Search

Kaupapa Maori early years provision (KM-EYP) is recognised as a cornerstone of community efforts to revitalise Maori language and culture. Surprisingly, little is known about how KM-EYP influences the lives of whanau who have engaged. Parents/grandparents (N=91) of tamariki who had attended a Taranaki-based centre (between 1994 and 2017) completed a survey designed to measure 20 aspects of whanau lives, which collectively align with an ao Maori view of wellbeing. Most participants agreed that their children's learning, Maori identity and cultural capacity had been strengthened, as had their own capabilities. Comparisons between the year after exiting the Centre and the time of the survey (2019/2020) demonstrated sustained or increasing benefits, with the exception of relationships with other Centre whanau and the reo Maori capacity of tamariki. Our findings contribute to what is known about how whanau can benefit from engagement in KM-EYP. Keywords: Indigenous psychology, Kaupapa Maori early years provision, Wellbeing, Survey, Education, Whanau, INTRODUCTION E tatari atu ana kia aroaro mahana, ka taka mai te ahuru, koia. The warmth of spring is eagerly awaited, a joyful time of new growth and industry. This [...]

This is the first of two papers describing the creation of measurement tools for four Maori constructs of positive child behaviour - tuakiri (secure local Maori identity); whanauranga (acting as a member of a whanau); manawaroa (persisting despite difficulty); and piripono (having integrity, commitment and responsibility). This paper describes the psychometric properties of these new measures. Parents and teachers completed questionnaires on 28 children aged 0-5 years five times over 10 months in a Maori-medium early years setting, and video observations were made. Ratings of the videos showed good inter-rater reliability. All questionnaire measures had good internal consistency. Associations of questionnaires with rated observations varied at some timepoints suggesting a need to include both in ongoing research. This study provides initial evidence about reliability of our novel Maori measurement tools for assessment of preschool Maori children. Keywords: Maori Indigenous psychology, Maori constructs, Maori child behaviour measures, Maori child development, reliability, validity, Introduction In Aotearoa, a number of measurement tools are used to assess and evaluate young children's development and behaviour. These assessments are commonly carried out by psychologists in research or [...]

Supporting positive early childhood development is important for both short and long-term outcomes. This paper is the second of two papers examining the measurement of four Maori constructs underpinning positive child behaviours--tuakiri (secure local Maori identity); whanauranga (acting as a member of a whanau); manawaroa (persisting despite difficulty); and piripono (having integrity, commitment and responsibility). Here, we describe changes in measures of these constructs over a 10 month period. Whanau (families) and kaitiaki (teachers) completed questionnaires and video observations were made of 28 Maori children aged 0-5 years. Growth curve analysis revealed significant positive change in each construct across five timepoints, even controlling for age differences. These findings provide proof-of-concept that our novel measures of the four constructs are sensitive to change in positive child behaviours among preschool Maori children. Keywords: Maori child behaviour, Maori child development, kaupapa Maori, early childhood assessment, indigenous measurement tools, growth curve models, Introduction Evidence generated over recent decades demonstrates positive effects of well-designed preschool education programmes on children's developmental and behavioural outcomes in the short-term, and on their potential life trajectories over [...]

The author discusses strands of decolonizing work needed to improve health promotion. The first strand involves supporting self-determined Indigenous health promotion, which is both an expression of Indigenous worldviews and a response to colonialism. The second strand focuses on decolonizing the Ottawa Charter-based health promotion that is primarily derived from a Western worldview.

