Purpose: Obesity is prevalent among Native Hawaiians, but the relationship between food and perceptions of health and well-being is not well understood. The purpose was to explore the role of food in Native Hawaiians’ perceptions of health and well-being. Design: A qualitative descriptive design was used. Twenty-seven Native Hawaiian participants in Las Vegas took part in semistructured interviews. Results: Participants expressed that food can be dangerous to health. However, eating Hawaiian food seems to relieve homesickness, and they occasionally indulge in binge overeating. Conclusions: Hawaiian food plays an important role in participants’ health and well-being. Participants’ concurrent attraction to Hawaiian-style food and desire to avoid unhealthy food create a challenging struggle. Implications for Practice: To support cultural connectedness, Native Hawaiians can be encouraged to expend consumed calories in physical activity as their ancestors did. Discussing nutrition from a family framework might be helpful to Native Hawaiians.
Association of Asian Pacific Community Health Organizations. (n.d.). Native Hawaiian. Retrieved from http://aapcho.org/site/aapcho/content.php?type=1&id=%209694&print=1
2.
Boyd, J.K.A. ( 2006). Ho’ola: Na mana’o a haumana kula nui. Healthy living: Perceptions of Native Hawaiian college students University of Hawai’i (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of Hawaii , Honolulu.
3.
Busch, J., Easa, D., Grandinetti, A., Mor, J., & Harrigan, R. ( 2003). Healthy people in Hawaii? An overview of ethnic health disparities in Hawaii for the Healthy People 2010 initiative targeted health concerns. Hawaii Medical Journal, 62(1), 10-14.
4.
Clark, L. ( 2006). Early childhood obesity in Latino families: Assembling knowledge for practice. Communicating Nursing Research, 39, 15-29.
5.
Fujita, R., Braun, K.L., & Hughes, C.K. ( 2004). The traditional Hawaiian diet: A review of the literature . Pacific Health Dialog, 11, 250-259.
6.
Goldman, D.P., Zheng, Y., Girosi, F., Michaud, P.-C., Olshansky, J., Cutler, D., & Rowe, J.W. ( 2009). The benefits of risk factor prevention in Americans aged 51 years and older. American Journal of Public Health, 99, 2096-2101.
7.
Grandinetti, A., Kaholokula, J.K., Theriault, A.G., Mor, J.M., & Chang, H.K. ( 2007). Prevalence of diabetes and glucose tolerance in an ethnically diverse rural community of Hawaii. Ethnicity & Disease , 17, 250-255.
8.
Hawaii Department of Health. (2006). Profile of Hawaii’s older adults and their caregivers. Retrieved http://hawaii.gov/health/eoa/Docs/2006.pdf
9.
Hawaii Department of Health. (2009). Hawaii Health Survey 2007. Retrieved from http://hawaii.gov/health/statistics/hhs/index.html
10.
Hirokawa, R., Huang, T., Pobutsky, A., Nogues, M., Salvail, F., & Nguyen, H.D. ( 2004). Hawaii diabetes report, 2004. Retrieved from http://www.hawaii.gov/health/family-child-health/chronicdisease/diabetes/pdf/diabetesreport.pdf
Kim, H.-S., Park, S.-Y., Grandinetti, A., Holck, P.S., & Waslien, C. ( 2008). Major dietary patterns, ethnicity, and prevalence of type 2 diabetes in rural Hawaii. Nutrition, 24, 1065-1072.
13.
Lassetter, J.H., & Callister, L.C. (2009). The impact of migration on the health of voluntary migrants to Western societies: A review of the literature. Journal of Transcultural Nursing, 20, 93-104.
14.
Leslie, J.H. ( 2001). Uli’eo koa program: Incorporating a traditional Hawaiian dietary component. Pacific Health Dialog, 8, 401-406.
15.
McGrath, B.B., & Edwards, K.L. ( 2009). When family means more (or less) than genetics. The intersection of culture, family, and genomics. Journal of Transcultural Nursing, 20, 270-277.
16.
Meadows, L.M., & Morse, J.M. ( 2001). Constructing evidence within the qualitative project . In J. M. Morse, J. M. Swanson, & A. J. Kuzel (Eds.), The nature of qualitative evidence (pp. 187-200). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
17.
Morse, J.M., & Richards, L. ( 2002). Read me first for a user’sS guide to qualitative methods. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage .
18.
Ochner, M.H., Salvail, F.R., Ford, E.S., & Ajani, U. ( 2008). Obesity and self-reported general health, Hawaii BRFFS: Are Polynesians at higher risk? Obesity, 16, 923-926.
19.
Palafox, N.A., Buenconsejo-lum, L., Riklon, S., & Waitzfelder, B. (2002). Improving health outcomes in diverse populations: Competency in cross-cultural research with indigenous Pacific Islander populations. Ethnicity & Health, 7, 279-285.
20.
Polit, D.F., & Beck, C.T. ( 2006). Essentials of nursing research: Methods, appraisal, and utilization (6th ed.). Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins .
21.
Pukui, M.K., Haertig, E.W., & Lee, C.A. ( 1972). Nānā i ke kumu [Look to the source] (Vol. 1). Honolulu, HI: Hui Hānāi.
22.
Reeder, S. ( 1999). Lagging Hawaiian economy has islanders landing in LV . Retrieved from http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/1999/jun/13/lagging-hawaiian-economy-has-islanders-landing-in-/
23.
Rubin, H.J., & Rubin, I.S. ( 2005). Qualitative interviewing. The art of hearing data (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
24.
Sandelowski, M. ( 2000). Whatever happened to qualitative description? Research in Nursing & Health, 23, 334-340.
Shintani, T. T, & Hughes, C. K. (Eds.). (1995). The Wai’anae book of Hawaiian health. Wai’anae, HI: Wai’anae Coast Comprehensive Health Center.
27.
U.S. Census Bureau. (1990). American factfinder: Detailed tables. Retrieved from http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/DTTable?_bm=y&-context=dt&-ds_name=DEC_1990_STF1_&CONTEXT=dt&-mt_name=DEC_1990_STF1_P007&-tree_id=100&-redoLog=true&-all_geo_types=N&-geo_id=04000US32&-search_results=01000US&-format=&-_lang=en
28.
U.S. Census Bureau. (2000). American factfinder: Detailed tables. Retrieved from http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/DTTable?_bm=y&-context=dt&-ds_name=DEC_2000_SF1_U&-CONTEXT=dt&-mt_name=DEC_2000_SF1_U_PCT008&-tree_id=4001&-redoLog=false&-all_geo_types=N&-geo_id=04000US32&-search_results=01000US&-format=&-_lang=en
29.
U.S. Census Bureau. (2001a). American factfinder. Retrieved from http://factfinder.census.gov/home/saff/main.html?_lang=en
30.
U.S. Census Bureau. (2001b). The Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander population: 2000 (Census 2000 Brief). Retrieved from http://www.census.gov/prod/2001pubs/c2kbr01-14.pdf
