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This research provides insight into current te reo Māori (the Indigenous language of Aotearoa, New Zealand) use in English-medium ECE settings. We videoed naturalistic conversations between kaiako (educators) and tamariki (aged 15-28 months) at 24 English-medium BestStart ECE centres. Te reo Māori was quantitatively assessed across five routines: kai (food) time, book time, group time, free play, and nappy change. The highest rates of te reo Māori use per minute were observed during the kai time, book time, and group time routines, respectively, and lowest during free play and nappy change. Although scripted/prepared te reo Māori use (e.g. karakia and waiata ; prayer and song) were well used, opportunities for more complex and elaborate te reo Māori use remain. This research provides insight into the current use of te reo Māori in English-medium ECE settings, an enhanced understanding of kaiako contributions to te reo Māori revitalisation goals, and applications for practice., Competing Interests: No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s)., (© 2023 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.)

Background: Equity underpins Aotearoa New Zealand's publicly funded healthcare system; however, ethnic inequality persists. This qualitative study explored the perceptions and experiences of ethnically diverse parents accessing health services for their children., Methods: A qualitative description methodology informed interviews and focus groups that were conducted with caregivers of preschool aged children who identified as being of Māori, Pacific, Asian and/or European ethnicity (n = 145). Data were analysed following a reflexive thematic analytic approach., Findings: Five themes were constructed. Hierarchies of knowledge and trust Caregivers relied on multiple sources of health information and particularly trusted providers or other caregivers who had children. Relational v ersus transactional health encounters Caregivers were often disappointed that health providers did not build trusting relationships to support positive experiences. Bad mother vibe Mothers often felt judged by providers when accessing care and felt pressure to conform. The 'slow burn' of waiting Caregivers were often frustrated by how slow and fragmented the health system was, which was particularly distressing if their child was unwell or required referral. Navigating complexity Caregivers had to be proactive and assertive to ensure their child received care amidst the numerous barriers they faced, including discrimination and bias. While many commonalities were shared by ethnicity, unique to Indigenous Māori caregivers were the ongoing colonial traumas that impacted their ability to trust the healthcare system., Interpretation: A non-judgemental, competent, and culturally sensitive approach by healthcare professionals and services may help foster trusting relationships and positive health encounters. Strategies to improve trust, ease of access and navigation are needed to mitigate existing complexity, fragmentation, and counter-intuitive nature of the NZ healthcare system. Caregivers require more autonomy over decisions about their child's care and availability of services that reflect their cultural values. Policies are required to alleviate the indirect costs of accessing healthcare, prioritising of whānau/family-centred care, and addressing pervasive racism and bias within the system., Funding: Health Research Council of New Zealand (19/263) ., Competing Interests: TC declares philanthropic funding for her Professorial Chair position from Cure Kids New Zealand. All other authors have no conflicts of interest to declare., (© 2023 The Author(s).)

Purpose: This chapter explores the realm of friendships and peer culture within a total immersion setting in Aotearoa New Zealand as reported by children and families. Based on the gifted and talented model, this One Day School of Te Reo Māori Excellence named Ka Puananī o Te Reo Māori, caters for children in years 1-6 from across Dunedin city. Methodology/approach: There were two points of data collection, at the start and end of the first year, undertaken via in-depth semi-structured interviews with six children, three teenagers and 11 family members. The interviews were transcribed verbatim, with the raw data sorted into thematic categories, including highlighted quotes and important text. Findings: Three themes were identified: engagement, cultural identity and whanaungatanga relationships. The children and families clearly maintained friendships within this immersion school of excellence, but also recognized that many of these relationships permeated beyond the classroom walls, subsequently growing a community of te reo Māori speakers. The findings from this study align with international research on ethnic schools, highlighting a deeper level of friendship and kinship, expressed through a curricula based on inclusive and traditional family values. Originality/value: This chapter concentrates on the findings of whanaungatanga relationships; the necessity to establish friendships and develop a strong sense of belonging. The research explored the successes and challenges from the perspective of the participants, of the initial year of this unique bilingual pilot programme. This chapter attempts to addresses the gap in international research on children's reported experiences within an Indigenous total immersion programme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this essay, I use Taika Waititi's 2016 Hunt for the Wilderpeople