Background: Health intervention implementation in Aotearoa New Zealand (NZ), as in many countries globally, usually varies by ethnicity. Māori (the Indigenous peoples of Aotearoa) and Pacific peoples are less likely to receive interventions than other ethnic groups, despite experiencing persistent health inequities. This study aimed to develop an equity-focused implementation framework, appropriate for the Aotearoa NZ context, to support the planning and delivery of equitable implementation pathways for health interventions, with the intention of achieving equitable outcomes for Māori, as well as people originating from the Pacific Islands. Methods: A scoping review of the literature to identify existing equity-focused implementation theories, models and frameworks was undertaken. One of these, the Equity-based framework for Implementation Research (EquIR), was selected for adaptation. The adaptation process was undertaken in collaboration with the project's Māori and consumer advisory groups and informed by the expertise of local health equity researchers and stakeholders, as well as the international implementation science literature. Results: The adapted framework's foundation is the principles of Te Tiriti o Waitangi (the written agreement between Māori rangatira (chiefs) and the British Crown), and its focus is whānau (extended family)-centred implementation that meets the health and wellbeing aspirations, priorities and needs of whānau. The implementation pathway comprises four main steps: implementation planning, pathway design, monitoring, and outcomes and evaluation, all with an equity focus. The pathway is underpinned by the core constructs of equitable implementation in Aotearoa NZ: collaborative design, anti-racism, Māori and priority population expertise, cultural safety and values-based. Additionally, the contextual factors impacting implementation, i.e. the social, economic, commercial and political determinants of health, are included. Conclusions: The framework presented in this study is the first equity-focused process-type implementation framework to be adapted for the Aotearoa NZ context. This framework is intended to support and facilitate equity-focused implementation research and health intervention implementation by mainstream health services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Māori hold unique views on the lifecourse but there has been limited Māori-led longitudinal research to date. There is a particular need for kaupapa Māori and interface longitudinal research that generates mātauranga Māori and enables Māori-initiated transformative action. In this paper, we identify key features of a Māori lifecourse framework and its application to longitudinal research at the interface of mātauranga Māori and Western science. We describe how these features are applied in the Taranaki Māori-led longitudinal research programme Te Kura Mai i Tawhiti. Māori will benefit from a regionally-focussed Māori approach to lifecourse research at the interface. This approach can be applied directly in future localised research led by Māori and other Indigenous peoples. Māori-led longitudinal research will inform effective interventions to lift Māori wellbeing and prospects throughout all stages of life and strengthen Māori contributions to wider society. Māori approaches to longitudinal research will help shape new futures for Māori and a brighter future for all peoples of Aotearoa New Zealand. Glossary of Māori words: ao Māori: Māori world; Aotearoa: Māori name for New Zealand; hāngī: an earth oven or food cooked in such an oven; hapū: subtribe (also meaning to be pregnant); iwi: tribe, people; kaitiaki: guardian (also meaning teacher); kaupapa Māori: Māori paradigm; based within a Māori worldview; Māori: indigenous peoples of Aotearoa New Zealand; mātauranga Māori: Māori knowledge; mokopuna: grandchildren; ōhākī: parting wishes before death; Pākehā: primarily referring to New Zealand Europeans; reo Māori: Māori language; tamariki: children; Tangi te Kawekaweā: study title (the call of the kawekaweā, long-tailed cuckoo, heralds spring and the opportunity for growth); Taranaki: a tribal nation and region of Aotearoa New Zealand; Te Kura mai I Tawhiti: research programme title (sacred legacy of an ancient era); tauiwi: outsider, commonly referring to non-Māori; tuakiri: identity; wānanga: forum for sharing knowledge/learning; whakapapa: genealogy; whanau: extended family. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This review outlines current debates about the sharing of research data, with a focus on relevance for Aotearoa/New Zealand. Recent years have seen increasingly frequent calls for public sharing of data from funders and publishers/journals in particular. Past research has suggested that researchers tend to agree that any detriments of data-sharing are outweighed by benefits for transparency and progress. We summarise trends across past research into perspectives of funders, publishers/journals, and researchers on data-sharing before raising three considerations. Firstly, past research on data-sharing has tended to overlook the potential implications of data-sharing for participants. We review the small body of research on participant perspectives. This research has conceptualised participants as a homogenous group without theorising how participants make sense of data-sharing. Secondly, perspectives on data-sharing vary depending on the methodology being applied, and we raise some specific considerations when data-sharing is proposed in long-term longitudinal research such as the Dunedin Study. Thirdly, Indigenous perspectives on data-sharing must be central to all research into data-sharing with any of the stakeholder groups, and we review existing research on data sovereignty in relation to data-sharing in Aotearoa/New Zealand and globally. We conclude by summarising a series of tensions between stakeholders in the data-sharing debate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In caring for Country, Indigenous