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Native Hawaiians, or Kānaka Maoli, the first people to arrive and settle on the Hawaiian Islands, developed an ecologically sustainable food system that sustained the health of up to a million people on the islands. Colonization disrupted this system as well as the healthy lifestyle and cultural practices of the Indigenous people of the Hawaiian Kingdom. Today, Native Hawaiians face pervasive health and social inequities. To build research processes that can meaningfully and sustainably address these inequities, the Waimānalo Pono Research Hui was borne from the vision and priorities of community leaders and members of Waimānalo. Using qualitative data from the annual survey conducted with Waimānalo Pono Research Hui members, the purpose of this study is to illustrate how community engagement and community-based participatory research has been operationalized within a Native Hawaiian community to yield meaningful research. Five themes emerged from the analysis related to the ʻāina (land), pilina (relationships), consent, equitable resources, and data sovereignty. These findings demonstrate the importance of imagining, creating, and implementing research processes that are shaped by community voices.

Health and well-being are a function of familial relationships between Native Hawaiians and their land. As a result of settler colonialism, Native Hawaiians face systemic and social barriers, which impede their relationship to land, with implications of adverse health outcomes. This qualitative study explores changes in health among Native Hawaiians, with a specific focus on food systems and the environment. Community-engaged research approaches were utilized to recruit 12 Hawaiian adults. The major themes include the following: (1) health as holistic and a harmonious balance, (2) nutrition transition and current connections to ‘āina (land extending from the mountain to the sea; that which feeds or nourishes), and (3) food sovereignty and community solutions to uplift the Lāhui (Nation of Hawai‘i). Consideration of cultural values, community strengths, and traditional lifestyle practices may address health inequities and changes in food systems related to health that stem from colonization, determinants of health, and environmental changes.

Research processes that are centered on western models and rooted in colonisation and racism can have deleterious effects upon disenfranchised groups, such as people of colour and indigenous communities. Community-centred and culturally-grounded processes are necessary to achieve meaningful participation and engagement in research by creating equitable protocols and ensuring beneficial outcomes. Such processes are particularly needed in indigenous populations, including the Hawaiian community. This article describes the participatory development of the community engagement protocols and rules of engagement created by a community and academic partnership called the Waimānalo Pono Research Hui (WPRH). Through monthly gatherings, academic and community partners engaged in discussions of constructing community programmes and developing research protocols that are rooted in Hawaiian wholistic values of health and well-being with indigenous methodologies. A final set of protocols and rules of engagement was developed through an iterative feedback process that was rooted not only in community-based participatory (CBPR) principles but also Hawaiian values, beliefs and way of life. Challenges and future directions are also presented.

Prior to western arrival in 1778, Native Hawaiians possessed a sophisticated culture and resource management system conducive to an island ecosystem. However, disenfranchisement from ancestral lands and traditional food sources as a result of colonization led to Native Hawaiians being forced to abandon many of their traditional practices. Today, many Native Hawaiians experience food insecurity, placing them at further risk for obesity and other nutrition-related chronic diseases. Consequently, there is a growing need for place-based and culturally relevant strategies rooted in Hawaiian epistemology to address these issues. This paper describes the history and development of one such intervention – the MALAMA study – in the community of Waimānalo that innovatively merges the modern technology of aquaponics with traditional Native Hawaiian practices and values.

Kānaka Maoli (Native Hawaiian) worldviews of health emphasize pono (righteousness) and lōkahi (balance), which extends to include relationships with other people, akua (spiritual realm), and ʻāina (land). The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the role of ʻāina and ʻāina connection in health and resilience based on the perspectives of 12 Kānaka Maoli adults from the Waimānalo community. Three major themes were identified: ʻĀina is everything, ʻāina is health, and community healing through community-led initiatives. A better understanding of ʻāina connection is important to improve our knowledge of Hawaiian health. A connection to ʻāina may specifically address health concerns resulting from historical trauma and environmental changes.

Nutrition-related problems have been increasingly prevalent among children and adults nationally and globally. Pregnant women and children are particularly susceptible to nutrition-related concerns. Mindfulness-based programs have demonstrated favorable outcomes for lifestyles and behaviors and may, therefore, assist in nutrition-related concerns. This column focuses on existing literature that focuses on the way mindfulness practices improve eating and nutrition outcomes for mothers. The synthesized findings of this review provide support for the effectiveness of mindfulness practices of mothers affecting improved nutrition for their children.

Although Hawai'i is often portrayed as an idyllic paradise and is recognized as one of the healthiest States in the United States, pervasive health disparities exist among Native Hawaiians. Similar to other indigenous populations across the globe, these disparities are linked to unjust social and economic policies rooted in colonization and historical trauma. Western-centric efforts to address these disparities have yielded limited results. Consequently, indigenous frameworks to decolonize western-centric research processes have emerged. The Waimānalo Pono Research Hui is an example of a community-academic partnership that uses indigenous methodologies and principles of community-based participatory research as the foundation to engage Native Hawaiian community members in research. Monthly gatherings are held where community members and academic researchers share a meal and discuss community priorities with the goal of shaping research and programming that are rooted in Native Hawaiian values. A mission for the group has been created as well as protocols for community engagement to ensure all projects that work with the Waimānalo Pono Research Hui are ethically sound and grounded in the community's preferences, cultural knowledge, and lived experiences. Our community members continually report that the Waimānalo Pono Research Hui has positively transformed their perception of and willingness to engage in research. Similarly, university students and academic researchers express how much their knowledge about working with communities has grown and inspired them. Creating spaces for communities and researchers to build authentic relationships and engage in ongoing conversations can promote culturally grounded and community-driven research and programming.

Biomedical definitions of health have conventionally taken problem-based approaches to health, which may disregard indigenous perspectives of health that take a holistic approach and emphasize the importance of maintaining balance between physical, mental, and spiritual health and relationships maintained with others, the land, and the spiritual realm. Resilience-based approaches to health have been shown to foster strengths in indigenous communities, including the Native Hawaiian community, which leads to more positive health outcomes. The research questions of this paper asked, “how do Native Hawaiians conceptualize health and the concept of resilience specific to health?”. Qualitative methods were employed to explore the concept of resilience from the perspective of 12 Native Hawaiian adults. Community leaders and key stakeholders aided in the purposive recruitment process. The themes of this study include: (1) health maintained through balance, (2) being unhealthy vs. being ill, (3) the concept of colonialism and resulting adversities, and (4) protective and resilience factors that foster health. Cultural values and cultural practices may address concerns related to health disparities that stem from cultural and historical trauma, determinants of health, and environmental changes. Health interventions that are culturally-, family-, spiritually-, and land-based may particularly aid in responsiveness to health programs.