You are invited to use our culturally tailored web-based asthma tool for Native Hawaiians. We ask that you try it out for 3 months. As a participant you will complete a consent, a short survey at the beginning, and at the end of the 3 months.
You may also be asked to take part in a 30–45-minute interview after using the web-based asthma tool.
An online gift card will be provided for your time and effort.
Get started by contacting the study team by clicking on the image or scanning the QR code below.
Asthma in Hawai‘i
Asthma remains the leading cause of chronic respiratory illness among Native Hawaiians. Overall Native Hawaiians, have the highest prevalence of asthma, 17%, which is nearly double the rate of all others, 9%. In the State of Hawai‘i, the prevalence of asthma among NH adults is 24.7% as compared to 13.2% for those that identify race as White. Similarly high rates have been noted among Native Hawaiian pediatric populations: 16% of middle and 17% of high school students currently have asthma. Additionally, this disparity is exacerbated among adults and children who reside on neighbor islands and other rural areas.
The shift in how health messages are delivered is one positive aspect of the pandemic. For the first time, a majority (69%) of Native Hawaiians reported accessing trusted online platforms [i.e., social media, vlogs, e-toolkits (e.g., mobile health tools/applications ‘mHealth tool’ or websites), and e-newsletters] to keep updated on health issues rather than accessing in-person resources. However, similar to print materials, online health messaging/materials must consider the cultural relevance of content, impact, and access for Native Hawaiians. To date, asthma-based health resources lack cultural tailoring for Native Hawaiian populations, which has negatively impacted use.
Adopting existing resources to Hawaii
Recent work in Australia with other indigenous populations, specifically the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, identified the positive impact of a culturally-informed asthma mHealth tool (mobile app + webpage). Utilization of this mHealth tool (1) improved short-term asthma knowledge among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander parent/guardians of children with asthma, and (2) served as ongoing culturally-informed asthma resource that was easily accessible and able to communicate vital health information between the health care provider and the patient or parent/guardian.
Native Hawaiian asthma web-based tool: Our current project
The study team is working in partnership with Papa Ola Lōkahi, the Native Hawaiian Health Board, utilizing a community based participatory research methodology to test an asthma web-based tool. This web-based tool is aligned with the Hawai‘i Department of Health’s Asthma Plan 2030, specifically to improve asthma management among those most at-risk. With permission and support from the Australian team, have utilized the existing tool’s content and included local images, and resources for our version. This study is approved by University of Hawaii Office of Research Institutional Review Board protocol #2024-00142.
This study is being done by Donna-Marie Palakiko, PhD, RN, APRN in partnership with Papa Ola Lōkahi. Donna-Marie is a nurse and faculty at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa in the Department of Nursing.