Australians draw on laws, knowledge and customs that have been inherited from ancestors and ancestral beings, to ensure the continued health of lands and seas with which they have a traditional attachment or relationship. This is a reciprocal relationship, whereby land is understood to become wild/sick if not managed by its people, and in turn individuals and communities suffer without a maintained connection to Country. It is well understood by Indigenous people that if you 'look after country, country will look after you'. Indigenous knowledge systems that underpin the local care (including use and management) of Country are both unique and complex. These knowledge systems have been built through strong observational, practice-based methods that continue to be enacted and tested, and have sustained consecutive generations by adapting continually, if incrementally, to the local context over time. This paper describes a research partnership that involved the sharing and teaching of Ngan'gi Aboriginal ecological knowledge in order to reveal and promote the complex attachment of Ngan'gi language speakers of the Daly River, Australia, to water places. This engagement further led to the incremental co-development of an Indigenous seasonal calendar of aquatic resource use. The seasonal calendar emerged as an effective tool for supporting healthy Country, healthy people outcomes. It did this by facilitating the communication of resource management knowledge and connection with water-dependent ecosystems both inter-generationally within the Ngan'gi language group, as well as externally to non-Indigenous government water resource managers. The Indigenous seasonal calendar form has subsequently emerged as a tool Indigenous language groups are independently engaging with to document and communicate their own knowledge and understanding of Country, to build recognition and respect for their knowledge, and to make it accessible to future generations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes a poverty reduction approach to addressing an important determinant of health and well-being among Canada's First Nations. The Poverty Action Research Project (PARP) has its origins in the Make Poverty History Committee established by the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) in 2008. Academic members of the Committee in cooperation with the AFN subsequently applied for an action research grant to the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). The project selected five volunteer First Nations from different parts of Canada, hiring a coordinator in each, undertaking background research, developing a profile and working with First Nation representatives in the development of a strategy to address upstream determinants of health and well-being. Subsequently, project team members within each region assisted where needed with plan implementation, supporting some initiatives with small grants. This paper provides insights from the project in several key areas, including First Nation rejection of the concept of poverty as usually defined, the importance of taking action to strengthen collectivities as well as individuals, the feasibility of assisting First Nations who are at different points in their development journey, the strengths of the leadership within the First Nations, and finding the appropriate balance between the elected and business leadership. These insights emerged from dialogue and reflection among project team members and community participants over the life of the project. We also describe what we have learned about how to engage effectively and with mutual respect with First Nations in this kind of project. The paper concludes with a review of our experiences with the policies and practices of the national research granting councils and the universities, which have not fully adjusted to the requirements of action research involving First Nations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While land is a nexus for culture, identity, governance, and health, as a concept land is rarely addressed in conversations and policy decisions about Indigenous health and well-being. Indigenous food sovereignty, a concept which embodies Indigenous peoples' ability to control their food systems, including markets, production modes, cultures and environments, has received little attention as a framework to approach Indigenous health especially for Indigenous people living in urban spaces. Instead, discussions about Indigenous food sovereignty have largely focused on global and remote and rural communities. Addressing this gap in the literature, this article presents exploratory work conducted with Waasegiizhig Nanaandawe'iyewigamig and Shkagamik-Kwe Health Centre, two Indigenous-led Aboriginal Health Access Centres in urban service centers located in Northern Ontario, Canada. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For Māori in Aotearoa New Zealand, land is not only an economic foundation but an anchor for tribal identity and a spiritual base. The forced alienation of Māori land since the 1800s, due to colonisation, has distanced communities from a direct relationship with their lands. There is little published research on Māori community gardens (māra) and their potential to reconnect Māori with ancestral lands. This study explores the motivations for developing māra and examines the role of māra in Māori health promotion. The paper describes findings from kaupapa Māori research that involved interviews with seven leaders of māra initiatives. Our findings suggest that the development of māra is motivated by a desire to empower Māori collectives towards a vision of vital communities thriving as Māori. Māra provide a rich site for community development grounded in a cultural connection to ancestral land. The utilization of ancestral lands enables groups to draw on a deep sense of shared identity that is rooted in those lands and fosters an intergenerational orientation. Māra offer activity linked with ancestral knowledge, customary