as a lens through which to discuss the management of Indigenous life by the settler colonial state, whereby certain Indigenous subjectivities are 'let to die' for the overall health of the body politic. I then turn to examine how the theatrical paramilitarised performances in the film are reflected in the on-going nature of colonial violence directed towards the Ngāi Tūhoe people, exemplified in the 2007 'anti-terror' raids codenamed 'Operation 8', and the more recent (but less well known) raids that have targeted Tūhoe since 2007. I stipulate that such raids demonstrate a return to sites of 'originary violence' as per Irene Watson's thesis (2009), where Crown sovereignty is violently reinscribed upon the frontier to reinforce the supremacy of the state. This discussion continues Vijay Devadas' argument that Operation 8 revealed a 'racialised sovereignty' that constitutes the 'legitimacy and power of state sovereignty ... in Aotearoa' (2008, 124). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, I use the idea of a 'take' to indicate that I have looked again at previous moments in a long-term participatory video for research project to 'rethink' them from a different perspective now. My aims in doing this are to acknowledge the recent increase in critical engagements with participatory video, to raise concerns about uncritical uses of Western realist film production conventions and to call for renewed scrutiny of our methodological practice as researchers. I look at the conventions of 'white balancing' and 'framing the horizon' within a wider suite of film production techniques to argue that even when applied within a participatory epistemology, they inevitably develop a particular way of looking for participants and researchers that is ambivalent, rather than feminist, in its effects. The paper concludes by suggesting that as geographers (and other social scientists), we would do well to be more cautious of participatory video, and more circumspect in the claims we make about its empowering effects, including its ability to enable a feminist practice of looking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we examine the factors that contribute to the replication or reduction of automobility amongst young adults. Semi-structured interviews conducted in Aotearoa New Zealand, with 51 drivers and non-drivers, aged 18–35 years old, form the empirical material. The findings build upon previous research and extend understandings of how seven explanatory factors; perceptual, value and preference, social, built environment, economic, legal/policy and technological, work both to continue the current automobility paradigm, and to challenge it by adopting alternative mobilities. We use the Energy Cultures Framework as an analytical tool to explore the ways through which materialites, norms, practices, and external context can replicate or reduce participation in the hegemonic mobility paradigm. This approach offers useful insights into the interactions between what the research participants think, have and do, and how this is resulting in a reduction in automobility norms amongst some younger people. It also identifies and highlights potential opportunities to leverage upon current change trends to assist a systemic transition away from automobility towards a culture of multi-mobilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

INTRODUCTION: Emerging from a flourishing field of practice overseas, the growing evidence base for participatory arts engagement demonstrates numerous benefits for young people's health and wellbeing. In Aotearoa New Zealand, participatory arts engagement is under-valued and under-resourced despite local practice examples suggesting that it deserves further attention. METHODS: Focusing on a case example from an Auckland-based creative arts participation project geared to promote the positive mental health and wellbeing of marginalised young people, two focus groups were conducted to explore how participants felt arts engagement contributed to their wellbeing. Participatory arts activities were integrated within the focus group process to enable creative expression of their voices. FINDINGS: The youth voices unearthed through this research indicate that an arts-based approach can be used as a powerful tool in promoting youth wellbeing and this offers a significant promise for addressing local policy priorities. CONCLUSION: We suggest that participatory arts engagement deserves further investment and research to explore further application in social practice in Aotearoa New Zealand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The subdiscipline of the sociology of sport heralded its arrival on the international scene with an agreement in Geneva in 1964 to establish an International Committee for Sport Sociology (ICSS), and the setting up of this committee took place in Warsaw the following year. Over the past 50 years the subdiscipline has grown significantly and New Zealand has certainly featured prominently. In this article, we (a) provide a general overview of some of the early scholarly writing on sport that pre-dated the subdiscipline, (b) discuss how the field emerged within and between physical education and sociology, (c) highlight the social significance of sport in Aotearoa New Zealand, before (d) tracing the past and present state of the sociology of sport in this country, and finally (e) consider the future challenges facing the field both globally and locally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The transformation of health inequities between indigneous and