Journal Articles

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://mro.massey.ac.nz/handle/10179/7915

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    A Nunavut community-directed Inuit youth mental wellness initiative: making I-SPARX fly
    (Taylor & Francis Group, 2024-10-10) Bohr Y; Hankey J; Thomas A; Abdelmaseh M; Armour L; McCague H; Barnhardt J; Oskalns M; Garvey N; Singh Y; Danz C; Singoorie C; Qaunaq R; Oshoweetok I; Lucassen M; Merry S; Shepherd M; Bornstein MH; Ahmad F; Shulman S; Weiss J
    Inuit youth in Nunavut (NU) are resilient but face a protracted suicide crisis. The SPARX serious game and e-intervention, developed originally in New Zealand, teaches youth cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) skills to ameliorate stress and depression. Inuit youth in NU reviewed and culturally adapted SPARX and an existing wellness outcome measure for Inuit. One hundred and twenty-one youth, aged 13 to 24, across NU then tested, played, and evaluated I(nuit)-SPARX, showing improvement in several areas of wellbeing post-play. Youth completed a CBT skills survey, engaged in sharing circles to assess CBT skill retention, and shared their thoughts about the usefulness and cultural fit of I-SPARX with Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit (IQ). Communication Skills, Listening Skills, and Problem Solving emerged as the most helpful learned CBT skills, and NU youth provided real-world examples of using I-SPARX skills to support their mental wellness. Several principles of IQ were exemplified and upheld in the content of the adapted SPARX tool and the process of the project as a whole. Empirically grounded, asynchronous e-tools, developed in collaboration with Inuit communities to ensure cultural specificity, may support psychological wellness in communities where mental health resources are scarce.
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    Assessing youth empowerment and co-design to advance Pasifika health: a qualitative research study in New Zealand.
    (Elsevier B.V., 2021-11-25) Prapaveissis D; Henry A; Okiama E; Funaki T; Faeamani G; Masaga J; Brown B; Kaholokula K; Ing C; Matheson A; Tiatia-Seath J; Schlesser M; Borman B; Ellison-Loschmann L; Tupai-Firestone R
    OBJECTIVES: The Pasifika Prediabetes Youth Empowerment Programme (PPYEP) was a community-based research project that aimed to investigate empowerment and co-design modules to build the capacity of Pasifika youth to develop community interventions for preventing prediabetes. METHODS: This paper reports findings from a formative evaluation process of the programme using thematic analysis. It emphasises the adoption, perceptions and application of empowerment and co-design based on the youth and community providers' experiences. RESULTS: We found that the programme fostered a safe space, increased youth's knowledge about health and healthy lifestyles, developed their leadership and social change capacities, and provided a tool to develop and refine culturally centred prediabetes-prevention programmes. These themes emerged non-linearly and synergistically throughout the programme. CONCLUSIONS: Our research emphasises that empowerment and co-design are complementary in building youth capacity in community-based partnerships in health promotion. Implications for public health: Empowerment and co-design are effective tools to develop and implement culturally tailored health promotion programmes for Pasifika peoples. Future research is needed to explore the programme within different Pasifika contexts, health issues and Indigenous groups.
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    Understanding how whānau-centred initiatives can improve Māori health in Aotearoa New Zealand.
    (Oxford University Press, 2023-07-13) Reweti A
    This article highlights the significance of prioritizing Indigenous voices and knowledge systems, using whānau-centred initiatives (a concept that encompasses the broader family and community) as a foundation for health promotion within an Indigenous context. Tū Kahikatea, a conceptual framework, is used to demonstrate the relationship between the values underpinning different whānau-centred initiatives and their corresponding outcomes. The framework highlights the capacity of whānau-centred initiatives to support whānau in attaining mana motuhake, which represents collective self-determination and the ability to exercise control over their own future. By doing so, these initiatives contribute to the improvement of whānau health outcomes. With recent changes to Aotearoa New Zealand's health system, the findings underscore the benefits and potential of whānau-centred initiatives in enhancing whānau health outcomes, and advocate for continued strengths-based practices in Aotearoa New Zealand's health system. By bridging the gap between academia and grassroots community action, the article demonstrates the potential of whānau-centred initiatives and contributes to a global call for integrating Indigenous viewpoints and practices into Westernized healthcare, in order to improve Indigenous health outcomes.
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    Companion Animal Fostering as Health Promotion: A Literature Review.
    (MDPI (Basel, Switzerland), 2023-06-21) Roseveare C; Breheny M; Mansvelt J; Murray L; Wilkie M; Gates MC; Tchounwou PB
    There is growing interest in the health-promoting potential of human-companion animal relationships from a broad public health perspective while acknowledging barriers to ownership, particularly for older adults. Companion animal fostering is an alternative to pet ownership that aligns with the Ottawa Charter health promotion principle that caring for others in everyday settings promotes health. This narrative review of the literature on companion animal fostering draws on Te Whare Tapa Whā (the four-sided house), an indigenous model of health that is influential in Aotearoa/New Zealand, and the Ottawa Charter. We found that companion animal fostering can be considered health-promoting for human and non-human animals, using a broad and multidimensional understanding of health. As well as improving the long-term outcomes for homeless animals, companion animal fostering has the potential to promote the health of the individuals, families, and communities who provide foster homes. Our review highlights the importance of health promoters considering the reciprocal relationship between human and animal health. Future research should explore different aspects of human and non-human health, perspectives of different types of fosterers in different settings and communities, barriers to fostering, and methods that explore the role of caring for a wider range of companion animals in creating and sustaining wellbeing.
