Research Reports
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://mro.massey.ac.nz/handle/10179/924
Browse
43 results
Search Results
Item From lodgement to cover: a qualitative inquiry into the steps and factors that lead to cover decision for a leptospirosis claim in New Zealand : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master in Veterinary Studies, Massey University, New Zealand(Massey University, 2019) Uy, Abbie Stephanie S.Leptospirosis is an occupational hazard for people working with animals, and while occupationally-acquired leptospirosis is a compensable condition, the mechanics of the compensation process are not well understood by patients. In addition, much of the crucial decisions affecting the claim outcome are made by treatment providers and insurance claim assessors largely outside of the patient’s purview. This lack of understanding adds to the disease burden experienced by patients. This study was therefore designed to improve the understanding of the compensation process for leptospirosis, by first establishing what are the bases of a claim, and second, investigating how treatment providers and insurance claim assessors evaluate a case or claim. A qualitative approach was utilised in this study. Government reports and publications were analysed in order to determine the formal procedure and requirements of the process, while interviews with treatment providers and insurance claim assessors revealed how the actual process plays out in real life. The results showed that a claim is assessed against two main requirements: having a confirmed diagnosis and having an appropriate exposure. A claim must have sufficient information to support both of these requirements. The criteria for the exposure are set in legislation, but the diagnostic criteria may vary depending on which case definition is used. The results from the study showed that the assessment may be affected by factors like physician experience, laboratory test preference, and patient and employer compliance.Item In what ways did the 2014-2015 Ebola Viral Disease outbreak in Sierra Leone affect women? : an examination of gender and human rights in a major disease outbreak(Massey University, 2015) Oakes, DavidEbola Viral Disease (EBV) is a filovirus with a high mortality rate that ravaged the West African region intensively in the 2014/2015 period, with some cases persisting into 2016. The rapid advance of the illness was characterised by the near collapse of the health system of Sierra Leone, as medical and nursing staff fled or succumbed to the disease. The statistics concerning mortality rates from the illness in West Africa reflect an epidemic in which more women than men have died. These statistics parallel the gendered mortality rates of many natural disasters, and it is clear that epidemics and disasters, when they occur, often reflect pre-existing gender inequalities. This is a fact recognised within the policy structures of many large international NGOs when planning humanitarian response. The reasons for these disproportionate figures are explored within this report using a human rights perspective. This report draws on academic and grey literature, and a small-scale survey of workers involved in caring for those suffering from Ebola, to explore how a person’s level of risk to an event like Ebola and their capacity to respond to or prepare for it, can be affected by a person’s gender, level of poverty, social class, age, ethnicity, and the pre-existing human rights landscape. Human rights are intended to be universal, but as this report will demonstrate, there are many factors limiting the implementation of basic human rights in relation to gender and humanitarian action. This study explores some of the reasons why more women than men died from Ebola in Sierra Leone and why, as many of the survey respondents reported, women suffered disproportionately during the outbreak. The reasons for this are outlined within the findings, but include cultural practices around mortality, gender roles within society, a lack of education leading to an inability to take up preventative health messages, and pre-existing bias against women at many levels of society.Item 'Walking the tightrope' : pregnant women & malnutrition in Aotearoa : how the Sustainable Development Goals 2 & 5 reframe the current discourse(Massey University, 2018) Raven, BrionyIn 2015 a new global development platform, called the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were launched and for the first-time developed nations were included in the development agenda. Poverty, food insecurity and inequality in the developed world are now encompassed within this global platform and are open to international standardisation and critique. This presents significant challenges for developed/western countries who have previously looked outwards at developing nations as the subject of the development gaze. This desk-based study explores how developed countries are responding to this new paradigm by looking at a case study in Aotearoa, New Zealand. This case study focusses on SDGs 2: empowerment & 5: food security to address how we can reframe the current discourse on pregnant women and malnutrition in Aotearoa. Using a critical discourse analysis (CDA) to interrogate the current discourse across three platforms this study has three key findings (themes). Firstly, pregnant women are singularly responsible for ensuring adequate nutrition; secondly, a healthy pregnancy requires women to be educated to adhere to complex food guidelines; and lastly the use of fear and monitoring of women to motivate adherence. An overarching or ‘grand theme’ which is summarised as ‘walking a tightrope’ finds that women are expected to achieve unrealistic nutritional targets within the realities of everyday life. However, the SDG’s provide an opportunity to reframe the ‘problem’ of malnutrition in pregnancy to one of food security and empowerment of women. This ‘reframing’ more appropriately addresses the complexity of issues which underlies malnutrition and provides a framework for government and social policy to robustly address malnutrition for pregnant women. This report therefore