Abstract:
The debate about Maori child health in New Zealand continues perennially.
The intention of this research is, through collaborative discussion and
selective conversations, to explore female caregivers' expectations and
perceptions of primary health services for some Te Atiawa Maori children.
The research process was developed in a partnership between the Maori
women participants and myself. In addition, two local kuia actively
participated in and supported the process. It is hoped, through thls study, to
contribute new knowledge to the discussion, as I found no published research
on this topic. If female caregivers choose when to access primary health
services for their children, it seemed to me that they should be asked what is
important to them in terms of their children's health and access they have.
Emancipatory critical social theory underpins and informs the project. Power
relationships between the researcher and the participants can be overtly
explored within this theoretical framework. In terms of this particular
exploratory study, participatory research appeared to be applicable. The
participants are female caregivers of Te Atiawa children. Data collection was
done using group interactions and semi-structured interviews in the winter of
the year 2000. A thematic analysis of the data was used, in which common
themes were identified, compared and discussed. From the analysis of the
data of the participants' conversations, I identified some key ideas. The
major findings have been identified within two main themes. These are: a
concept of health is not the same for Pakeha as for Maori, and access issues
are still problematic for the participants in this study. Many quotes from the
interview participants are included in order to keep the focus of the project on
the voices of the women interviewed.
In terms of the significant contribution of this research, this study aims to
allow voices of female caregivers of Te Atiawa Maori children to be heard.
Individual and collaborative interactions offer insights into what is important
to them in terms of Maori child health. Clearly, the primary health initiatives promoted by the New Zealand government are not reaching at least some of
the people for whom they are intended. The research participants offered
their ideas as to how these deficits could be remedied in their community.
