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Item Leveraging the Samoan Mental Health Policy for Policy Development in Niue(Massey University, 2019) Corcoran, Dale; Stewart-Withers, RochelleMental health is a prevalent, but often ignored area of health. Mental illness can significantly impact the mentally unwell, their families, and the wider community, yet access to proper care can be hindered by availability, ignorance, discrimination, and stigma, and result in human rights violations. This is especially true in developing countries where services may be inadequate or non-existent. Mental health policies can alleviate this situation by improving and prioritising mental health services at a national level. Based on Samoa and Niue’s similarities in terms of their mental health context and the positive analysis and evaluation of the 2006 Samoan policy, this paper concludes that the work done in Samoa is a viable choice for Niue to leverage in their future policy work. Niue would benefit from developing their mental health policy based on the precepts of South-to-South Cooperation by collaborating and sharing knowledge with their neighbour Samoa.Item Between a rock and a hard place : analysing and evaluating the Samoan Mental Health Policy for its applicability to policy development in Niue : a research report presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Masters of International Development at Massey University, New Zealand(Massey University, 2017) Corcoran, DaleMental health is a prevalent, but often ignored area of health. Mental disorders can significantly impact the mentally ill, their families, and the wider community. Access to proper care and treatment for the mentally ill can be hindered by availability, ignorance, discrimination, and stigma, and can result in human rights violations. This is especially true in developing countries where services may be inadequate or non-existent. National mental health policies can help this situation by improving and prioritising mental health services in terms of finance, legislation, advocacy, human rights, mental health training, and service delivery. In 2001 the WHO launched Project Policy to support this effort. Sixteen years later, Niue has yet to formally begin the process of developing their national policy, while their neighbour Samoa, has had a policy in place since 2006. This research project seeks to determine if and how the Samoan mental health policy should be leveraged for Niue’s future policy development. This desk-based research has been completed through a critical literature review that includes government documents, WHO publications and policy guidelines, Pacific Island Mental Health Network reports, academic literature, and mental health and rights-based organisational websites. This research is accomplished in several steps: critically analysing the WHO mental health policy guidelines that have been chosen as the framework for this report, detailing regional mental health considerations with a focus on Niue and Samoa, and evaluating and analysing the Samoan policy using the WHO framework. The findings from this allows for a discussion of strategies for Niue to best leverage Samoa’s policy. This research concludes, based on Samoa and Niue’s cultural connections, their similarities in terms of mental health challenges and capacities, as well as the positive findings from the analysis and evaluation of the Samoan policy, that the Samoan policy is an excellent choice for Niue to leverage in their future policy work. While noting areas for improvement concerning finance and human rights, the remaining contents of the Samoan policy strongly align with the requirements and depth of information required by the WHO framework. Going forward, Niue would benefit from developing their mental health policy based on the precepts of South-to-South Cooperation by collaborating and sharing knowledge with their experienced neighbour Samoa.Item Perinatal mental health policy : young women's mental health support during pregnancy : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Philosophy in Social Policy at Massey University(Massey University, 2008) Parsons, Jane ElizabethA woman's reproductive period is when she is most likely to suffer mental ill-health with this risk increased for young women. Mental ill-health in the perinatal period is identified as common but with significant implications for the young women and her family (Dearman et al., 2007; Petrillo et al., 2005; Riecher-RÖssler & Steiner, 2005). From as early as a few weeks post conception, the foetal brain is found to be affected by maternal stress and mental ill-health. This continues to affect the infant postnatally and is exacerbated if maternal mental ill-health is not treated. Young women are more likely to experience impediments to their wellbeing in the perinatal period. Thus, introduction of suitable formal support perinatally can have a prophylactic effect on maternal and infant mental illness. Through feminist research methods, utilising semi-structured qualitative interviews, four pregnant women thirty years and under in the perinatal stage of pregnancy and four health professionals working in the field of maternal mental health explore with the researcher their experiences of mental health support and education during pregnancy. This research demonstrates how services are currently unable to appropriately meet the needs of young pregnant women due to lack of attention to gender and youth issues and the dominance of a medical model understanding that has allowed this negation through minimising holistic, contextual treatment. The gendered construction of health services and recent market principles in state provisions are evidenced by the compartmentalisation of services, lack of collaboration between these services, competition for resources, and rigidly defined roles of health professionals that present access barriers for young pregnant women. A need to enhance formal supports and create policy frameworks and practice guidelines to direct this support is identified alongside recommendations for increased service provision, education, and screening at the primary healthcare level.