practices and tribal connection. They provide opportunities to practice Māori language and cultural processes in functional everyday ways, and thereby strengthen a sense of commitment to protect cultural heritage as a resource for community life. Importantly, hands-on collective activity with shared decision-making, which is characteristic of māra, fosters social cohesion and collective efficacy. Overall our findings indicate that māra are land-centred community development initiatives that fit within the parameters of Māori health promotion and have much potential to contribute to achievement of Māori health promotion outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This commentary explores the relationships between land, knowledge, and health for Indigenous peoples. Indigenous knowledge is fundamentally relational, linked to the land, language and the intergenerational transmission of songs, ceremonies, protocols, and ways of life. Colonialism violently disrupted relational ways, criminalizing cultural practices, restricting freedom of movement, forcing relocation, removing children from families, dismantling relational worldviews, and marginalizing Indigenous lives. However, Indigenous peoples have never been passive in the face of colonialism. Now more than ever, Indigenous knowledge in three critical areas-food and water security, climate change, and health-is needed for self-determination and collective survival in a rapidly changing world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research explores and supports the importance of Indigenous cultural knowledge and practices as guiding factors in understanding the agency and actions of Indigenous youth in seeking justice while journeying across the land. The article examines the work of Indigenous scholars and the significance of Indigenous knowledge in connecting to the land and natural environment, thus contributing to 'being alive well'. An example from Indigenous youth-focused research is highlighted to hear from the youth about the importance of being on ancestral land, journeying with peers and more importantly (re)gaining a sense of well-being and health through culture-based activism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prior to western arrival in 1778, Native Hawaiians possessed a sophisticated culture and resource management system conducive to an island ecosystem. However, disenfranchisement from ancestral lands and traditional food sources as a result of colonization led to Native Hawaiians being forced to abandon many of their traditional practices. Today, many Native Hawaiians experience food insecurity, placing them at further risk for obesity and other nutrition-related chronic diseases. Consequently, there is a growing need for place-based and culturally relevant strategies rooted in Hawaiian epistemology to address these issues. This paper describes the history and development of one such intervention - the MALAMA study - in the community of Waimānalo that innovatively merges the modern technology of aquaponics with traditional Native Hawaiian practices and values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change poses a serious threat to the health and well-being of Indigenous peoples around the world. Despite living in diverse contexts, Indigenous peoples face a number of common challenges. Disproportionate threats from climate change exist due to a range of factors including unique relationships with the natural environment, socioeconomic deprivation, a greater existing burden of disease, poorer access to and quality of health care, and political marginalization. Responses to climate change at global, national, and local levels also threaten Indigenous people's rights. While climate action presents many opportunities to improve health and reduce inequities, there is also significant potential for climate mitigation and adaptation policies to inflict harm on Indigenous peoples. An important aspect of this is the impact on traditional lands, which are acknowledged as a fundamental determinant of Indigenous health and well-being. This article seeks to elucidate the relationships between climate change and Indigenous health and to inform health promotion solutions to achieve climate justice for Indigenous peoples. The underpinning analysis is founded on a Kaupapa Māori positioning, which seeks transformative change and involves critiquing Western knowledges and structures that undermine Indigenous rights. A central theme is that anthropogenic climate change is intimately connected to the ideologies, systems and practices of colonialism, and that the impacts on Indigenous peoples can be conceptualized as an intensification of the process of colonization. It is not possible to understand and address climate-related health impacts for Indigenous peoples without examining this broader context of colonial oppression, marginalization and dispossession. The challenge for health promotion is to engage in a process of decolonization. This involves deconstructing its own systems and practices to avoid reinforcing colonialism and perpetuating inequities. It also requires health promotion practitioners to support Indigenous self-determination and recognize Indigenous knowledges as a critical foundation for climate change and health solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Connections and belonging to ancestral lands are strongly and consistently argued as fundamental to Māori education, health and wellbeing. When our connections with and access to health-promoting places of belonging are damaged, we lose more than component parts of wellbeing. An entire cultural infrastructure integral to identity, community, spirituality, sustainability and even material sustenance is eroded, compromising health, wellbeing and vitality. Young people in rural areas are often seen as missing out on the amenities and attractions available in cities, but are assumed to have compensatory access to and positive relationships with 'nature'. For multiple reasons, many