Commentary
Holly Manaseri, Kelly Rober
Abstract
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 approach – culture 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.