Our Projects

Hawaiʻi State Department of Health Child and Adolescent Mental Health Division – Data to Wisdom (Okamura, Carreira-Ching, Palafu, Pascual) 
  • Funder: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration (5 H79 SM082961-04) 
  • Estimated Completion Date: August 2024 

This multiyear project supports ongoing quality improvement initiatives within the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Division. Our team is focused on efforts related to (a) behavioral health workforce development, (b) supporting trauma-informed care implementation, (c) understanding organizational climate and the learning healthcare system, and (d) managing federal reporting and multimillion dollar per year budgets. 

 

Hoʻouna Pono Implementation (Okamura, Carreira-Ching, Palafu, Pascual) 
  • Funder: National Institute of General Medical Sciences (U54GM138062) 
  • Estimated Completion Date: TBD 

The Hoʻouna Pono curriculum is a culturally grounded, teacher delivered, substance use prevention intervention for middle school youth. Hoʻouna Pono was developed on Hawaiʻi Island and we are currently examining implementation determinants. Our hope is to spread the curriculum to other rural and underserved areas in Hawaiʻi. 

 

Evaluating the Impact of Vape Access Sites: A Geospatial Analysis of the Windward School District  (Palafu, Carreira-Ching, Okamura)  
  • Funder: Hawaiʻi Pacific University Undergraduate Infrastructure Student Research Center, Team Science  
  • Estimated Completion Date: December 2023 

Facilitating the implementation of a prevention/intervention program, such as Hoʻouna Pono, within a community requires attention to unique contextual factors. This project aims to support the greater goal of implementing Hoʻouna Pono in the Windward School District by evaluating the extent of youth exposure to Vape access sites (I.e., vape shops).  

 

Quality Care Initiative Program Evaluation (Okamura, Pascual, Palafu) 
  • Funder: Quality Care Initiative 
  • Estimated Completion Date: July 2024 

The Baker Center Implementation Research Division and Quality Care Initiative partner with collaborators at the University of Oregon and University of Iowa to explore learning collaborative implementation outcomes and effectiveness. Our goal is to synthesize agency, therapist, and youth outcome variables across implementation initiatives across the United States to answer multilevel questions around youth evidence-based practice implementation.  

 

The Brooklyn Parenting Center at Maimonides Hospital (Okamura, Pascual, Harris, Haupt)
  • Funder: Maimonides Hospital & Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (1 H79 FG000901-01) 
  • Estimated Completion Date: October 2023 

The Brooklyn Parenting Center is a targeted program to address maternal mental health, social determinants of health, and adverse childhood experiences in the first 1000 days of infant development. Our goal is to provide (a) consultation on the clinical workflow model within the prenatal, inpatient, and pediatric settings, (b) implementation consultation to address screening and intervention, and (c) support the evaluation design to ensure effective implementation and sustainability.