arising from colonial legacies, this is often not so for young Māori and there are initiatives underway that seek to reconnect them with customary environments. Place-based learning approaches that use local environments and ecosystems as living laboratories, reimagining the way students engage with knowledge, science and understandings of the natural world can be valuable in this respect. Te Rārawa Noho Taiao projects in the Far North of Aotearoa have been operating for nearly a decade, using indigenous pedagogy that promotes Māori science, science leadership, and learning, applying them in ways that produce a range of health and wellbeing benefits. These include enhanced educational engagement, strengthened capabilities, increased participation/belonging, stronger connections, constructive peer processes and positive intergenerational interactions, all based in Māori values and praxis. Such elements are widely recognised in health-promoting frameworks as highly implicated in the creation and maintenance of health and wellbeing for individuals, communities and populations. In this paper, we use interviews with organisers and teachers of these Noho Taiao and a survey of student participants, to explore the educational and health promotion effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Indigenous learning traditionally comes from the land. Akiikaa ('it is the land' in Algonkian) is designed to assist graduate students in thinking beyond the classroom and understanding the elements of life as known by Indigenous people to live a healthy life. Akiikaa will provide graduate students (both Indigenous and non-Indigenous) with opportunities to learn about Indigenous ways of knowing. They will learn from an instructor, Elders and their peers about how the land is an instrumental part of all aspects of Indigenous life including health and well-being. One of the goals of the Master of Public Health in Indigenous Health program (at the University of Toronto) and the land-based experiences is to shift the thinking away from humans being the dominating force on Mother Earth to equality amongst all aspects of life. Graduate students are introduced to 'personhood' rights for plants, animals, water, and air, which is a shift from the current World Health Organization's view of public health that builds upon a population health approach but neglects the elements that surround humans as necessary for living a healthy life. It has been suggested that Indigenous land-based education acts as a method of decolonization through reclamation of Indigenous ideology and use of land. Land and land experience are highly prized by Indigenous people around the world as cultures and languages are based on the interaction of people with nature/land. This move to delivering the curriculum in the natural environment using Indigenous knowledges as its pedagogy is anticipated to change attitudes about Indigenous people and issues as well as improving the health and well-being of graduate students and, over time, Indigenous peoples' health and well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Māori are the Indigenous peoples of New Zealand and comprise around 15% of the total population. This paper reviews literature on antenatal care and care during labour and delivery for Māori, along with Māori experiences, with particular reference to access and knowledge gaps. It also considers the links between access to care and health outcomes for Māori babies from a life course perspective. The maternity care needs of Māori women are much greater than for non-Māori women and inequalities in birth outcomes between Māori and non-Māori persist. This is in part a reflection of higher prevalence of maternal risk factors. Māori mothers are more likely to have babies at a very young age, have high risk pregnancies, smoke during pregnancy, have health problems such as diabetes during their pregnancies, and be of low socioeconomic status. The situation is further compounded by persistent ethnic inequalities in Māori experiences of and access to maternity services. Despite their high relative needs, Māori women are less likely to receive antenatal education classes and have fewer cumulative antenatal visits than non-Māori women. Māori women have reported lower levels of satisfaction with their antenatal, labour, and birth care and inequities in access to obstetric care as well. Certain key barriers to adequate antenatal care and/ or care during labour and delivery have been identified among Māori women, including access to information to make informed choices, insufficient numbers of independent practicing Māori midwives, inadequate access to culturally responsive care including whānau-centred services, and cost barriers. Evidence from international studies indicates that multiple conventionally recognized maternal risk factors, even when considered in combination, do not account for the full extent of ethnic disparities in birth outcomes. It has been proposed that the determinants of ethnic inequalities in birth outcomes are multifactorial and accumulate over the life course of the mother. The implication is that poor access to antenatal care and care during labour and delivery may be only one of a number of important factors that contribute to inequalities in birth outcomes for Māori. In addition, there is strong evidence that adverse birth outcomes, in particular low birthweight, affect a baby's health outcomes in later life. For example, there is much evidence demonstrating the association between low birthweight and hypertension, diabetes, and coronary heart disease in adulthood. Important knowledge gaps in this field include understanding the extent, underlying contributing factors, and ways to address ethnic inequalities in receipt of antenatal, labour, and delivery care. Research is also required to understand the causes of inequalities in birth outcomes for Māori, and what constitutes optimal antenatal care for Māori from a life course perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]