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    Understanding the role of spirituality during COVID-19: A cross-cultural qualitative analysis
    (Taylor and Francis Group, 2024-08-01) Waila K; Lindsay N
    The novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in 2019 brought widespread disruptions to normal daily functioning. The current qualitative phenomenological study explored the role of spirituality during the pandemic across two divergent cultural contexts; India and New Zealand. Inductive thematic analysis of results revealed that spirituality was found to entail a range of convergent health and wellbeing effects that were categorised into four major themes; hope, meaning amidst chaos, strengthened mental fortitude, and inner transformation. Overall, spirituality provided individuals a range of tools to navigate the crisis, building individual resilience and providing courage to face the pandemic’s most difficult challenges. Moreover, the inner-transformative effects of spirituality fostered significant post-traumatic growth above and beyond the immediate impacts of the event, providing evidence for the therapeutic potential inherent within spirituality.
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    From Hinengaro to Hineora: Tracing the origins of Intergenerational Trauma to attain Intergenerational Healing
    (Elsevier Inc., 2024-09-13) Haami D; Tassell-Matamua N; Pomare P; Lindsay N
    In Aotearoa New Zealand, colonisation continues to impact Indigenous Māori lived realities. However, Māori have been steadily progressing towards reclamation of all that was suppressed during colonisation, including tūpuna (ancestor) understandings of trauma and healing, of which wairua (referring to spirit) is at the centre. My research aimed to understand the role of wairua in the intergenerational transmission of trauma and healing through exploring my own lived experiences of trauma and healing. My methodology was developed based on tūpuna knowledge, resulting in the implementation of a Rongo-ā-Wairua Framework, a Whakapapa Methodological Approach, Whakapapa Wānanga and Te Pūtake: An Origin Analysis. Through this application of tūpuna knowledge and the centring of wairua within the research process, I uncovered the origins of the soul wounds I had inherited, enabling me to transform from Hinengaro, The Obscured Daughter into who I am now – Hineora, The Daughter of Healing.
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    The influence of spirituality on social work teaching, practice, and public well-being : an Aotearoa New Zealand research project : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Social Work at Massey University, Albany, Aotearoa New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2023) Muhammed Shafi, Hairunnisa
    Over the past two decades, social work education has witnessed positive attitudes from teachers and practitioners towards including spirituality in social work education and practice. Several studies highlighted that spirituality increased the coping of individuals suffering from mental health issues, which expanded the scope of integrating spirituality into the social work profession. Social work teachers’ and practitioners’ spirituality guides their practice behaviours related to the inclusion of spiritual components into social work education programmes and social work practice. However, few qualitative studies have investigated the influence of spirituality on teaching and practice internationally and in Aotearoa New Zealand. Therefore, this study was designed to explore the influence of spirituality on social work teachers, practitioners, and the public and determine how this can be utilised in social work education and practice. This study had five objectives. The first objective was to explore social work teachers’, practitioners’ and the public’s understanding of spirituality. As social work teachers are accountable for teaching their students how to address clients’ diverse religious and spiritual beliefs, addressing students’ beliefs and consequent actions is a significant teaching task and an important requirement for social work teachers and practitioners to achieve cultural competence. Thus, both social work teachers and practitioners need to examine their own beliefs and how these beliefs influence the way they address spirituality in either social work teaching or social work practice. Therefore, the second and third objectives of the study focused on exploring social work teachers’ and practitioners’ experiences and perceptions of the influence of spirituality on social work teachings and practice. As there are relatively few studies around spirituality and social work regarding clients’ perceptions, the fourth objective was to explore the public perspective of the influence of spirituality in their lives and their views about incorporating it into social work practice. The final objective of this study was to develop a conceptual framework that addresses spirituality in social work education and practice in a way that respects diverse spiritual views. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with ten social work teachers, six social work practitioners and nine members of the public and the data were analysed using grounded theory methods. Findings indicated that social work teachers, practitioners, and members of the public constructed meaning and purpose in unique ways, and their experiences of spirituality also vary. The experience of spirituality for social work teachers and practitioners included awareness of having a personal relationship with God, nature, social work, and family. Public participants showed religious and spiritual pluralism and diverse beliefs about the meaning and purpose of their lives, including self-improvement, listening to people, being creative and holding aspirations. This study suggests that a critical examination of the spiritual beliefs of social work teachers and practitioners is essential to include spirituality in teaching and practice effectively. A conceptual framework for addressing spirituality in social work education and practice was developed considering findings obtained from social work teachers, practitioners, and members of the public.  
