Browsing by Author "Iwamoto, Derek K"

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    Alcohol Use Disorder Risk and Protective Factors and Associated Harms Among Pacific Islander Young Adults.
    (Journal of racial and ethnic health disparities, 2021-08-10) Subica, Andrew M; Guerrero, Erick G; Hong, Phong; Aitaoto, Nia; Moss, Howard B; Iwamoto, Derek K; Wu, Li-Tzy
    Pacific Islander (PI) young adults (age 18 to 30 years) experience elevated rates of hazardous drinking, AUDs, and alcohol-related harms. Yet, we know little about the risk and protective factors that drive, or can prevent, PI young adult hazardous drinking behaviors and AUDs due to a lack of targeted alcohol disparities research. This large qualitative study presents data from 8 focus groups with 69 PIs (51 young adults, 18 informal providers) to explore the major risk factors, protective factors, and negative consequences associated with PI young adult hazardous drinking and AUDs. Findings revealed (1) major risk factors including the presence of significant life stressors that trigger alcohol self-medication, peer/social pressure to drink, permissive drinking norms, and frequent access to alcohol and (2) negative consequences involving physical fights, health and relationship problems, harm to personal reputation, and community harms including driving-under-the-influence and sexual violence. Protective factors against hazardous drinking and AUDs included the cultural norm of protecting the family's reputation by avoiding AUDs, church/religious faith, family responsibilities, and culturally relevant prosocial activities (e.g., sports, dance, choir). Obtaining this in-depth data revealed that an effective culturally grounded AUD prevention intervention for PI young adults-which does not currently exist-should (1) target these identified major risk factors for AUDs, while (2) integrating culturally responsive strategies that incorporate their reported protective factors.
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    Assessing the Impact of COVID-19 on the Health of Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander People in the United States, 2021.
    (Public health reports (Washington, D.C. : 1974), 2022-09) Subica, Andrew M; Aitaoto, Nia; Li, Qiuxi; Morey, Brittany N; Wu, Li-Tzy; Iwamoto, Derek K; Guerrero, Erick G; Moss, Howard B

    Objectives

    Minimal research has assessed COVID-19's unique impact on the Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander (NH/PI) population-an Indigenous-colonized racial group with social and health disparities that increase their risk for COVID-19 morbidity and mortality. To address this gap, we explored the scope of COVID-19 outcomes, vaccination status, and health in diverse NH/PI communities.

    Methods

    NH/PI staff at partner organizations collected survey data from April through November 2021 from 319 community-dwelling NH/PI adults in 5 states with large NH/PI populations: Arkansas, California, Oregon, Utah, and Washington. Data were analyzed with descriptive statistics, Pearson χ2 tests, independent and paired t tests, and linear and logistic regression analyses.

    Results

    During the COVID-19 pandemic, 30% of survey participants had contracted COVID-19, 16% had a close family member who died of the disease, and 64% reported COVID-19 vaccine uptake. Thirty percent reported fair/poor health, 21% currently smoked cigarettes, and 58% reported obesity. Survey participants reported heightened COVID-19-related psychosocial distress (mean score = 4.9 on 10-point scale), which was more likely when health outcomes (general health, sleep, obesity) were poor or a family member had died of COVID-19. Logistic regression indicated that age, experiencing COVID-19 distress, and past-year use of influenza vaccines were associated with higher odds of COVID-19 vaccine uptake (1.06, 1.18, and 7.58 times, respectively).

    Conclusions

    Our empirical findings highlight the acute and understudied negative impact of COVID-19 on NH/PI communities in the United States and suggest new avenues for improving NH/PI community health, vaccination, and recovery from COVID-19.