{"id":172775,"date":"2023-02-14T14:15:06","date_gmt":"2023-02-15T00:15:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=172775"},"modified":"2023-02-14T14:15:13","modified_gmt":"2023-02-15T00:15:13","slug":"public-health-honor-society-research","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2023\/02\/14\/public-health-honor-society-research\/","title":{"rendered":"Public health student research highlighted by national honor society"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>
\"two
Tarin Tanji and Saikaew Dudla<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Two University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> at M\u0101noa public health students have won national recognition for their research projects focused on Native Hawaiian health and the Hawai\u02bbi Suicide Prevention Â鶹´«Ã½. Tarin Tanji<\/strong>, a master\u2019s student and Saikaew Dudla<\/strong>, a PhD student, in the Office of Public Health Studies<\/a> (OPHS<\/abbr>) at the Thompson School of Social Work & Public Health<\/a>, were selected to present their research posters at the recent American Public Health Association<\/a> (APHA<\/abbr>) conference in Boston.<\/p>\n

Delta Omega<\/a>, the public health national honor society, sponsors this annual competition at APHA<\/abbr>. Each year, only 29 students from Delta Omega chapters nationwide are selected to participate.<\/p>\n

\"two
Saikaew Dudla and Tarin Tanji after their APHA<\/abbr> poster session presentation.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

“Tarin and Saikaew represent the public health leaders of tomorrow,” said Jeanelle Sugimoto-Matsuda<\/strong>, an associate professor of public health and the leader of the UH<\/abbr> Gamma Chapter of Delta Omega<\/a>. “Their projects were selected because of their potential impact on the field of public health as well as their innovative designs.”<\/p>\n

Tanji’s research focused on identifying sources of resiliency in Native Hawaiian k\u016bpuna (elders). She conducted a qualitative analysis of interviews with 20 k\u016bpuna from rural areas in Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>. Her results showed that k\u016bpuna draw strength and resilience from their relationships with their ʻohana<\/span> (family) and their communities, as well as from personal and cultural values and practices.<\/p>\n

“My analysis suggests that health care providers who serve k\u016bpuna should acknowledge their clients’ history, strengths and resilience when helping them to address health challenges,” Tanji said.<\/p>\n

The goal of Dudla’s project was to conduct an evaluation of the Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Suicide Prevention Â鶹´«Ã½. She interviewed people involved in suicide prevention in Hawai\u02bbi and analyzed the content of those interviews. Her results showed that suicide prevention is a community-centered process. <\/p>\n

“My evaluation shows that the program will benefit if its leadership continues to work at sustaining relationships between the partner organizations and optimizing their communication,” Dudla said.<\/p>\n

Over the years, OPHS<\/abbr> students have consistently been selected to present at the conference, including fall 2021 MPH<\/abbr> graduates Keilyn Leinaʻala<\/span> Kawakami<\/strong> and Taylor Ronquillo<\/strong>, and Amber Sophus<\/strong>, a PhD public health student who recently graduated.<\/p>\n

“All of these students worked incredibly hard to bring forward important public health research,” Sugimoto-Matsuda said. “We faculty members can’t wait to see what they’ll do next.”<\/p>\n

Read more on the Office of Public Health website<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Public health studies Tarin Tanji and Saikaew Dudla presented their research at the American Public Health Association annual conference.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[1466,1363,241,449,660,596,9],"class_list":["post-172775","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research","tag-manoa-enhancing-student-success","tag-manoa-research","tag-public-health","tag-public-health-sciences","tag-student-recognition","tag-myron-b-thompson-school-of-social-work","tag-uh-manoa","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t