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    Ko wai, ko wairua : narratives of wairua and wellbeing : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Clinical Psychology at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2022) Brittain, Eleanor
    Wairua is a fundamental, boundless, and connective aspect of Māori ways of being and the significance of wairua to wellbeing is reiterated in foundational models of health. The research sought to understand Māori narratives and meaning-making of wairua pertaining to experiences of mental distress, healing, and recovery. This entailed developing a Kaupapa Māori narrative approach, to embed the research within Māori worldviews, to draw from mātauranga, and to amplify the relevance and meaningfulness of the research processes and outcomes. Kaupapa Māori theory was the interpretive framework, determining and shaping the research foundations, narrative inquiry informed the methodology, and the research processes mirrored Māori rituals and ways of engaging. Recruitment occurred through Māori networks and used a snowball approach. Twelve Māori adults, who at some time experienced mental distress or accessed mental health services, took part in one-on-one interviews. Narrative interpretations were undertaken at an individual level and as a collection of narratives. The overarching narrative interpretation is laid out in three components, arranged around salient and meaningful metaphors. Firstly, ‘Te pō, te ao mārama’, darkness and light, emerged from the narratives as a metaphor for experiences and temporal phases. Secondly, ‘Aro atu, aro mai’ figuratively conveys a continuum of distance and closeness; it is used to illustrate and represent the qualities of the relationship with wairua. Thirdly, ‘Ko wai, nā wai’ draws on the recurrent narrative imagery of water, as a metaphor for the contextual nature of identity, focusing on the significance of Māori identity and relationships with others. Narratives of wairua entailed a retelling of experiences as Māori. Distress and despair were inevitably experiences of wairua and characteristic to healing and recovery was enriching wairua. Moreover, healing and recovery were inherently relational and enhanced through connections with whānau and collectives.
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    Wairua, affect and national commemoration days : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Public Health at Massey University, Albany, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2022) Gunn, Te Raina
    Wairua, a Māori (indigenous peoples of Aotearoa New Zealand) concept, somewhat restrictively translated as spirit or spirituality, resonates with many indigenous peoples globally. While spirit is recognised as an important human dimension, the denigration of non-western spiritual understandings means that indigenous peoples often choose to remain silent. Transferring these concerns to research approaches, we edit our voices, with a view to what we think will count as knowledge and what we choose to share with academic audiences. The aim of my study is to explore wairua and investigate how wairua might provide an analytical approach to understanding emotions and feelings evoked by Waitangi Day and Anzac Day. This project sits within a major research programme “Wairua, Affect and National Days” funded by the Marsden Fund of the Royal Society. The overall objective of the wider project was to explore wairua and the affective politics evoked as people relate, engage and grapple with observance and charged acts of remembrance around national days in Aotearoa New Zealand. Drawing on literature, qualitative in-depth interviews and haerenga kitea, an audio-visual method recording people’s experiences of national days, I arrived at several overlapping domains that provided a starting point for the development of A Wairua Approach (AWA) to research. The literature revealed wairua as a topic that appears in diverse sources but is rarely investigated in its own right; while wairua is acknowledged as central to Māori experience, and ‘in everything’, it is rarely engaged with explicitly in research. People understand and experience wairua in diverse ways, with wairua weaving in and out of everyday life for some people. However, for many Māori, living in a western society that has largely determined what is considered reality, such understandings are often discounted, marginalised and a source of discomfort. A wairua approach, when applied to haerenga kitea data was able to frame participant experiences within wider meanings, relating to diverse concepts such as identity and mana. Addressing wairua explicitly in research, was a challenging exercise, but one that enabled a depth of emotions and feelings to be uncovered.
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    The philosophical psychology of spiritual metamorphosis : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Philosophy in Psychology at Massey University
    (Massey University, 1977) Sands, Terry
    THE PHILOSOPHICAL PSYCHOLOGY OF SPIRITUAL METAMORPHOSIS is a treatise written in the style of narrative fiction but which traces the factual events of the opening of the awareness of one individual through his growth and the transformation of his consciousness. In content, the style of the treatise is one of case study incorporating dialogue, description, and self examination and analysis. It explores delicate areas of consciousness in a manner which is devoid for the most part of intellectual enquiry and comparison and which relies to a large extent on the direct experience of the individual for its own analysis. Chronologically, the time covered is approximately five years of the life of the writer and the description thereof is written in the third person to facilitate and afford an objective view and manner of observation. The material covered is explicit and replete with specific description of mystical experiences including conscious separation from physical body, inner conversations with persons occupying planes other than the physical, the effects of meditation and spiritual activity on the physical body and emotions, and conversations with Holy Men, and the trials of the protagonist in dealing with and relating the experiences and growth to activity in the everyday life of the world. The writer was born and educated in the United States in English Literature and Law and practiced law in private practice for six years before beginning an independent study which is the subject of the treatise. He now lives in New Zealand.
