The aim of this research was to explore the mechanisms involved for engaging Māori whānau in their child’s education during a key transitional period. This objective was achieved through conducting semi-structured interviews with five Māori parents of year nine and ten students from two suburban high schools in Christchurch, New Zealand. Through framing the research within kaupapa Māori methodology and employing Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, four superordinate themes were identified: Rangatiratanga (advocacy, leadership and commitment); Kotahitanga (working together with whānau); Whanaungatanga (maintaining connections with whānau); and Manaakitanga (caring for Māori students’ learning and potential). These findings closely align with a Māori worldview (Ritchie, 1992), and Macfarlane’s educultural wheel (2004). They have the potential to inform school policy and facilitate engagement with whānau as well as positively impact on Māori student achievement.

This thesis explores how Māori whānau cope under the circumstance of multiple job holding in four whānau who have at least one member who is a multiple job holder. The study uses a behavioural model of family resilience to identify the factors that enable or inhibit whānau coping. It finds that the reasons that influence Māori whānau multiple job holding can shape the whānau ability to cope while multiple job holding. The whānau in this study were found to have multiple motives for multiple job holding. Multiple job holding was used as a buffer mechanism because of previous financial stresses and strains, to facilitate future career and employment development and to enable a parent to fulfil what they perceived to be parental-financial obligations. In one case a demand for Māori skilled professional workers, led a whānau member to take on an extra job to fill this demand. Of importance, the study finds that resources are an essential factor when considering how whānau cope. Coping is facilitated by access to multiple resources and the types of resources required by whānau will be contextually specific in each whānau case.

This dissertation describes a study that investigated the perceptions of foster/whānau caregivers of support and training provisions in Canterbury, New Zealand. The study used both qualitative and quantitative methods. The qualitative component consisted of six questions presented to caregivers at individual or couple interviews. Major themes identified in the response to these questions indicated that participants are generally feeling under-supported and disrespected by social services staff, overwhelmed by the range, severity and difficulty of their children's behaviours, isolated in their role, unable to access relief care and a lack of provision and support for training in local areas. Participants also indicated a desire for training on the etiology and management of difficult child behaviours, managing birth family contact and legal issues relating to allegations and permanency. Areas of current support that caregivers indicated are useful included the support provided by Caregiver Liaison Social Workers, school and early childhood education staff, general practitioners, and other caregivers The quantitative component consisted of a survey covering basic demographic information. A modified child behavioural checklist, containing selected items from the 'Child Behaviour Checklist' and the 'Assessment Checklist for Children' was constructed to assess the range of problematic child behaviours caregivers are experiencing and how prepared they felt in dealing with them. Findings indicated that the participants are experiencing a range of severe behaviours well outside the normal experience of parents but are consistent with those reported in the international literature for children in care. The PSI was used to assess caregiver's stress levels relating to their parenting role. Participants reported high levels of stress particularly in the child domain of the PSI with sub-scales in the high to clinical range across this domain. Implications of theses results are discussed including implications for the caregivers, social welfare practices and the development of future training packages for caregivers.

Ngā Kupu Whakataki: Abstract The study focuses on identifying how the reconstruction of the whānau and its approach to childrearing through the colonisation of Māori society can be perceived within the experiences of the case study of four generations of one whānau. A kaupapa Māori approach to research provided a framework for members of our whānau to socially construct their realities regarding the dynamics of our four generation whānau collaboratively. Socio-cultural theoretical frameworks were used to analyse approaches to whānau and childrearing.

