A participatory research approach to address data needs in tobacco use among Native Hawaiians

This case study describes the first phase of collaboration among three entities: 1) Papa Ola Lokahi (POL) a community-based consortium that focuses on Native Hawaiian health concerns, 2) the Hawaii State Department of Health's Tobacco Prevention and Control Program (TPCP) and, 3) five community-based, Native Hawaiian Health Care Systems (NHHCS) that provide health promotion and screening services to Native Hawaiians statewide.

We utilized a participatory action research approach to address the need for ethnic-specific information on smoking attitudes and behaviors. Collaboratively, each party provided resources and/or skills, which produced outcomes relevant and meaningful to each.

This collaborative process resulted in 1) a user-friendly survey tool that gathered data of interest to all three groups; 2) a positive experience in data collection; 3) community-specific results with direct application to the NHHCS; 4) well-formatted reports that made them easy for each NHHCS to present the findings to their staff and participants; and 5) an expanded community capacity for future health promotion action.

This modest achievement represents the first phase of a participatory research process that promotes and supports the needs and efforts of Native Hawaiian communities to actively identify, address and resolve their concerns about tobacco use.