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Item The role of traditional healing in developing rehabilitation processes and its contributions toward development : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Philosophy in Development Studies at Massey University(Massey University, 1993) Kwok, King YuThe emphasis on Western ways of biomedical health care and rehabilitation has met with problems of practicability in many parts of the world, and particularly problems with those issues related to culture. Reform in rehabilitation and health care should be carried out according to the thinking of people. Being culturally acceptable with philosophies of people, traditional healing can be an invaluable means for innovative rehabilitation health care. Attention to the needs of minority groups, for example, people with disabilities and ethnic minorities, is essential. This thesis sets out a new and innovative rehabilitation model of Individual-Rehabilitation-Society for the use of traditional healing in developing rehabilitation processes. The new model is conceptualized in general systems theory and a basic needs approach. "Think globally and act locally" is the key phrase for health care and development. The contributions of traditional healing and rehabilitation toward development are also discussed.Item Constructions of health, weight and bodily appearance among Indo-Fijian women across three generations : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Psychology at Massey University(Massey University, 2014) Nath, NamrataDiscursive constructions of a 'thin ideal' body shape today have often associated the slender body to the idea of a 'healthy weight' and physical beauty. While idealised notions of the feminine figure have trended from the curvaceous body to the thin ideal within western societies, for women from non-western cultures living in a western milieu, research in this area is limited. Culturally derived understandings about health, weight and bodily appearances affects the ways in which women construct idealised notions of body shape. This thesis explored constructions of health, weight and bodily appearances among Indo-Fijian women across three generations. Six focus group discussions were held with a total of 24 women spanning three generations, where four women participated in each group. Focus group discussions were taped, transcribed and analysed based on the principles of Foucauldian discourse analysis. The analysis revealed that idealised notions of health, weight and bodily appearances were constituted as representations of the body as healthy and feminine among lndo-Fijian women across all three generations. The body as healthy was understood in terms of eating practices and physical activity. Eating practices were further negotiated as notions of diet, illness and weight, and in turn shaped the way in which women across three generations constructed the body as healthy. The body as feminine was understood as a way of exercising femininity and, discussed within understandings of physical appearance and slenderness. Across each generation, women discussed ideas about idealised notions of the body shape in culturally specific ways. Therefore, all participants drew on particular cultural and social practices of negotiating health, weight and bodily appearances as Indo-Fijian women living in New Zealand. It is concluded that the construction of societal idealised notions of body shape is not static, but rather contingent upon the context in which women live; therefore shaped and reshaped within interactions with dominant discourses of health, biomedicine and culture to construct idealised notions of the feminine body shape.