non-indigneous people is necessary to any just society. Health promotion that addresses these injustices thus must be inherently political work particularly in colonial contexts with systemic inequities. Aotearoa New Zealand is one such context. We take as our starting point a commitment to implement bicultural praxis informed by interpretations of the articles of Te Tiriti o Waitangi (1840). This treaty sets in place governance arrangements between the indigenous people (Māori) and the Crown of Great Britain. This paper explores the application of this praxis within health promotion from a settler standpoint. Firstly, it revisits the timeline leading to the signing of Te Tiriti, reviews the significance of Te Tiriti to health promotion practice in Aotearoa New Zealand and proposes four propositions to inform a bicultural praxis which, the authors argue, has an application internationally where indigenous and settler values must come into a just relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Could it be that despite a huge literature spanning decades from many disciplines, a corpus of writing that examines seemingly every twist and turn of a complex situation, we still are missing something basic and fundamental to a proper understanding of contemporary cultural politics in Aotearoa New Zealand? A thing so obvious and omnipresent, that it was characterized long ago in the anthropological literature as the fundamental dynamic of Polynesian culture, and acknowledged even further back by Maori in their ancestral sayings? He tauranga uta, he toka tu moana (a resting place ashore, a firm rock at sea). 'This metaphor describes the chief whose influence is unchallenged in his territory which extends from the land to the sea' (Mead and Grove 2003:125). But surely real chiefs, those solid anchoring points, no longer exist as they did before the coming of the Pakeha. Be that as it may, the elements of social organization and associated cultural values of chiefly status continue to resonate in contemporary society. This paper argues that Goldman's concept of status rivalry is that crucial overlooked aspect of cultural politics necessary to a full understanding of what is happening today in the Waitangi Tribunal, Parliament, and so many other places where biculturalism and multiculturalism are debated and discussed, and that it is an aspect of Polynesian culture that has been part of the interrelationship between the Crown and te tangata whenua (the indigenous people) since their first encounters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, I report on clinical supervision policy and practice within the profession of social work in Aotearoa New Zealand. I begin with an overview of New Zealand with reference to selected social and cultural considerations which impact on social work as a profession. Starting from a premise that supervision is an essential component of professional social work, the mandate for supervision and aspects of education for supervisors are explored. The importance of both cross-cultural and indigenous approaches to supervision within Aotearoa New Zealand is examined with reference to local literature. Developments in supervision policy and practice reflect many of the challenges faced by social work in the political and sociocultural context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given near consensus among the scientific community about the anthropogenic nature of climate change, there is pressing concern about how to mobilise enough people to care and demand wider socio-political change. In this article we explore this urgent issue, drawing on recent conflicts over deep-sea oil exploration and drilling in Aotearoa New Zealand. We explore how some activist groups are attempting to mobilise care and concern around deepsea oil drilling and climate change through the use of narratives that entwine aspects of national identity with the non-human world. We suggest that these activist groups are not concerned about a retreat of the state, but rather, are in direct conflict with the state, and state interventionism, over fossil fuel development trajectories in Aotearoa New Zealand. In drawing upon econationalism, and particularly a way of life related to place, activists have called into question the common sense of business as usual and thereby sought to expand space for 'ordinary' Aotearoa New Zealanders to care about climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we argue that democracy is increasingly indistinguishable from authoritarianism, in a process that is entangled with neoliberalisms. To build this argument, we examine a case study of central government intervention in regional environmental decision making in Aotearoa New Zealand through the lens of Agamben's 'state of exception'. The intervention-unprecedented and unconstitutional-squeezed democratic spaces for decision making about freshwater and sought to smooth the way for capital accumulation. The audacity of government actions indicate, we argue, an abandonment of efforts to disguise neoliberal encroachments on democracy, known as the double truth tactic. Yet we also argue that in identifying this as a state of exception, we can examine it as part of a process and therefore demonstrate the possibilities for counter-hegemonic actions to emerge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic and consequent lockdowns disrupted mental health service delivery worldwide, accelerating the adoption of telehealth services to provide care continuity. Telehealth-based research largely highlights the value of this service delivery method for a range of mental health conditions. However, only limited research exists exploring client perspectives of mental health services delivered via telehealth during the pandemic., Objective: This study aimed to increase understanding of the perspectives of mental health clients around services provided via telehealth over the 2020 COVID-19 lockdown in Aotearoa New Zealand., Methods: Interpretive description methodology underpinned this qualitative inquiry. