title: Understanding a Pacific Islander Young Adult Perspective on Access to Higher Education.
abstract: The Pacific Islander (PI) community suffers disproportionately from illnesses and diseases, including diabetes, heart disease and cancer. While there are tremendous health needs within the PI community, there are few health care providers from the community that exist to help address these particular needs. Many efforts have focused on health care workforce diversity to reduce and eliminate health disparities, but few have examined the issues faced in the health care work force pipeline. Understanding educational attainment among PI young adults is pivotal in speaking to a diverse health care workforce where health disparities among Pacific Islanders (PIs) may be addressed. This paper provides an in-depth, qualitative assessment of the various environmental, structural, socio-economic, and social challenges that prevent PIs from attaining higher education; it also discusses the various needs of PI young adults as they relate to psychosocial support, retention and recruitment, and health career knowledge and access. This paper represents a local, Southern California, assessment of PI young adults regarding educational access barriers. We examine how these barriers impact efforts to address health disparities and look at opportunities for health and health-related professionals to reduce and care for the high burden of illnesses and diseases in PI communities.
authors.affiliation: Orange County Asian and Pacific Islander Community Alliance (OCAPICA).
authors.forename: Jacqueline H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Tran
authors.affiliation: Orange County Asian and Pacific Islander Community Alliance (OCAPICA).
authors.forename: Michelle
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wong
authors.affiliation: University of Hawai`i- Manoa.
authors.forename: Erin Kahunawaika'ala
authors.initials: EK
authors.lastname: Wright
authors.affiliation: Orange County Asian and Pacific Islander Community Alliance (OCAPICA).
authors.forename: Joe
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fa'avae
authors.affiliation: Orange County Asian and Pacific Islander Community Alliance (OCAPICA).
authors.forename: Ashley
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cheri
authors.affiliation: Special Service for Groups, Research and Evaluation Unit.
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Wat
authors.affiliation: University of California, Los Angeles Department of Asian American Studies.
authors.forename: Keith L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Camacho
authors.affiliation: Orange County Asian and Pacific Islander Community Alliance (OCAPICA).
authors.forename: Mary Anne
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Foo
keywords: Pacific Islander young adult; community-based participatory research; educational access; health careers; health disparities; pipeline