The Kaiona Framework: Centering Hawaiian and Pasifika Community in Defining, Measuring, and Promoting Health and Well-Being

The place and people of Wai'anae, Hawai'i, are rich in connection with '<i>āina</i> (natural environment) and culture. Counter to this strengths-based approach, metrics and narratives imposed by outside systems assess many communities like ours as "sick", "poor", or "unwell". This paper details our community's approach to defining "well-being" around the values specific to our place, overseen by a council of community leaders with decades of experience supporting youth. The development was a mixed methods process including formal focus groups, informal community conversations, review of existing models, and collaboration with a professional artist. Centering community was the priority through each phase, engaging youth, parents, cultural practitioners, healthcare providers, and educators. Our community built the Kaiona Framework around the <i>mo'olelo</i> (traditional story) of Kaiona who helps the lost find home through empathy and compassion. Well-being is grounded in connection to, in relationship with, and in service to <i>'āina</i>. The child is at the center of our work, but inseparable from the family, community, and wider nation of people. Wellness comprises four values vital to our community: <i>mauli ola</i>, a balanced state of physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, and environmental health; <i>waiwai</i>, abundance and prosperity; <i>pilina</i>, mutually sustaining relationships; and <i>ea</i>, self-determination and agency.