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 21 individuals (15 clients and 7 support people; 1 person was both a client and support person) to explore their experiences of outpatient mental health care delivered via telehealth during the COVID-19 pandemic in Aotearoa New Zealand. A thematic analysis approach supported by field notes was used to analyze interview transcripts., Results: The findings reveal that mental health services delivered via telehealth differed from those provided in person and led some participants to feel they need to manage their own care more actively. Participants highlighted several factors affecting their telehealth journey. These included the importance of maintaining and building relationships with clinicians, the creation of safe spaces within client and clinician home environments, and clinician readiness in facilitating care for clients and their support people. Participants noted weaknesses in the ability of clients and clinicians to discern nonverbal cues during telehealth conversations. Participants also emphasized that telehealth was a viable option for service delivery but that the reason for telehealth consultations and the technicalities of service delivery needed to be addressed., Conclusions: Successful implementation requires ensuring solid relationship foundations between clients and clinicians. To safeguard minimum standards in delivering telehealth-based care, health professionals must ensure that the intent behind telehealth appointments is clearly articulated and documented for each person. In turn, health systems must ensure that health professionals have access to training and professional guidance to deliver effective telehealth consultations. Future research should aim to identify how therapeutic engagement with mental health services has changed, following a return to usual service delivery processes., (©Tara N Officer, Marika Tait, Karen McBride-Henry, Laura Burnet, Benjamin J Werkmeister. Originally published in JMIR Formative Research (https://formative.jmir.org), 26.05.2023.)

Introduction: In Aotearoa New Zealand (NZ) there is a knowledge gap regarding the place and contribution of rural hospitals in the health system. New Zealanders residing in rural areas have poorer health outcomes than those living in urban areas, and this is accentuated for Māori, the Indigenous people of the country. There is no current description of rural hospital services, no national policies and little published research regarding their role or value. Around 15% of New Zealanders rely on rural hospitals for health care. The purpose of this exploratory study was to understand national rural hospital leadership perspectives on the place of rural hospitals in the NZ health system., Methods: A qualitative exploratory study was undertaken. The leadership of each rural hospital and national rural stakeholder organisations were invited to participate in virtual semi-structured interviews. The interviews explored participants' views of the rural hospital context, the strengths and challenges they faced and how good rural hospital care might look. Thematic analysis was undertaken using a framework-guided rapid analysis method., Results: Twenty-seven semi-structured interviews were conducted by videoconference. Two broad themes were identified, as follows. Theme 1, 'Our place and our people', reflected the local, on-the-ground situation. Across a broad variety of rural hospitals, geographical distance from specialist health services and community connectedness were the common key influencers of a rural hospital's response. Local services were provided by small, adaptable teams across broad scopes and blurred primary-secondary care boundaries, with acute and inpatient care a key component. Rural hospitals acted as a conduit between community-based care and city-based secondary or tertiary hospital care. Theme 2, 'Our positioning in the wider health system', related to the external wider environment that rural hospitals worked within. Rural hospitals operating at the margins of the health system faced multiple challenges in trying to align with the urban-centric regulatory systems and processes they were dependent on. They described their position as being 'at the end of the dripline'. In contrast to their local connectedness, in the wider health system participants felt rural hospitals were undervalued and invisible. While the study found strengths and challenges common to all NZ rural hospitals, there were also variations between them., Conclusion: This study furthers understanding of the place of rural hospitals in the NZ healthcare system as seen through a national rural hospital lens. Rural hospitals are well placed to provide an integrative role in locality service provision, with many already long established in performing this role. However, context-specific national policy for rural hospitals is urgently needed to ensure their sustainability. Further research should be undertaken to understand the role of NZ rural hospitals in addressing healthcare inequities for those living in rural areas, particularly for Māori.

