Comprehensive Health for Adolescent Initiative (CHAI) Pilot Project Launched

Hawaii Keiki: Healthy and Ready to Learn launched the Comprehensive Health for Adolescent Initiative (CHAI) pilot project on February 21, 2022, at two pilot sites located at Castle High School and Farrington High School, and a control site at Waipahu High School. This grant funded project is led by Drs. Holly Fontenot, PhD, APRN, WHNP-BC, FAAN, FNAP, Research Director for Department of Nursing, Frances A. Matsuda Chair in Women’s Health & Associate Professor, and Deborah Mattheus, PhD, APRN-Rx, CPNP, Hawaii Keiki Senior Practice Director, Nancy Atmospera-Walch Professor in School Health & Associate Professor, in partnership with Dr. Kelly Wilson at Texas A&M University.

The CHAI project is a large-scale national project with an objective to improve youth’s access to and experiences with health care services. Goals for the Hawaii-focused initiative will be to develop youth friendly health messaging for high school health offices which will normalize important health topics that some students shy from talking about.

Additionally, the project will pilot-test health interventions delivered by Hawaii Keiki nurse practitioners (APRNs) focused on building youth friendly clinical environments and supporting mental health and other health education needs for students at public high schools. This project will further strengthen the relationship between Hawaii Keiki, HI Department of Education behavioral health, and primary care providers to fill much needed gaps and reduce health disparities.

Three Hawaii Keiki APRNs will serve as site leads and are innovators and champions for adolescent health:

• Bobbie Jo Beyerle, MSN, APRN-Rx, NP-C, family nurse practitioner at Farrington High School
• Michelle Chapman, MSN, APRN-Rx, CPNP-PC, pediatric nurse practitioners at Waipahu High School
• Lisa H. Jacquet, MSN, APRN-Rx, NP-C, NCSN, family nurse practitioner at Castle High School

Students at pilot sites will receive a health screening using a “Total Teen survey” on an iPad which includes questions on mental health and sexual health . Students who screen positive for possible mental health concerns are offered a behavioral health visit with the Hawaii Keiki behavioral health program manager, Abbie J. Neves, PhD, APRN-Rx, PMHCNS-BC. The site APRN will provide additional health education and resources. Follow up with the student’s primary care provider and referrals for additional health providers will be made as needed.

The pilot project will collect data for 8 weeks. The CHAI project was developed by Texas A&M University and is funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Population Affairs. For more information about the Hawaii Keiki program or the CHAI project contact Dr. Holly Fontenot at hbfont@hawaii.edu or Dr. Deborah Mattheus at mattheus@hawaii.edu.