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Communication and literacy development of young children is shaped by the nature of social and cultural relationships in everyday situations. Few studies, however, have explored early story experiences encountered by infants and toddlers in naturalistic settings. We argue that personal stories about everyday lived experiences are a vital context for considering how toddlers develop communicative competencies as they participate in these stories within their families and communities. The paper presents selected findings from a qualitative study underpinned by a broad theoretical view of story embedded in a sociocultural, participatory framework. We contend that stories are collaborative, social endeavours in which intersubjectivity is accomplished collectively and multimodally. Evidence is offered of the communicative process enacted by 1-year-old Lexie, her parent, teacher and peers, as they shared meaning together in a personal story about eating lunch. Lexie and her family were participants in a wider study of the story experiences of 1-year-old toddlers, within and across their family home and early childhood settings, in a culturally diverse community of Aotearoa New Zealand. Drawing on multimodal ethnography and video data, findings illustrate how Lexie and her family, teacher and peers actively participated together in the weaving of a shared personal story using verbal, visual and kinaesthetic forms of communication. The study contributes to the field of early childhood literacy by providing unique insights into the potential of everyday personal stories as a valuable context for exploring ways children's communicative competencies are developed through relationships in family and community settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The following research paper seeks to explore how post-occupancy evaluations (POEs) are undertaken in the nine health jurisdictions across Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand and investigate if the process can be strengthened to better inform healthcare design and investment. Background: Healthcare expenditure in both nations is increasing, and the rigorous evaluation of healthcare facilities can provide evidence to improve their return on investment. A POE is a research method used to undertake this analysis, usually 12 months after a facility has been occupied. There is limited information available about how POEs are undertaken in each jurisdiction, and there has never been research conducted to understand these processes across the region. Methods: Focus groups were conducted with participants from the government health organization in each jurisdiction to collect qualitative data regarding various aspects of POE processes and barriers to undertaking POEs. Results: Only five of the nine jurisdictions undertake POEs on healthcare facilities (with varied frequencies), and there is no standardized framework in use. However, every jurisdiction does undertake a "benefits realization" process. There is limited involvement of external consultants in POEs or benefits realization processes. POE benchmarks should be established at project commencement, and POE results should then inform future projects. Top-down support is required for POEs to occur. Conclusions: The primary conclusion is that strengthening any evaluation process requires a nuanced approach in each jurisdiction to account for their unique context and challenges. Regular rigorous evaluations are required to feed results into the Australasian Health Facility Guidelines and encourage innovative facility design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

COVID-19 pandemic significantly impacted research regarding data collection methods during lockdowns and border closures. Consequently, online methods have become the present-day benchmark. This article shares our experiences adapting to COVID-19 while conducting focus groups and online interviews. Guided by the Samoan methodology Teu le va that recognises the special relationships between people from a Samoan context and the Talanoa method of storytelling of the Pacific people, we provide insights concerning the practical and cultural challenges of collecting data during lockdowns that strengthened the continuation and completion of the project. We demonstrate the importance of flexibility in the research design regarding apprehension, health, and research in New Zealand. We highlight the value of a multifaceted approach to recruiting participants, incorporating the services of Pacific leaders, and utilising telephone calls and letter writing for participants without digital access. Furthermore, we reveal an unexpected side-effect of COVID-19 regarding the 'Pacific digital divide.' The paper concludes with several avenues for future research on redesigning data collection methods during COVID-19. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Research designed to increase knowledge about Māori with bipolar disorder is required to understand how health services support wellbeing and respond to identified levels of community need. This paper synthesises the expert critique of Māori patients with bipolar disorder and their whānau regarding the nuances of cultural competence and safety in clinical encounters with the health system. Methods: A qualitative Kaupapa Māori Research methodology was used. A total of 24 semi-structured interviews were completed with Māori patients with bipolar disorder and members of their whānau. Structural, descriptive and pattern coding was completed using an adapted cultural competence framework to organise and analyse the data. Results: Three themes were evident from participants' critique of clinical components of the health system. Theme 1 established that the efficacy of clinical care for bipolar disorder was dependent on Māori patients and whānau having clear pathways through care, and being able to access timely, consistent care from clinically and culturally competent staff. Theme 2 identified the influence of clinical culture in bipolar disorder services, embedded into care settings, expressed by staff, affecting the safety of clinical care for Māori. Theme 3 focused on the need for bipolar disorder services to prioritise clinical work with whānau, equip staff with skills to facilitate engagement and tailor care with resources to enhance whānau as well as patient wellbeing. Conclusion: The standard of clinical care for Māori with bipolar disorder in New Zealand does not align with practice guidelines, Māori models of health or clinical frameworks designed to inform treatment and address systemic barriers to equity. Research also needs to explore the role of structural and organisational features of the health system on Māori patient and whānau experiences of care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In many countries, an increasing proportion of deaths occur in residential aged care (RAC) (nursing homes) meaning that these have become both a place to live - a home- and a place to die. This paper reports on death practices and rituals in 49 RAC facilities in Aotearoa/New Zealand narrated in semi-structured interviews with staff. Themes coalesced around 'good death'. Dying alone was not seen as a good death and the demands of trying to prevent this caused tension for staff. Meeting family wishes, post death decision-making, after death practices and rituals, including communicating and remembrance of the death, were explored as part of good death. Overall, death rituals in RAC were limited. Balancing the needs of the living, the dying