Tōmaiora hosts monthly lunchtime seminars on issues relevant to
Māori health. The seminars are held on the third Tuesday of every month from 12.30–1.30, Room
220, School of Population Health Building, 261 Morrin Road, Glen Innes.
If you would like to receive emails
(flyers) advertising these seminars please contact Maylene on +64 9 373 7599 ext 82420 or email me.baker@auckland.ac.nz
Seminars 2011
- 15 March
Dr Brownwyn Federicks
Transforming Indigenous Australian Health and Wellbeing
Archaeological evidence demonstrates that Aboriginal people have been
present in Australia for at least 50,000 years. As the sovereign people,
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were living self- determining lives
and had personal autonomy over all facets of our lives including the economic,
political, social, law, spiritual and ceremonial domains and health and
well-being. British and European explorer accounts present a consistent picture
that at the time of colonisation, Aboriginal people who survived infancy were
fairly disease-free, fit and healthy. Today, Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander people in Australia have the worst health of any other identifiable
group which is directly related to the past and is intrinsically linked to the
processes of colonisation. The gap between the health statistics between
Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians is also far greater than that of other
Indigenous and non-Indigenous populations from countries such as Canada, the
United States and New Zealand. This presentation will explore some of the ways
that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are working towards improving
their health status and wellbeing. It will demonstrate Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander people’s strength and endurance and affirm the practices that
have survived and continue to be maintained and revived.
- 15 February
Dr Fiona Cram - Katoa Ltd
Researching with Whānau Collectives?
Often research on whānau constructs an understanding of whānau from the
combined data of individual members or from the information provided by a key
informant. For example whānau members might be considered related individuals
who live in the same household, with their individual characteristics adding up
to a representation of ‘whānau’. During 2009-10 we explored methods that hold
possibilities for research with whānau as a collective that may or may not be
contained within one household. The project began with five consultation hui
that highlighted the changing dynamics of whānau and the importance of
whakapapa. Researchers were then invited to contribute their knowledge about
particular methods to the research project and eleven methods have been
canvassed, including Appreciative Inquiry and Participatory Action Research.
These methods have been subjected to a Kaupapa Māori analysis and pre-tested
with whānau. The final stage of the project was a round of feedback hui to let
people know about the methods. It is hoped that this project will facilitate
research with whānau collectives and thereby contribute to policy that supports
whānau
- 18 January
Dr Lorna Dyall - Te Kupenga Hauora Māori
Reflections and Learning from Sabbatical leave- Dementia- what are the issues
involved?
Sabbatical leave is now under threat with the possibility it could be
removed from our conditions of employment. Being on sabbatical leave provides
the opportunity to reflect on one’s previous knowledge, to develop new insights
to old issues and to consider what new issues may be on the horizon. Western
countries are now all dealing with the issues of an ageing populations with
chronic health conditions. The question many individuals, families , communities
and government now ask who is responsible to care, whom should pay and what are
the opportunity costs involved. Do we need to develop an ethical framework in
new Zealand that addresses equally the needs of those who are young and those
who are in their middle and or advanced years. The seminar will be opportunity
for sharing and exchange of ideas.
Seminars 2010
- 16 November
Bettina Ikenasio-Thorpe - 19 October - Please note room
change: Function Room 730-264
Jenny Lee & Leonie Pihama
He kākano I Ruia Mai I Rangiātea: Māori Whānau Experiences of Neonatal Intensive
Care Units
The premature birth of babies is a highly stressful and tense event for
whāanau. The care of such babies is focused within hospital based Neonatal
Intensive Care Units. Anecdotal evidence indicates that Māori have high
admittances into such units and yet information from a cultural perspective is
not readily available to whānau who find themselves in this situation. This
Kaupapa Māori research investigates the experiences of Māori whānau who have had
their baby/ies admitted to Neonatal Intensive Care units in Aotearoa. The
research will focus on the kōrero of whānau Māori and will provide narratives of
their experiences as a means by which to provide insights into the needs of
whānau Māori and their premature babies within the mainstream context of
hospital neonatal intensive care units.
- 21 September
Arnell Hinkle
Policy Implementation for Health Equity in Aotearoa: Examining Healthy Eating
and Physical Activity Programs in Māori and Pasifika Communities Once sound
public policies are developed, how can they be implemented in equitable ways
that eliminate health disparities?
Unhealthy diets and physical inactivity are the leading causes of the major
non-communicable diseases, including type 2 diabetes and heart disease. New
Zealand launched the Healthy Eating, Healthy Action (HEHA) national strategy in
2003 to improve population health and decrease the incidences of
non-communicable diseases. This presentation describes the evolution and
devolution of HEHA, provides current data on Māori and Pacific health, presents
snapshots of contextual issues such as colonisation, immigration, and culture
that affect eating and physical activity, discusses the role that social
determinants of health approach can play, documents existing policy reports and
strategies that address eliminating health inequities; and concludes with a
series of observations and recommendations for improving policy implementation
practice. -
17 August
Zaneta Thayer
‘Maternal stress, race and health: Anthropological Perspectives’
Anthropologists have a long history with “race”. While the discipline was
originally founded in order to provide scientific justification for discrete
biological races, anthropologists were also among the first to later argue that
human races are socially constructed rather than biologically meaningful
categories. However the finding that health disparities exist between socially
defined racial groups means that anthropologists and other health researchers
must re-evaluate their stance on race; we must recognize that racism is real,
and that this racism can have significant impacts upon human biology. In my talk
I will discuss how and why health inequalities come to mirror social
inequalities, focusing specifically on the maternal/fetal interface. I will
propose a study to evaluate how differences in Māori women’s stress exposures
can contribute to poor birth outcomes and long term health in their offspring.
