Team Curriculum

Hoʻouna Pono is a culturally grounded substance use prevention curriculum. Specifically, it is a video-enhanced, school-based substance use prevention program providing drug resistance strategies to Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander youth, originally designed with youth on Hawai‘i Island. The curriculum focuses on culturally relevant drug resistance skills training and is aligned with the State of Hawaiʻi's academic standards. 

Youth Listening Sessions: Team Curriculum has designed protocol for and conducted focus groups called Youth Listening Sessions with various middle and high school students in the Windward District. These Listening Sessions evaluate the relatability of Ho‘ouna Pono for Windward O‘ahu youth and will inform potential adaptations to the curriculum.

Community Focus Groups: We developed a focus group protocol for family members of Windward youth, teachers, and other community members to gain more perspectives about the Ho‘ouna Pono curriculum for the community's youth.

Youth, families, and community stakeholders evaluated the extent to which each drug offer scenario in the Ho‘ouna Pono curriculum is realistic. After this process, participants voted on their Top 3 Realistic stories. After tallying these votes, we showed the participants the drug offer scenario video that received the most top votes, and engaged in discussion about their thoughts— what is working, not working, or can be adjusted for their specific communities. Focus Groups are necessary to prioritize community voices in the adaptation and implementation of Ho‘ouna Pono with Windward O‘ahu youth.

Focus Group Manuscript: We currently have a manuscript under review synthesizing youth feedback from the Focus Groups to evaluate how the Hoʻouna Pono program fits their local context. Results showed that the program generally resonates with Windward O‘ahu youth but benefits from small, community-specific adaptations (e.g., setting, language, and peer dynamics). To learn more about these findings, please see this accompanying infographic.

Curriculum Adaptation Evaluation: We are evaluating the changes needed for the Ho‘ouna Pono program by analyzing data collected in the Windward community. We will work with Team School to implement the curriculum in Windward District Middle Schools.

Practice Element Analysis of Ho‘ouna Pono: We are working to better understand what makes the Hoʻouna Pono program effective by examining its 11 lessons at the activity level. Drawing upon Dr. Maya Boustani's methodology, we are coding the PracticeWise Practice Elements (e.g., problem-solving) and Instructional Methods (e.g., discussion, psychoeducation) within each activity to identify the key components that drive Hoʻouna Pono's impact. Our goal is to support educators in adapting the program to fit their needs while maintaining what works best.