaureate social work programs surveyed, 68 percent reported at least 1 course with a primary focus on ethnic minority content. These respondents perceived resources as being readily available, program curricula as adequate, and a strong momentum for future growth. Contains 26 references. (Author/SV)

The United States is on the threshold of a substantial growth of older adults that increasingly reflects the cultural diversity inherent in this nation. Culture shapes the experience of aging and caregiving, and thus becomes an important factor when considering social services for older adults. One culturally distinct minority group--Japanese--is reputed to have one of the longest life expectancies in the US population, and, thus, information about their experiences may expand knowledge on aging and culture. A periodical literature review of older Japanese adults was undertaken to assess lessons learned about the association of aging and culture. Two important lessons that emerged emphasized the influence of cultural values on family caregiving, and women as caregivers. Implications for practice, with this population are drawn and broad directions for the profession of social work are provided. KEYWORDS Japanese American elderly, Japanese elderly, family caregiving, cultural values, women caregivers DOI: 10.1080/01634370903202868

Similar to the nation's majority and racial/ethnic minority populations, Native Hawaiian families provide the bulk of care to loved ones with dementia. Limited research has focused on youth caregivers, who are largely invisible to the eldercare service system. This knowledge gap is especially critical for Native Hawaiians who place a high value on eldercare, often provided in multigenerational homes. To address this gap, we describe the process by which a university-community center developed a culturally responsive storybook on dementia targeted to Native Hawaiian youth. The development process honored community-based participatory research principles grounded in the cultural values and practices of Native Hawaiians, active collaboration of an advisory council, and face-to-face engagement with Native Hawaiian youth. Future directions are shared about culture-based programming and evaluation in dementia care that may be useful in work with other racial/ethnic youth and families. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander (NHPI) older adults often experience social disadvantages and poor health outcomes. Physical activity has been associated with better health in other racial groups, but limited studies have examined these associations in NHPI older adults. Methods: Using data from the 2014 Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander National Health Interview Survey (n = 1,045), logistic regression models examined associations between physical activity and memory/psychological distress/self-rated health. Results: Sufficient levels of physical activity were associated with lower odds of memory problems, serious psychological distress, and poor/fair self-rated health. Unfortunately, only half of the sample reported sufficient physical activity and approximately 30% reported none. Also, 78% of the sample was estimated to be overweight/obese, and 29% had diabetes. Discussion: Culturally-appropriate interventions are recommended to increase physical activity in this population, which could also help reduce high rates of overweight/obesity and diabetes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Native Hawaiians are a resilient nation with a rich history and culture with specific health and wellbeing needs and disparities, particularly for youth. This study presents a review of published literature focusing on culturally focused interventions for Native Hawaiian youth to better understand key components, service gaps, and concerns that may improve future health interventions tailored to Native Hawaiian youth that protect and promote positive health outcomes, a sense of agency, and selfdetermination. The purpose of this article is to (a) present a review of the literature focusing on culturally focused interventions as it relates to health and wellbeing of Native Hawaiian youth and (b) identify limitations and gaps to promote future research. This systematic review focuses on 19 distinct culturally focused interventions geared toward Native Hawaiian youth. The findings provide a summary of culturally focused interventions geared toward Native Hawaiian youth including interventions' aims, components (youth participants description and methods), outcomes, and cultural components, while exposing gaps in the literature. Most interventions were education and substance use/misuse prevention oriented, on the island of O'ahu, geared toward older youth, and qualitative in nature. The cultural components utilized in the interventions varied in description and type. All of the studies reported positive results to support the effectiveness of the intervention. This review enriches the field of study for researchers (past, present, and future) by building awareness, encouraging collaboration, and identifying where culturally focused intervention efforts are underdeveloped or nonexistent to provide direction for future interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Separation from external influences in one's decision making is so highly valued in the United States that autonomy is considered to be a benchmark of one's maturity. However, self-determination without consideration of group-oriented values is discordant with non-Western and some Western orientations. Using examples from Pacific peoples, this article highlights the complex loop of self-determination in which an emphasis is placed on group welfare in individual decision-making. Implications for social work practice are discussed. Key words: group values; group welfare; Hawaiians; Samoans; self-determination, Self-determination is viewed as a fundamental principle of social work. Indeed, Levy (1983) observed a 'reflection in the social work literature of a preoccupation, if not an obsession, with the [...]

The incidence of heart disease is disproportionately large among the Hawaiian population, This article discusses the prevalence of heart disease and associated risk factors among Hawaiians and identifies barriers to health care, including accessibility and the acceptability of services to this population. Case examples are provided. Culturally responsive strategies to address these problems are described, and implications for social work are discussed., The leading cause of death of adults in the United States is heart disease. The death rate for Hawaiians from heart disease is 44 percent higher than that for the [...]

Asians and Pacific Islanders together constitute the fastest-growing minority group in the United States, yet there is a lack of responsiveness by the social work profession to the needs of these populations. This article surveys the literature in four major social work journals on direct practice with Asian and Pacific Islander populations. Findings highlight gaps in six areas in the literature: (1) distinguishing between Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, (2) separating Asian Americans into different ethnic groups, (3) distinguishing between immigrants and refugees, (4) considering lifespan developmental differences in age, (5) focusing more on gender differences in the various ethnic groups, and (6) strengthening the practice focus on communities., One of every four persons in the United States is a person of color (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1991). In the total resident population of 248.7 million, the 1990 [...]

Native Hawaiians, the people indigenous to the Hawaiian Islands, are improverished in quality of life. Only recently has the myth that native Hawaiians are a carefree people living in a tropical paradise been dispelled. The number of health and mental health problems confronting native Hawaiians is alarming; their general health status is far below that of other U.S. population groups. It is urgent that social workers begin to examine the unique circumstances of native Hawaiians and encourage professional support for the planning of culturally appropriate services for this population.

Using focused ethnography, Native Hawaiian elders living away from Hawai'i for 30+ years were recruited through Hawaiian organizations and word-of-mouth and interviewed by teleconferencing on reasons for migrating, experiences on the Continent, and resilience. The 18 participants in 13 states left for college, work, and family. Many experienced racism, but all created community and cultivated aloha in their new homes. Most planned to stay on the Continent, although two-thirds wanted remains/cremains returned to Hawai'i. Family, culture, and financial well-being were sources of resilience. Social workers should advocate for improved socioeconomic and deracialized conditions for all people, and base interventions on cultural strengths. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]