Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Jul;81(7):201-208.

Next Gen Hawai'i: Collaborative COVID-19 Social Media Initiative to Engage Native Hawaiian, Other Pacific Islander, and Filipino Youth

Momi Tolentino  1 , Sydney Millerd  1 , Nikky Zena Bali  1 , Elarie Ranido  2 , Jaelyn Takiguchi  2 , Ho'opi'ookalani J Balaz  1 , Rosanne Atan  1 , Tetine Sentell  3
Affiliations

Next Gen Hawai'i: Collaborative COVID-19 Social Media Initiative to Engage Native Hawaiian, Other Pacific Islander, and Filipino Youth

Momi Tolentino et al. Hawaii J Health Soc Welf. 2022 Jul.

Abstract

The Next Gen Hawai'i social media project was initiated in the fall of 2020 to address ongoing public health concerns and the need for accessible and reliable information across Hawai'i's diverse communities by strategically amplifying the voices of Hawai'i's youth in their Native languages. The collaborative effort arose from conversations within the Hawai'i's Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander COVID-19 Response, Recovery, and Resilience Team, composed of diverse public and private organizations involved in statewide COVID-19 response efforts for Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander communities. Next Gen Hawai'i's focus was on Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, Filipino, and other populations disproportionately suffering from COVID-19. Five social media platforms were developed to spread messaging to youth and young adults about COVID-19. Public Health Ambassadors (from high school to young adults) were recruited and engaged to create culturally and linguistically rooted messaging to promote public health and prevention-based social norms. This strength-based approach recognized youth as important community leaders and ambassadors for change and empowered them to create content for dissemination on platforms with national and global reach. Messaging was designed to build individual, community, and digital health literacy while integrating core cultural values and strengths of Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, and Filipino communities. Over 250 messages have been delivered across Next Gen Hawai'i social media channels on topics including vaccine information, mask-wearing, staying together over distances, mental health, and in-languages resources in Chuukese, Chamorro, Marshallese, Samoan, Hawaiian, Ilocano, Tagalog, and other Pacific-basin languages. Reach has included more than 75 000 views from various social media channels, media features, successful webinars, and relevant conference presentations. This Public Health Insights article provides an overview of Next Gen Hawai'i's activities and achievements as well as lessons learned for other youth-focused public health social media campaigns and organizations.

Keywords: COVID; Health Communication; Native Hawaiian: Pacific Islander; Social Media.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Social Media Platforms and Account Names for the 4 Active Next Gen Hawai‘i Accounts
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Screenshots from a Next Gen Hawai‘i Multilingual Public Health Message (selected) Mahalo to the Community Alliance on Prisons for sharing the linguistic resources to build the infographics.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Screenshots from the Next Gen Hawai‘i Instagram Showing Graphic Design Building from a Sequence
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Next Gen Hawai‘i Facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/nextgenhawaii/?modal=admin_todo_tour Accessed January 25, 2022.
    1. The Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander Hawai‘i COVID-19 Response, Recovery & Resilience Team. NHPI COVID-19 3R Team. https://www.nhpicovidhawaii.net/ Accessed January 25, 2022.
    1. Kamaka ML, Watkins-Victorino L, Lee A, et al. Addressing Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander data deficiencies through a community-based collaborative response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Hawaii J Health Soc Welf. 2021;80((10 Suppl 2)):36–45. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34704067/ - PMC - PubMed
    1. Kamaka ML, Freitas SM, Marshall SM, et al. He ‘a'ali'i ku makani mai au: developing a cultural framework for advancing COVID-19 related, community-informed health policies. Hawaii J Health Soc Welf. 2021;80((10 Suppl 2)):50–56. s https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34704069/ - PMC - PubMed
    1. Palafox NA, Alik K, Howard J, et al. A report on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the health and social welfare of the Pacific Islander population in Hawai‘i. Hawaii J Health Soc Welf. 2021;80((9 Suppl 1)):78–87. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34661131/ - PMC - PubMed

Publication types