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State of Hawaii Department of Health 1250 Punchbowl St., Honolulu, Hawaii 96813-2416 (808) 306-8223 (Phone) (808) 586-5654 (Fax) http://www.hawaii.gov/health
The Hawaii Department of Health's Office of Multicultural Services identifies and makes recommendations to the director of the Hawaii State Department of Health regarding health disparities among population segments with disproportionate health needs.
The Hawaii Multicultural Action Initiative $391,980 Christian Alameda (808) 306-8223 adrkimo@cs.com
The purpose of this State Partnership project is to reduce the high prevalence rate of depression among Hawaiians, increase the level of cultural and linguistic competency in the health department and its funded providers, and establish networks to leverage and sustain resources. The primary problem facing the Hawaii Department of Health (HDH) is the lack of sustained partnerships due to an absence of partnerships with public, private and community networks. Also, because HDH does not have a cultural and linguistic training program it cannot measure the cultural and linguistic competency of the department's staff and its funded providers. The office will also address the high rate of depression among the target population. In order to achieve these goals, the health department will partner with the Department of Health statewide suicide prevention task force to focus on depression among Hawaiians. It will also contract a consultant to work with the Office of Multicultural Services to draft a standardized cultural and linguistic competency curriculum to develop and implement a training for its staff and funded providers. In addition, the project will establish partnerships through the Office of Multicultural Services network so that the Office has the infrastructure to address health disparities for all marginalized groups and subgroups. The short-term outcomes include increasing awareness and knowledge among Hawaiians on the effects and treatments for depression, as well as increasing interest in the development of a Hawaiian Task Force targeting depression and its treatment. Intermediate outcomes include increasing health care provider knowledge and skills in educating and counseling Hawaiian patients about depression treatments and management, and increasing plans and policies that promote cultural and linguistic competency at all levels. Long-term outcomes include increasing system level approaches with other public, private and community agencies to minimize barriers to mental health services in heavily populated Hawaiian communities and reducing mental health disparities among Hawaiians. In order to determine if such outcomes are reached, data will be collected on a range of performance measures, including the number of Hawaiians receiving treatment for depression, the number of public, private and community agencies trained in depression awareness, prevention and treatment, and the number of primary care physicians informed about depression among the target population. To collect data the project will use tools, such as eligibility assessments provided to potential Hawaiian consumers, baseline pre/post surveys, Cultural Competency Assessment Scales, and the Department's Science and Research Groups Pre Evaluation Surveys.
OMH objective(s) toward which the project's results most contribute:
Key Healthy People 2010 objectives or subobjectives toward which your project's results most contribute (see Appendix 3 of OMH's Evaluation Planning Guidelines): Healthy People objectives were not identified.
