Youth-targeted health education promotional posters available

University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
Contact:
Desiree Uyeda, (808) 956-2904
Marketing Manager, Nancy Atmospera-Walch School of Nursing
Posted: Aug 11, 2022

UH-developed posters address top adolescent health concerns.
UH-developed posters address top adolescent health concerns.
 Deborah Mattheus displays a poster at Castle High School’s health clinic.
Deborah Mattheus displays a poster at Castle High School’s health clinic.

A series of youth-centered, Hawai‘i-focused health posters to address top adolescent health concerns have been developed by researchers at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa Nancy Atmospera-Walch School of Nursing (NAWSON) to increase health literacy (youth understanding of health) and foster open communication between youth and their health care providers. The posters will be displayed in Hawaiʻi Keiki: Healthy & Ready to Learn nurse clinics located at Hawai‘i Department of Education (HIDOE) public high schools throughout the state beginning this month. Free digital posters are also available to health centers nationwide.

The poster development was led by Holly Fontenot, professor and director of research, and Deborah Mattheus, associate professor and Hawai‘i Keiki senior practice director, in partnership with community advisory groups, including Hawai‘i HOSA: Future Health Professionals, Stacy Leong Design, and parents, teachers, school nurses and youth workers. 

“We know that adolescence is a challenging time for our youth today and we wanted to develop posters for health clinics that invite adolescents to engage in conversations about health,” said Fontenot. “These posters were created to provide a friendly reminder to students that nurses in particular, are safe allies for them to learn more about their health, plus we hope that these posters will diminish potential stigmas associated with sensitive topics, like mental health.”

Mattheus added, “Our initial idea was to display the health promotion posters at our Hawai‘i Keiki high school clinics located at HIDOE public schools, but once we saw the final messaging and designs, we knew that these posters could be displayed in any Hawai‘i health clinic, and even across the nation. The posters are modern and cool, and were created specific for Hawai‘i youth. But these health messages are relevant to all adolescents. So we are making digital posters available to health centers across the nation.” 

Upon request, the free digital posters are available by contacting Fontenot at hbfont@hawaii.edu.

Adolescence is a pivotal, transitional phase of growth and development between childhood and adulthood. Fontenot and Mattheus led discussions with the advisory groups to identify top health issues for adolescents and garner perspectives related to preferred poster design. Based on this input, the plan for the posters was to address the following adolescent health-associated issues: developing healthy relationships, sexual health, mental health and confidentiality. These topics are in-line with priority health behaviors identified by both the national and Hawai‘i-based Youth Risk Behavior Surveys. 

Fontenot and Mattheus are dedicating these posters to the late Ada Toyama, Hawai‘i HOSA state advisor who passed in June 2022, just as the poster development was completed. Toyama was the advisor for the 2021–2022 HOSA student group who were members of the youth advisory board. She was also a 2017 HOSA Hall of Fame inductee for her years of dedicated service as a state advisor who grew the Hawai‘i HOSA program to where it is today.

The project was supported by the Comprehensive Healthcare for Adolescents Initiative through grant number TP2AH000074-01-00 from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Population Affairs.

 

About the UH Mānoa Nancy Atmospera-Walch School of Nursing
The UH Mānoa Nancy Atmospera-Walch School of Nursing, the Nursing Capital of the Pacific, is the leader in nursing education and research in Hawai‘i with outreach to Asia and the Pacific Basin. We provide an innovative, caring and multicultural environment in which faculty, students and staff work together to generate and transmit knowledge, wisdom, and values to promote quality of life and health for present and future generations. The school offers the bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degree programs. To reflect Hawai‘i’s unique cultural diversity and heritage, we are committed to increasing the representation of Native Hawaiian and other underserved people in all nursing programs. Visit us at www.nursing.hawaii.edu.


About Hawaiʻi Keiki
Hawai‘i Keiki is a partnership between the UH Mānoa Nancy Atmospera-Walch School of Nursing and the Hawai‘i Department of Education and sits at the intersection of education and health to support the HIDOE to achieve student, school, and system success. The program is designed to improve access and quality of health services in the school by coordinating and expanding existing efforts of the partners and community resources. The program is enhancing and building school based health services that screen for treatable health conditions; provide referral to primary health care and patient centered medical home services; prevent and control communicable disease and other health problems; and provide emergency care for illness or injury. Visit us at www.nursing.hawaii.edu/hawaii-keiki