concludes that this new global focus on developed countries presents a significant opportunity for them to adopt development frameworks to achieve the SDGs.Item Para Kore : an alternative voice for a zero waste world : a research project presented to Massey University in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of International Development, College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Institute of Development Studies, Massey University, Manawatu, New Zealand(Massey University, 2019) Banfield, JaneIssues of solid waste pollution are viewed as a serious threat to the global Sustainable Development Goals. Waste minimisation in New Zealand centres around a loose government policy framework underpinned by a neoliberal belief in market-driven solutions from the business sector. The traditional ‘waste hierarchy’ model (Reduce-Reuse-Recycle-Recover) remains at the core of legislation, while the more recently developed ‘Circular Economy’ model is increasingly viewed by both state and business sector as offering new hope. However, strategies for waste minimisation in New Zealand are still failing to reduce waste, as exemplified by the annual growth in waste-to-landfill rates. Given the failures mentioned above, this research looked to investigate the merits of an alternative indigenous approach to waste minimisation based upon a different epistemology. Framed by a hope-filled post-development outlook, an in-depth critique of current literature regarding mainstream waste minimisation strategies was undertaken alongside a qualitative case study with Para Kore Marae Inc., a Māori not-for-profit organisation active in 12 regions of New Zealand. The study revealed there are contradictions within mainstream waste minimisation strategies. Resolution of waste issues is constrained by political adherence to neoliberal economic theory which promotes continuous growth in production and consumption. A dominant metanarrative around waste has developed allowing the collective impact of factors incompatible with waste eradication to remain unacknowledged and unaddressed by state actors. The Para Kore model contrasts significantly with technocentric state-led approaches. Para Kore Marae Inc. views solid waste issues through the spiritual lens of kaitiakitanga, the relationship and consequent responsibility of each person to the natural world. For participants adopting a Para Kore approach, intrinsic motivation developed to align waste reduction behaviours with personal values and cultural principles. In addition to reducing waste-to-landfill, the Para Kore approach resulted in holistic improvements to individual and community wellbeing. Cost and time constraints to waste reduction were not found to be an issue. The most significant challenge to the model was ‘burnout’ experienced by the ‘champion’ facilitators. The Para Kore approach is identified as reflecting the emergent post-neoliberal political framework, the ‘Politics of Belonging’. It is concluded that Para Kore’s approach has significant value not only in engendering waste reduction behaviours within organisations and households but also in reinvigorating individual and community wellbeing.Item At war on Twitter? : the impact of gendered harassment across digital platforms on high-profile women in broadcast journalism : a 60-credit Journalism project presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Journalism at Massey University, New Zealand(Massey University, 2017) Graham-McLay, CharlotteThis research project explores the impact of gendered harassment across digital platforms on high-profile women in broadcast journalism. The journalistic feature article collated stories of gendered harassment that women journalists had experienced online, most of which they had not spoken publicly about before. The interviews conducted for this feature found a lack of policy in newsrooms to address gendered harassment, and no strong awareness or understanding of the issue in other places journalists might expect to be able to seek redress, such as ACC, counselling services, or their union. Scholarly research into the effects of repeated exposure to trauma on journalists is a fledgling field, and journalists’ exposure to trauma in digital spaces is even less examined or understood. This leaves a broad scope for further research. This project found, through a content analysis, evidence that women broadcasters were subject to more gendered feedback than men. While women broadcasters interviewed said they could weather abuse, most acknowledged that gendered harassment took some form of toll, and that they had been forced to develop mechanisms to cope with it. In keeping with global trends, this project found most New Zealand newsrooms surveyed are not proactively addressing the problem.Item Gone : a study of the demise of technical high schools in New Zealand : including a case study of the transition of Palmerston North Technical High School into Queen Elizabeth College : a research exercise presented in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the Bachelor of Arts with Honours in History at Massey University(Massey University, 2010) Body, E. W. (Edward W.)This study assesses the impact of 'comprehensive education' in New Zealand in the short and long term, together with the increase of school leaving age to fifteen, on post-primary schools, and in particular, on Palmerston North Technical High School and its transition to Queen Elizabeth College. [From Introduction]Item Healing from the horror of war : a study of a post-conflict psychosocial program for refugees in Uganda : a research report presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of International Development at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand(Massey University, 2018) Manson, TimUganda, a landlocked African nation of 41 million people, currently hosts 1.1 million refugees from surrounding nations including South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Rwanda. Many of these refugees have suffered significant psychological trauma as a result of their conflict experiences and through the process of fleeing from their homes and communities. Tutapona is a non-profit