Research

Maui Hope's core mission is to help our communities gain knowledge and understanding of modern approaches to supporting adults with special needs. Our research efforts focus on learning, evaluating and sharing both general and specific approaches to meet the needs of these important people in our communities.

Through our research and investigative efforts, Maui Hope is helping to expand the knowledge base available to people as we work to rewrite the way Hawaii cares for adults that have special needs. Rather than the traditional us/them approach often clustering our loved ones unnaturally, Maui Hope’s commitment to creating an ordinary life is a model where intellectually disabled and typically-abled people meet on level and share strengths as they all aim for their best selves.

At the moment, there is a critical lack of research on caregiver burnout and what inspires fulfillment in the workplace in the special needs community. Through collecting data, careful study and investigation the goal of the Maui Hope Research Initiative is to explore how relationship building impacts job satisfaction.

Using ongoing discovery and revision of outdated approaches to delivery of services, Maui Hope is developing a strategy that focuses on positive behavior support and life-sharing, designed to enable our participants and staff members to lead their best possible lives.