Purpose of the Study
The article “An evaluation of the Hoʻouna Pono curriculum: A pilot study of culturally grounded substance abuse prevention for rural Hawaiian youth” by Okamoto, Kulis, Helm, Lauricella, and Valdez (2016) emphasizes the significance of adopting a drug prevention strategy that can appeal to the prevailing cultural aspects of the targeted category of drug abusers. The article assesses the efficacy of a culturally grounded drug prevention syllabus, namely, the Hoʻouna Pono, which is developed for indigenous youth populations. The syllabus is specifically designed for countryside aboriginal Hawaiian adolescents who have been associated with many cases of early commencement of drug exploitation. Okamoto et al. (2016) give alarming statistics whereby Hawaiian teenagers have been linked to the highest levels (almost 65%) of lifetime smoking and roughly 50% of cases of marijuana consumption. Consequently, the current article seeks to confirm whether the suggested syllabus will be effective in encouraging young people to apply culturally recommended approaches to rejecting any illegal substance offers. The authors also seek to find out whether the Hoʻouna Pono prospectus will be fruitful when it comes to addressing girls’ antagonism.
Methods Used
Okamoto et al. (2016) adopted a survey method entailing a pilot study that focused on six randomly chosen learning centers based in Hawaii. Three institutions of various levels were arbitrarily subjected to an intervention in the form of the Hoʻouna Pono prospectus while the remaining three centers acted as the controlled group. Regarding the intervention, the Hoʻouna Pono syllabus formed part of a new health mechanism for addressing drug-related issues and antagonism while the other group received the normal treatment. The learning centers selected to be part of the study came from two-thirds of Hawaii’s school complex regions. The study commenced in January 2013 with baseline research that focused on the intervention group. This pre-test exercise was accompanied by lessons concerning therapeutic syllabus. Two months later, a post-test exercise followed in a way that matched the timing of the final lesson about the new prospectus. The program was monitored for six months. Almost 80% of all students were granted permission by their parents to take part in the exercise. More than 250 of them participated up to the last stage of the study.
Results of the Study
Almost 39% of learners who qualified to take part in the study were subjected to the Hoʻouna Pono syllabus. The remaining 61% who participated in the survey came from the controlled group. The selected sample consisted of diverse ethnic groups whereby indigenous and partial Hawaiians took a share of 49% (Okamoto et al., 2016). However, results from the two groups indicated negligible disparities regarding participants’ demographic aspects. In terms of aggressiveness, the controlled set indicated a higher level relative to the intervention group. Also, results indicated a substantial increase in the adoption of drug resistance tactics for the intervention group, thanks to the Hoʻouna Pono syllabus. The controlled group showed a negligible application of such illegal substance rejection strategies (Okamoto et al., 2016). Moreover, the level of antagonism among females in the intervention group was much lower relative to what was observed in the controlled set.
Interpretation of Results
Following the rising number of cases of early engagement in drug and substance abuse, especially among the youthful generation, scholars such as Wade-Mdivanian et al. (2016) have delved into examining some of the factors that drive young people into such counterproductive behaviors. In the current study, Okamoto et al. (2016) confirmed that indeed the introduction of the Hoʻouna Pono syllabus was fruitful in helping Hawaiian youth to apply illegal substance rejection skills. Consequently, the culturally grounded syllabus has the potential of significantly reducing the observed levels of substance abuse among Hawaiian youth. Despite a few areas that need to be reinforced, the school-based program may also effective in addressing cases of girls’ antagonism.
References
Okamoto, S., Kulis, S., Helm, S., Lauricella, M., & Valdez, J. (2016). An evaluation of the Hoʻouna Pono curriculum: A pilot study of culturally grounded substance abuse prevention for rural Hawaiian youth. Journal of Health Care for the Poor & Underserved, 27(2), 815-833.
Wade-Mdivanian, R., Anderson-Butcher, D., Newman, T. J., Ruderman, D. E., Smock, J., & Christie, S. (2016). Exploring the long-term impact of a positive youth development-based alcohol, tobacco and other drug prevention program. Journal of Alcohol & Drug Education, 60(3), 67-90.