organisation that provides group based psychosocial trauma rehabilitation support among war affected populations. This research report examines the effectiveness of the ‘Grow’ program at empowering refugees. The study was carried out in Rwamwanja Refugee Settlement in Western Uganda, which is home to 64,000 people from the DRC. Four refugees who had attended Tutapona’s Grow program were interviewed in depth about their experience and subsequent decisions to ascertain the extent to which empowerment had taken place. The research report concludes that Tutapona’s Grow program has achieved a high degree of success at empowering refugees, especially on the individual and relational levels. More broadly, it suggests that psychosocial interventions in post- conflict settings should be more highly prioritized by humanitarian and development actors.Item Neonatal nursing in Fiji : exploring workforce strategies to help Fiji achieve Sustainable Development Goal 3, Target 3.2 : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master in International Development at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand(Massey University, 2019) Manuel, IreenIn Fiji 124 neonates lost their lives in 2017. While rates have improved in the Pacific, Fiji’s neonatal mortality rate has remained stagnant. The neonatal workforce struggles to meet the demands of this vulnerable population. Neonatal mortality is a global health challenge which is reflected in Sustainable Development Goal 3, target 3.2. This target aims to end preventable deaths of newborns and children under 5 years of age, with all countries aiming to reduce neonatal mortality to at least as low as 12 per 1,000 live births and under-5 mortality to at least as low as 25 per 1,000 live births by 2030. My research set out to explore and provide some understanding of the development needs of neonatal care globally and review the workforce challenges for nurses in this speciality area in Fiji. Improving the continuum of care for neonates will be critical if Fiji is to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 3, target 3.2. To answer these research questions, I adopted a qualitative methodology. I conducted four semi-structured interviews in Fiji and interpreted qualitative primary and secondary data. In doing so, I came across challenges that were present within programmes, service designs and national policies. Some of these challenges were easily fixed and did not need policy interventions, but rather individual willingness to change. Others required state interventions and long-term commitment and willingness. When applying the rights-based approach to health framework, my findings showed that the hardworking workforce in Fiji is still trying to change an organisational culture to a point where the workforce can feel fully inclusive and able to make evidence-based decisions as a team. The profound effects of not being able to do this is detrimental to the positive outcome for the neonates in their care. It was evident that health has many determinants and the problem relating to neonatal mortality is complex. My research showed that the neonatal nursing workforce were committed to reform and an effective health care service with adequate capacity and consumables is needed to run a well-functioning neonatal service. The key conclusions of my research are that there needs to be better collaboration between all sectors, evidence-based research practice and empowerment of the neonatal nursing workforce in Fiji. This is necessary if the government of Fiji is to achieve a neonatal workforce that can support it to achieve the critical Sustainable Development Goals target of reducing neonatal mortality.Item Investigating a narrative based approach to leader development : life stories, middle managers and the leader-follower paradox : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the postgraduate degree of Master of Advanced Leadership Practice at Massey University, Albany, New Zealand(Massey University, 2017) Knowsley, Mathew DavidThere is a small amount of emergent leadership literature recommending people incorporate a narrative based approach into their leader development. This approach involves the identification and reflection on experiences and events from ones’ life so a story can be told about who they are as a leader (life stories). To date, life stories research has yet to account for the fact leaders must also follow. Middle managers embody this paradox. This study was an investigation into the potential for life stories to contribute to middle managers’ leader development. This study also looked at how life stories might contribute to middle managers understanding of themselves as followers and how they might use life stories in negotiating the leader-follower paradox. The overall aim was to make a further contribution to understanding the potential for life stories in leader development. A case study of five Auckland New Zealand based middle managers was conducted. Life history interviews were thematically analysed using life stories as a sensitizing concept. Participants demonstrated little to no previous knowledge, skill or experience in life stories as a development process. They told stories as leaders that generally implied existing life stories self-development themes but they did not explicitly identify them. They told stories as followers that were somewhat at odds with general opinions they held on following. There was little correlation with existing life stories self-development themes. Overall, Participants’ life stories base intrapersonal leader and follower self-narratives had potential to be coherent, but were instinctive and under-developed. Participants’ ability to draw on life stories to identify, discuss and negotiate the leader-follower paradox matched their existing integration of life stories and intrapersonal leader-follower identities. Overall, participants had potential to produce a coherent and integrated leader-follower narrative, but this potential was under-developed. More research is required. A narrative based framework for further leader-follower life stories development processes is offered as a starting point.