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    Understanding matakite : a Kaupapa Māori study on the impact of matakite/intuitive experiences on wellbeing : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Māori Studies at Massey University, Papa-i-ōea, Aotearoa
    (Massey University, 2014) Ngata, Ronald Spencer
    This thesis is a response to expressions of concern from within Māori communities and also from within mental health that some Māori who are diagnosed as mentally ill are actually having spiritual experiences, which in the Māori culture are called matakite (among other terms). The thesis explores this issue from a Kaupapa Māori perspective, which enables a multi-layered, culturally resonant, exploration and analysis of the health issues that arise in relation to matakite. Thus, while exploring the nature of the experience, the thesis also explores the impact of social, cultural, political, and economic factors upon the wellbeing of people experiencing matakite, and which have hindered the use of the Māori spiritual knowledge-base as a health resource. It is expected that this thesis will increase understanding of the nature of the experience and its relevance within contemporary Māori society, and therefore contribute to the reduction, and ideally elimination, of the misdiagnosis of matakite as symptomatic of a mental disorder. An exploration of the literature reveals a history of ignoring or misunderstanding experiences of a spiritual nature by mainstream Western mental health researchers, clinicians, and policy makers. However, new interest in this field is emerging, and attention has been turned to the development of bio-psycho-socio-spiritual models. Nevertheless, Western biomedical frameworks continue to dominate the discourse and practice in mental health, despite decades of calling for a more integrated approach from many health disciplines, researchers, indigenous communities, and mental health consumers. viii The study reveals new understandings about the nature of matakite experiences, which may support efforts to distinguish between matakite and pathology. Multiple factors are identified as impacting upon the wellbeing and health of people experiencing matakite. The impact of social and cultural factors, as well as the politics of mental health, upon the wellbeing of matakite are identified, and possible strategies for enhancing and protecting wellbeing around matakite experiences are discussed. To this end the study challenges the norms and structures in mainstream Western mental health and highlights how traditional Māori knowledge about matakite can be used as a resource for mental health in Aotearoa New Zealand.
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    Wairua and wellbeing : exploratory perspectives from wahine Maori : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for a Master of Science in Psychology at Massey University, Albany Campus, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2015) Ripikoi, Paulette
    There are significant health disparities between Māori (Indigenous people of New Zealand) and non-Māori in Aotearoa (New Zealand). Initiatives to address these issues include (re)connection to Te Ao Māori (Māori world view) and the integration of Māori health perspectives within the New Zealand health system. Although wairua (Māori spirituality) is recognised as being crucial to the oranga (wellbeing) of Māori, it is not very well understood and there is little research on how wairua is manifested within this context. The aim of this research was to enhance the understanding of wairua and highlight its importance to the wellbeing of Māori wāhine (Māori women). Guided by a kaupapa Māori (Māori cultural ideologies) approach, this research utilises narrative inquiry to explore the perspectives of eight wāhine Māori about what wairua means to them and their wellbeing, and how it is actualised in their daily lives in contemporary Aotearoa. These wāhine have all participated in a mana wahine (Māori feminist discourse, authority, influence, power of women) programme designed to enhance the wairua of wāhine by (re) connecting them to Te Ao Māori. Thematic analysis was employed identifying three key themes; wairua, oranga and mana wahine. Further analysis revealed that these three main themes can be understood as the connection to: Wairua, Tāngata (people), Whenua (land), Tūpuna (ancestors) and Atua (God/deities). This connection was described by the participants as vital to their wellbeing through providing a sense of belonging, strength, self-determination, support, resilience, stability, empowerment, cultural identity, self-respect, motivation, guidance, and self-efficacy. Wairua was described as a spiritual essence, an intuitive knowing, a higher power or Atua. Access to wairua was through cosmology narratives and tikanga (customs) such as karakia (prayer), karanga (ceremonial call), raranga (weaving) and waiata (singing). The purpose of this research was to explore Māori perspectives of wellbeing and enhance cultural understanding. Implications for the findings advocate (re)connection to Te Ao Māori and the integration of traditional knowledge with medical science within Māori mental health services as pathways to positive health outcomes for tāngata whaiora (Māori mental health service users). While recognising the diversity of Māori in their desire to participate in Te Ao Māori, the choice to accessing it should still be made available.
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    Can 'she' speak? : spirituality in/through psychology, feminisms, and feminist postructuralism : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University
    (Massey University, 1996) Coombes, Leigh
    In the context of women's exclusion from knowledge production and reproduction in psychology, this thesis is a reading of psychological, feminist and poststructuralist feminist texts for discursive resources that constitute spirituality. These readings informed my analysis of texts produced by 10 women. The analysis was focused on three questions: Do these texts reproduce the discourses identified in psychological, feminist or poststructuralist feminist accounts of spirituality? Are other discursive resources used, especially those which may be regarded as 'subjugated knowledges'? Do the subject positions constituted through the discourses realised in these texts, challenge the phallocentric positioning of women at this local site of accounting for 'spiritual experience'? The discursive strategies used in analysis were informed by Parker's (1992) criteria for identifying discourses. The analysis focused on whether the women reproduced the discourses identified as they articulated their experiences of spirituality. Other discourses were identified. The discursive resources identified in the texts and their possibilities of transforming phallocentrism are discussed.