A comprehensive inquiry about the experiences of Pacific-Islander students in higher education is sorely wanting. This study uncovered cultural predilections of Pacific-Islander students from the American-affiliated Pacific region related to their experiences in a Western setting. The University of Hawaii at Hilo (UH Hilo) serves as the backdrop to this exploration. As with any other institutes of higher education, UH Hilo is concerned about attracting, retaining, and graduating their students. With a considerably high Pacific-Islander student population attending UH Hilo, we are in a prime position to explore and examine factors that contribute to or hinder retention and graduation. More importantly, we have an opportunity to give voice to a population that is rarely identified in the higher education literature and continually obscured in the discourse of attainment. More than 90 Pacific-Islander students were recruited to participate in a series of focus groups and interviews. Seven overlapping themes emerged related to culture, identity, language, and barriers to retention and graduation. Findings confirmed some of the previous literature on the dichotomy of American versus traditional culture in general settings and identified other cultural variables that pose challenges to postsecondary education completion. Our findings provide the groundwork for further examination of postsecondary institutions' capacity to respond to and include Pacific-Islander ways of being as a foundation for participation and support.

The Hawai'i Demonstration to Maintain Independence and Employment was a randomized controlled trial examining the effect of a participant-driven, multicomponent intervention on 190 employed adults with diabetes, 36% of whom were Asian and 35% of whom were Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander. A no treatment concurrent control group was used, and the treatment group was provided an intervention that paired each participant with a life coach and a pharmacist counselor with whom they worked to achieve collaboratively chosen goals. Treatment fidelity data suggest that the intervention was largely implemented as planned. Life coaches and pharmacists performed key program functions with high to moderate adherence. The quality of their adherence to the intervention model ranged from basic to above basic and below basic to above basic for life coaches and pharmacists, respectively. Results of repeated-measures analysis of covariance analyses indicate that the intervention had a significant positive effect on participants' diabetes self-efficacy, quality of life, and body mass index but not on hemoglobin A1c levels. Further analyses examining just the treatment group indicate a dosage effect, with body mass index and quality of life outcomes optimized among participants who engaged in a greater number of sessions with life coaches and pharmacists. Implications of the study findings for practice are discussed.

U.S. classrooms reflect the diversity of a nation in the midst of transformation. These issues of student diversity force educators and policymakers to explore and more importantly address the needs of a changing population. A key person in the school to help facilitate positive interactions between diverse students, parents, and faculty is the school counselor. Sometimes referred to as change agents, counselors are in the position to affect attitude through changing awareness, providing necessary knowledge and skills, and enhancing opportunities that foster respect for cultural differences. This article discusses the current literature on culture and diversity and the need for classroom cultural congruity. In addition, discourse on school counselors' role in promoting respect for diversity is advocated with a schoolbased social justice intervention strategy.

The University of Hawaii Center on Disability Studies, in collaboration with two community partners, Planned Parenthood of Hawaii and ALU LIKE, Inc. has developed the Pono Choices teen pregnancy and Sexually Transmitted Infections (STI) curriculum for Hawaii middle school youth. Pono Choices draws explicitly on Hawaiian cultural values and cultural practices as the foundation for the curriculum. The partners also created an original Hawaiian cultural story to reinforce the teen pregnancy and STI prevention message. This creative approachculture as a protective factor to prevent an unintended pregnancy or STI, has merit for wider consideration in broadening work in the health education arena, especially in working with difficult to reach populations.