By incorporating epigenetic analyses into my research I hope to understand the
way that the social environment shapes human biology at the molecular level,
thereby undermining the notion of genetic determinism. -
20 July
Elana Curits & Sonia Townsend
Achieving Success for Indigenous and Ethnic Minority Students – Teaching
and Learning Lessons for Foundation/Bridging Health Science Programmes
While evidence has been gathered about lecture-based learning in higher
education, little is known about non-lecture teaching activities and their
impact on indigenous and minority student success. This study investigates what
teaching practices in the non-lecture context of a foundation education
programme, in conjunction with a dedicated admission/support programme, help or
hinder success for Māori and Pasifika students in preparing for degree-level
study within health. This two year qualitative research project was conducted in
three phases (1) needs analysis, (2) intervention, and (3) evaluation. Kaupapa
Māori and Pasifika Research (KM/PR) practices were embedded in the research
methodology to foreground the student voice to help university educators develop
a critical understanding of their teaching – its content, effect and
complexities. The Critical Incident Technique was used to reveal the lived
experience of Māori and Pasifika students via in-depth interviews with 28
participants (11 Māori, 17 Pasifika). A total of 798 incidents were identified
and grouped into four themes 1) Use Best Practices for Teaching and Learning,
(2) Grow Independent Learners (3) Support the Empowerment of the Learner and (4)
Harness the Positive Cohort Effect. This presentation presents a detailed
analysis of one of four themes of good practice identified in the Medical and
Health Sciences context, namely ‘Use Best Practices for Teaching and Learning’. - 15 June
Wendy Stevens
Barriers to Lung Cancer Diagnosis especially for Māori, Pacific High Needs
The project aims to: - document the clinical pathway from presentation
to diagnosis for people with lung cancer; - assess the main barriers to early
diagnosis of lung cancer; - and develop recommendations for healthcare service
change. The project is being conducted by the Northern Cancer Network in
conjunction with numerous other stakeholders. Whilst being a mainstream project
it has a particular focus on involving Māori and Pacific peoples throughout the
project. There has been a genuine attempt to incorporate Māori perspectives into
the conduct of the research via an inequalities team within the research team.
As the research phase of the project has only recently commenced there are
currently no findings available to present, however the innovative project
design and research team structure will be discussed.
- 18 May
Marewa Glover
Te Piripohotanga: Reducing respiratory illness in Māori and Aboriginal/Torres Strait
Islander infants in Auckland & Darwin
Te Piripohotanga/Healthy Starts trials a family focused community health
intervention designed to decrease or eliminate infant exposure to ETS. A Māori
model of health, Te Whare Tapa Wha (the four-sided house) was used to guide the
design and delivery of the program. Whilst Te Piripohotanga/Healthy Starts is
primarily about reducing baby’s exposure to smoke, the Indigenous holistic
approach situates this one modifiable environmental risk within a package of
infant care practices. Three key infant care practices: breastfeeding, safe
sleeping and immunisation are talked about to help establish motivation for
smoking behaviour change, making homes and cars smokefree and negotiating family
rules around maintaining smokefree breathing space for baby.
Te Piripohotanga: Reducing respiratory illness in Māori and Aboriginal/Torres Strait Islander infants in Auckland & Darwin(29.5KB DOC)
- 20 April
Ralph Maddison
eGAME: Preliminary results from a randomised controlled trial of active video games
to improve body composition, physical activity and physical fitness in New Zealand
children
- 16 March
Geoff Kira, Ngāpuhi
Adolescent Sleep and Obesity(503.0KB PPT)
Adolescent sleep and obesity sleep is integral for function and health, however
it is a behaviour that is sacrificed for other activities, such as work or
social commitments. Recent research has shown that there is a small, but
significant, relationship between short sleep duration and weight gain. Studies
have also shown that adolescents have some of the worst sleep patterns of all
the age groups, thus adolescents may be at the highest risk of obesity. Sleep is
also a problem in low socioeconomic groups, which include a high proportion of
Māori. Virtually all studies of sleep in New Zealand have been about sleep
problems (eg, insomnia) in adults. This presentation
will describe the pathway that has lead to the current research topic, the most
recent study that has been conducted and what future research is planned.
- 16 February
Lyn Doherty, (MA, PG Dip EdPsych) Ngāti Porou, Ngāpuhi Ngāti Rangi ,Te Popoto
Hoki ki te Rito Parenting
Programme for Mothers
The presentation will provide an overview of Hoki ki te Rito parenting programme for mothers – preliminary evaluation results from pilot study groups – quantitative
and qualitative. Future work in this area to include fathers will also be discussed.
Lyn works for Ohomairangi Trust – an early intervention provider in Tamaki Makaurau
an organisation she was part of establishing ten years ago. Our major contracts
are in fields of special education/ disabilities, autism in particular, and, parent
education and parenting.