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    Kaumātua Mana Motuhake Pōi: a study protocol for enhancing wellbeing, social connectedness and cultural identity for Māori elders.
    (BioMed Central, 2020-10-02) Hokowhitu B; Oetzel JG; Simpson ML; Nock S; Reddy R; Meha P; Johnston K; Jackson A-M; Erueti B; Rewi P; Warbrick I; Cameron MP; Zhang Y; Ruru S
    BACKGROUND: The Aotearoa New Zealand population is ageing accompanied by health and social challenges including significant inequities that exist between Māori and non-Māori around poor ageing and health. Although historically kaumātua (elder Māori) faced a dominant society that failed to realise their full potential as they age, Māori culture has remained steadfast in upholding elders as cultural/community anchors. Yet, many of today's kaumātua have experienced 'cultural dissonance' as the result of a hegemonic dominant culture subjugating an Indigenous culture, leading to generations of Indigenous peoples compelled or forced to dissociate with their culture. The present research project, Kaumātua Mana Motuhake Pōī (KMMP) comprises two interrelated projects that foreground dimensions of wellbeing within a holistic Te Ao Māori (Māori epistemology) view of wellbeing. Project 1 involves a tuakana-teina/peer educator model approach focused on increasing service access and utilisation to support kaumātua with the greatest health and social needs. Project 2 focuses on physical activity and cultural knowledge exchange (including te reo Māori--Māori language) through intergenerational models of learning. METHODS: Both projects have a consistent research design and common set of methods that coalesce around the emphasis on kaupapa kaumatua; research projects led by kaumātua and kaumātua providers that advance better life outcomes for kaumātua and their communities. The research design for each project is a mixed-methods, pre-test and two post-test, staggered design with 2-3 providers receiving the approach first and then 2-3 receiving it on a delayed basis. A pre-test (baseline) of all participants will be completed. The approach will then be implemented with the first providers. There will then be a follow-up data collection for all participants (post-test 1). The second providers will then implement the approach, which will be followed by a final data collection for all participants (post-test 2). DISCUSSION: Two specific outcomes are anticipated from this research; firstly, it is hoped that the research methodology provides a framework for how government agencies, researchers and relevant sector stakeholders can work with Māori communities. Secondly, the two individual projects will each produce a tangible approach that, it is anticipated, will be cost effective in enhancing kaumātua hauora and mana motuhake. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Australia New Zealand Clinical Trial Registry ( ACTRN12620000316909 ). Registered 6 March 2020.
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    Waka ama: An exemplar of indigenous health promotion in Aotearoa New Zealand
    (John Wiley and Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of the Australian Health Promotion Association, 2022-10) Reweti A; Severinsen C; Smith J
    ISSUE ADDRESSED: The use of old-style, top-down health education and awareness programmes in Aotearoa New Zealand, which adopt a single issue-based approach to health promotion, primarily ignores a broad approach to social determinants of health, as well as indigenous Māori understandings of wellbeing. METHODS: This paper draws on the indigenous framework Te Pae Māhutonga as a guide for presenting narratives collated from members of a waka ama rōpū (group) who were interviewed about the social, cultural and health benefits of waka ama. RESULTS: This waka ama case study is an exemplar of community-led health promotion within an indigenous context, where Māori values and practices, such as whanaungatanga (the process of forming and maintaining relationships), manaakitanga (generosity and caring for others) and kaitiakitanga (guardianship), are foundational. The findings highlight the multiple benefits of engagement in waka ama and illustrate effective techniques for enhancing wellbeing within local communities. CONCLUSION: At a time when Aotearoa New Zealand is seeing a decreasing trend in physical activity levels and an increase in mental health challenges, waka ama provides us with an exemplar of ways to increase health and wellbeing within our communities. SO WHAT?: The findings of this research contribute to the evidence base of effective indigenous health promotion, bridging the gap between academia and local community action. To better recognise, comprehend and improve indigenous health and wellbeing, we argue that active participation of people in the community is required to achieve long-term and revolutionary change.
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    2021 Assessment of New Zealand district health boards' institutional healthy food and drink policies: the HealthY Policy Evaluation (HYPE) study
    (Pasifika Medical Association Group (PMAG), 2022-08-19) Gerritsen S; Kidd B; Rosin M; Shen S; Mackay S; Te Morenga L; Mhurchu CN
    AIM: To assess adoption of the voluntary National Healthy Food and Drink Policy (NHFDP) and the alignment of individual institutional healthy food and drink policies with the NHFDP. METHOD: All 20 district health boards (DHBs) and two national government agencies participated. Policies of those organisations that had not fully adopted the NHFDP were assessed across three domains: nutrition standards; promotion of a healthy food and beverages environment; and policy communication, implementation and evaluation. Three weighted domain scores out of 10, and a total score out of 30 were calculated. RESULTS: Nine of the 22 organisations reported adopting the NHFDP in full. Of the remaining 13, six referred to the NHFDP when developing their institutional policy and three were working toward full adoption of the NHFDP. Mean scores (SD) were 8.7 (1.0), 6.1 (2.6) and 3.8 (2.2) for the three domains, and 18.6 (4.8) in total. Most individual institutional policies were not as comprehensive as the NHFDP. However, some contained stricter/additional clauses that would be useful to incorporate into the NHFDP. CONCLUSION: Since a similar policy analysis in 2018, most DHBs have adopted the NHFDP and/or strengthened their own nutrition policies. Regional inconsistency remains and a uniform mandatory NHFDP should be implemented that incorporates improvements identified in individual institutional policies.