Creating opportunities through community engagement to prevent and address IPV to enhance the well-being of Native Hawaiian and Pilipina women and girls

Background/Significance: Violence between intimate partners results in significant health consequences that are both physical and psychological and impact individuals within households and across communities. In Hawaii murders from IPV are highest amongst Native Hawaiian and Pilipina women. Funding for IPV has focused on tertiary services from legal, health and social service professionals. Yet in previous studies women did not rely on traditional victim services or health care providers, but sought support and safety from their families, friends and other community members to prevent and intervene early when relationships were difficult.

Objective/Purpose: This Community Based Participatory program has four aims; however, the purpose of this presentation is focused on the first aim, an intervention to determine if community owned, community led “talkstory” group sessions lead to increased awareness of IPV, gender role expectations, and increased community engagement and leadership to achieve social change.

Methods: The quasi-experimental intervention includes a total of 8 experimental groups (4 Native Hawaiian and 4 Pilipino) who will receive the “talkstory” intervention and 8 control groups (4 Native Hawaiian and 4 Pilipino) who will receive usual care (an educational discussion). Quantitative data will be collected using 4 instruments.

Results: Findings from the pilot studies will be presented. Data from the pilot testing is being used to adapt the intervention.

Discussion/Conclusion: The Consortium for Health Safety and Support (CHSS) is using the Community Engagement Model that includes community outreach, education, mobilization, organizing and accountability with two culturally specific communities to determine appropriate processes to prevent and address IPV.