Yes / Community-based case managers in health have been compared to glue which holds the dynamic needs of clients to a disjointed range of health and social services. However, case manager roles are difficult to understand due to poorly defined roles, confusing terminology, and low visibility in New Zealand. This review aims to map the landscape of case management work to advance workforce planning by clarifying the jobs, roles, and relationships of case managers in Aotearoa New Zealand (NZ). Methods: Our scoping and mapping review includes peer-reviewed articles, grey literature sources, and interview data from 15 case managers. Data was charted iteratively until convergent patterns emerged and distinctive roles identified. Results: A rich and diverse body of literature describing and evaluating case management work in NZ (n = 148) is uncovered with at least 38 different job titles recorded. 18 distinctive roles are further analyzed with sufficient data to explore the research question. Social ecology maps highlight diverse interprofessional and intersectoral relationships. Conclusions: Significant innovation and adaptations are evident in this field, particularly in the last five years. Case managers also known as health navigators, play a pivotal but often undervalued role in NZ health care, through their interprofessional and intersectoral relationships. Their work is often unrecognised which impedes workforce development and the promotion of person-centered and integrated health care. / This research was funded by the AUT University, Faculty of Health & Environmental Sciences Summer Student Grant 2021/2022 and the School of Public Health and Interdisciplinary Studies PBRF Funding 2021. The APC charge is covered by the School of Public Health and Interdisciplinary Studies PBRF 2022.

Recent Māori, sexual, and primary health developments have been influenced by the principle of participation. For example, the use of a whānau-centred approach, of community development, and of Primary Health Organisations allows participation in decision-making. However, none of the abovenamed strategies adequately explain how young Māori women can participate in decision-making in one common area: Māori, sexual, primary health policy. This thesis explores how Primary Health Organisations can work with young Māori women to promote sexual health to whānau by focusing on policymaking processes and effective participation mechanisms. Māori health development from colonial Contact to 2005 is reviewed before the broad health framework (the New Zealand Health Strategy and the New Zealand Public Health and Disability Act 2000) is defined. A critique of relevant policy, in particular He Korowai Oranga (2002), the Sexual and Reproductive Health Strategy (2001), and The Primary Health Care Strategy (2001), reveals scope for participation and whānau-centredness. Primary Health Organisations pose challenges to whānau sexual health promotion. However, with public participation from young Māori women, like the thesis participants, new opportunities can be realised. The research was conducted in accordance with a Mana Wāhine-based methodology called Tāniko The four parts (Mana Wāhine, Te Ao Tawhito, Te Ao Hou, and Te Ao Mārama) defined the research aim and objectives. A qualitative strategy employing semi-structured interviews with three young Māori women was followed by a confirmatory stage of content analysis utilising a deductive public participation evaluation tool: the Tāniko instrument. The instrument analysed four policymaking decisions and two mechanisms: organised peer groups and the wāhine-centred approach. The research concluded that when defining how, by whom, and to whom information is presented, organised peer groups can be utilised at the coordination and evaluation policymaking stages. The wāhine-centred approach can share or manage participation through problem definition, consultation, decision, and implementation.

A whanau is a social construct of Maori society in Aotearoa/New Zealand that is likened to an extended family. This thesis describes principles and practice that whanau utilise in decision processes from the findings of a retrospective qualitative case study of three whanau, who decided to participate in genetic research into a medical condition affecting their health. Four elements of whanau decision processes emerged from the data. Hui, rangatiratanga, manaakitanga and kotahitanga are Maori constructs that emphasise the collective nature of whanau decision making, and substantiate philosophical, theoretical and anecdotal evidence that Maori have distinctive ways of reaching decisions, underpinned by unique philosophical conventions. The results of this research place greater significance on the process of decision making than actual decisions, an incidental finding that has not been articulated by previous studies of Maori health and whanau. Contrary to western theoretical knowledge of decision making, whanau decision processes are collective activities. Individual decision making is closely linked to and depends on the collective, because individual identity manifests from the collective, and individual wellbeing is closely linked to that of the collective. When decision processes are familiar to members of a whanau, they are more likely to engage in decision making because they have a greater sense of knowledge and thus control of the processes, and they feel more able to contribute meaningfully to achieving aspirations for their own health. This thesis provides evidence that the New Zealand health sector, health legislation and policies are largely unfavourable for guaranteeing whanau engagement in decision processes. Yet, whanau decision making is an overall objective of the Government’s Maori Health Strategy: He Korowai Oranga, to address inequalities in health between Maori and other New Zealanders that have unacceptably become the norm.