and the dead created tension. The rituals and practices facilities are currently enacting in death/post-death require attention, since more people will die in RAC with increasingly diverse needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a description of a specific Indigenous research methodology, Kaupapa Māori Research (KMR), followed by a discussion of the potential contribution that KMR and other Indigenous frameworks make toward understanding and addressing widespread mental health inequities affecting the world's Indigenous peoples. The contribution of existing qualitative KMR to the fields of health and mental health in New Zealand is discussed, and innovative approaches employed within these studies will be outlined. This paper describes the utility of KMR methodology which informed the development of qualitative interviews and the adaptation of an analytic framework used to explore the impact of systems on the experiences of Māori (the Indigenous peoples of New Zealand) with bipolar disorder (BD). This paper adds to others published in this journal that describe the value, inherent innovation, and transformative potential of KMR methodologies to inform future qualitative research with Indigenous peoples and to enact systemic change. Transformation is achieved by privileging the voices of Māori describing their experiences of mental health systems; presenting their expert critique to those responsible for the design and delivery of mental health services; and ensuring equal weight is given to exploring the clinical, structural and organizational changes required to achieve health equity. It is proposed that this approach to research praxis is required to ensure that studies do not perpetuate institutional racism, which requires close adherence to Indigenous research priorities and partnership with Indigenous peoples in all steps of the research process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents results from a study in Aotearoa New Zealand 1 which explored the ideas of social work practitioners on public perceptions of social work and how to improve them. This qualitative research was part of a Master's project for two of the authors and followed on from two previous quantitative studies on this topic in Aotearoa. In-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 social work practitioners. Thematic analysis was used to create themes concerning what the perceived public perception was, what contributed to it, and how to improve it. The findings have implications for being better able to understand factors that contribute to the public perception of social work so that it may be improved, for increasing the public's understanding of social work, and for recruitment of students into the profession. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Repeat Question Diary method involves research participants audio-recording many answers to a single question. This article investigates some of the features of the method that are relevant to the study of mobile practices. Particularly, the method encourages participant reflection and the paper argues that this can facilitate the study of mobile practices through enabling participants to notice and analyse previously taken-for-granted, pre-conscious, or corporeal aspects of their practices. The paper also explores the use of audio-recording in diary research and argues that audio-diaries can facilitate participant expression, particularly of emotions, and can avoid the stifling effects of self-editing in written diaries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Cerebral visual impairment (CVI) typically affects children's overall functioning in visually cluttered environments. This study aims to consider whether the removal of classroom clutter ameliorates visual problems and the associated behavioral difficulties for these children. Methods: Two classrooms at a special school were de-cluttered. Changes included: covering glass panels with thick black paper; hanging sheets over open shelving; creating areas of blank wall in front of the student to focus attention on work; removing unnecessary equipment and furniture; and taking down information on windows and walls, and that hanging from ceilings. Teachers, paraeducators, and students worked in these classrooms for two weeks, following typical daily routines. Observations by teachers and paraeducators of students' behavior and learning experiences before and after de-cluttering were sought through interviews. Findings: The perspectives of the teachers and paraeducators were that de-cluttering had a positive effect on the students' learning experiences and behavior and also on their own functioning. They also considered the fact that creation of learning spaces lined with black paper resulted in greater attention and focus, but that students continued to be distracted by the noise and movement of others. Discussion: The potential link between cluttered classrooms and students' functioning and behavior indicates that visual clutter may amplify the visual difficulties associated with CVI and distract the students from learning activities, and is in line with current literature. Changes to classroom layouts that include specific areas for different learning activities, including "black hubs," may therefore benefit students with CVI. Implications for practitioners: This pilot study suggests that the elimination of classroom clutter and the creation of black hub learning spaces enhances functioning and merits further investigation. A study that compares specific behaviors and performances, before and after implementation of de-cluttering strategies, might also determine whether the positive effects described by the teachers can be further corroborated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article draws on the findings of the qualitative phase of a New Zealand longitudinal study on vulnerable young people’s transitions to adulthood. The young people were aged between 12 and 17 years at the time of the first interview. The paper focuses on one key finding, how youth enact agency through their relationships with significant others: families, social workers, teachers and care workers. These youth had experienced sustained exposure to harm including abuse, violence, addictions, disengagement from school and mental health issues. The qualitative interviews focused on young people’s experiences with services (child welfare, juvenile justice, mental health and education support services) their key transitions, and the strategies they used to locate support and resources. The thematic analysis of the interviews indicated that a search for agency was a central motif in young people’s experiences. This was reflected in three thematic clusters: making sense of the world, having a voice and acting on the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper incorporates peer researchers from refugee backgrounds to deconstruct their experiences of conducting interviews and focus groups with refugee communities in a post-disaster environment in the Canterbury region of New Zealand. The associated dynamics illustrate the contextual intricacies of recruitment, building relationships, the politics of interpreting and engaging with people’s lived experiences in respectful and safe ways. The peer researchers’ experiences highlight several methodological and ethical complexities to critically examine the role of ‘insiders’ and ‘outsiders’ as a continuum when working in post-disaster contexts with culturally and linguistically diverse populations. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]