Vision |
Youth making healthy choices and become successful adults.
|
| Senior Exit Plans |
In 2000, our community selected increasing educational attainment as a key priority. Since 2001, after reviewing the data on the influence of the “13th year” on health North Hawaii principals have collaborated to share resources and to support more students going on to a “13th year.”
It is obviously difficult to assess impact with small numbers and many other variables; however, response rates of seniors planning to go to college for both Honokaa and Kohala High Schools were higher in 2001 - 2002 as compared to 2000 - 2001 and remained higher at Kohala High School through 2004 - 2005. The good news is Honokaa High School has reported a higher response rate for the school year 2006 - 2007.
|
| How Likely to go to College |
This is a small sample size from the How’s Your Health, North Hawaii? survey and is most probably biased toward youth who are already engaged in community activities. It is encouraging that nearly half say they “definitely will go to college.”
Implication:
The clear implication is for our community to support more youth moving from “probably will” to “definitely will” go to college or career and technical training, through mentorship’s, partnerships with public schools and scholarships.
|
| Teen Not Working or in School |
According to the American Community Survey for years 2002 to 2006 the percent of teens (16 – 19) not attending school and not working is slowing decling. It would be useful to have this data at the County and Sub-county levels.
|
| Youth Activities |
When youth were asked, on the same How's Your Health internet survey to select options to the question, “What type of activities did they most want?” 42% said they most wanted jobs and training. While 38% said they wanted more weekend social activities.
Implication:
Increasing linkages with businesses and schools to support learning entrepreneurial skills, job training and job placement are important strategies.
|
Adolescents Health Concerns |
When asked, on the same How's Your Health internet survey how concerned they were in several common health areas, 40% of 184 youth reported that they were concerned about their exercise needs. About one third said they were concerned about their nutrition as well as substance abuse. One out of four were worried about AIDS or sexually transmitted diseases and one out of five were concerned about depression or suicide. Again, this may be a biased sample, but it shows that those surveyed are concerned about these health areas. This can set the stage for discussion with youth and school-based and community-based interventions in these areas.
|
| Teen Births |
Teen births are a concern because children born to teens have a higher probability of living in poverty, a higher risk for abuse or neglect, and both mother and child are at a higher risk for low educational attainment.
In 2000, the North Hawaii Community Forum identified high teen pregnancy as one of the top six priorities for community health improvement. A broad group of stakeholders met in 2001 to address this issue. A North Hawaii non-profit, North Hawaii Women and Children’s Services, developed an evidence-based teen pregnancy prevention curriculum which was integrated into several North Hawaii schools. The chart to the right reflects a clear downward trend of births to teens since 2000.
|
| Teen Pregnancies |
Decreasing teen pregnancy was selected in 2000 as one of the top six priorities to improve community health in North Hawaii. Hawaii County has historically had higher rates of teen pregnancy compared to the other counties and State. More data is needed to evaluate the impact of community interventions.
There has been significant effort in North Hawaii and Hawaii County to reduce teen pregnancy since 2000 and significant improvement has been made.
|
| Alcohol Consumption |
The Honokaa community data comes from the statewide Hawaii Student Alcohol Tobacco & Other Drug Use survey administered by Department of Health, and includes public and private school students in the Honokaa school complex geographic region. Comparison of survey results between 2000 and 2003 shows a decline in all categories. Unfortunately, this survey has not been used since 2002. Clearly more recent survey data is essential to track progress. See www.uhfamily.hawaii.edu
Note: Early exposure to alcohol consumption is associated with a higher rate of alcohol addiction.
|
| Juvenile Drug Arrests |
The number of juvenile arrests in Hawaii County due to illegal drug use has gradually decreased from 1995 to 2004. 2005 has seen an increase.
However, the number of juvenile arrests for drug use in Hawaii County may reflect many variables including police understaffing and enforcement policies.
|
| Current Evidence-Based Strategies |
Hawaii County began youth drug court in 2001 and adult drug court in 2002. Drug court has been shown elsewhere to increase the number of youth first time offenders who are effectively referred to treatment and rehabilitation. The American Bar Association recommends similar harm reduction policies for first time offenders. Evaluations of the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.) program recommended revisions to the original program in order to be effective.
|
| Recommended Evidence-Based Strategies |
As our community looks to develop effective evidence-based youth prevention strategies, it is important to review the positive results from a Robert Wood Johnson longitudinal prevention study. The key effective intervention in that study was simply for schools to support families in every interaction through teacher and parent education. This study showed a significant decrease in youth substance use (Hawkins J. D. et. al., 1999). The CDC community guide also suggests effective prevention strategies.
|
| 40 Development Assets |
Research from the Search Institute clearly documents that as the number of youth assets increases, the number of risky behaviors decreases.
Implication:
Schools and youth-focused organizations’ support of the 40 Development Assets is a key strategy. A list of these 40 Development Assets can be printed from www.search-institute.org/assets.
|
| Risky Behaviors |
These two charts show that fewer Hawaii youth compared to the US said they drank alcohol in the last 30 days or used marijuana. THe use of alcohol and marijuana declined from 1999 to 2005.
According to the Youth Risk Behavioral Surveillance Survey in 2005, Hawaii County youth were less likely than national youth to drive when they had been drinking alcohol and this improved between 1999 and 2005. However, Hawaii youth were more likely than National youth to ride in a car driven by someone who had been drinking alcohol.
Implication:
Given the higher motor vehicle death rate in Hawaii County, a key strategy should be to focus on reducing the percent of youth who ride with a driver who has been drinking. Partnering with the National Highway Traffic Safety Campaign and focusing on this issue makes sense. |