Scholars working in (post)colonial settings have called for more-than-human (MTH) and post-human geographies to shift their gaze beyond Anglo-European ways of knowing the world. In this paper I explore the opportunities for an MTH political project that works in solidarity with and learns from Indigenous communities. I begin by examining the considerable synergies between MTH theorists’ understandings of nonhuman agency and kinship, and the worldviews of Ngāi Tahu (a Māori tribe). I then examine how Ngāi Tahu have worked within a new water management regime in the Canterbury region of Aotearoa New Zealand to articulate a relational ethics with the Hurunui River. In navigating multiple tensions and advocating for the lively river, the political space of the new catchment committee was expanded to (begin to) include the river. However, non-Māori who attempted to describe an understanding of a river-kin were less successful. This unevenness, I argue, highlights the complementary contributions to be made by expanded theoretical engagements. In particular there are generative possibilities for MTH theorists to work alongside Indigenous communities, and carve political space for more people to advocate for a relational ethics. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Radical democrats and geographers have argued that democracy requires a vibrant contestatory politics to challenge the contemporary 'post-political' conjuncture. Despite suggestions of post-political processes in Aotearoa New Zealand, there are signs of a more vibrant politics. In 2010 an environmental campaign called '2Precious2Mine' captured the national geographic imaginary. Drawing on this example, we argue that although a space was opened for a vibrant contestatory politics, its effects were paradoxical. The campaign both reinforced the hegemonic narratives of neoliberal (post)colonial Aotearoa New Zealand, and simultaneously produced moments that challenged this apparent post-politicising trajectory. While we argue that such frameworks are useful, there is a risk that without cognisance of the situated nature of politics and closure, they both lose their political and academic explanatory purchase. Post-politics becomes at risk of constructing that which it seeks to describe, while radical democracy ends up falling short of its aims. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within participatory geography and relational aesthetic art literature there have been calls to focus on how participation is framed, who is included and excluded, the types of relations involved and the effects of such practices. Linked to these concerns, questions have also been raised around how participants are framed and understood in participatory projects. For instance, as self-determining and knowing subjects who become politically affirmed through participation, or as subjects caught up in complex processes of becoming. In this article I show how the participatory art project ' Productive Bodies' in Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand, enabled participants to articulate the complex contradictions surrounding waged work, redundancy and unemployment. I suggest that participatory art projects can be a useful way for subjects to explore these complex processes of becoming. Useful because in this case, the project enabled participants to both acknowledge dominant disciplining discourses around waged work, while also creating space to imagine and enact alternatives to more dominant and limiting discourses. I argue that participatory art projects like Productive Bodies can help subjects move away from cognitive understandings of social change and political demands because the process understands subjects as always-already affected by wider societal discourses. Such an understanding recognises the complexity of subjectivities whereby subjects are both complicit in perpetuating and subjecting themselves to more dominant discourses, but also often desirous of change. Participatory art projects like Productive Bodies can enable subjects to articulate these complexities, while also catching glimpses of other selves and other societal relations through affectual-embodied encounters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to operationalize context in diversity management research. Design/methodology/approach – A case analysis provides an example of the influences of context at macro, meso and micro levels. Country context (macro) and professional and organization contexts (meso) are analysed in relation to the micro individual experiences of gender and indigeneity at work. Findings – Tensions and inconsistencies at macro and meso levels impact on diversity management at a micro level. The authors demonstrate how power and context are intertwined in the biopolitical positioning of subjects in terms of gender and indigeneity. The contested legacy of indigenous-colonial relations and societal gender dynamics are “played out” in a case from the accounting profession. Research limitations/implications – Within critical diversity studies context and power are linked in a reciprocal relationship; analysis of both is mandatory to strengthen theory and practice. The multi-level analytical framework provides a useful tool to understand advances and lack of progress for diversity groups within specific organizations. Originality/value – While many diversity scholars agree that the analysis of context is important, hitherto its application has been vague. The authors conduct a multi-level analysis of context, connecting the power dynamics between the levels. The authors draw out implications within one profession in a specific country socio-politics. Multi-level analyses of context and power have the potential to enhance the theory and practice of diversity management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the 1980s, foodbanks have become a widespread solution to addressing hunger within high-income countries. The primary reason for their establishment has been widely recognised as neoliberal policies, particularly those that led to massive cuts in social welfare assistance. Foodbanks and hunger have subsequently been framed within a neoliberal critique. However, we argue that critiques of foodbanks are not unique to neoliberalism but have deeper historical roots, meaning that the part neoliberal policies have played is not as clear-cut. In order to understand the normalisation of foodbanks within society, and gain a more extensive understanding of hunger and appreciation as to how this issue could be addressed, it is therefore important to gain a historical understanding of food charity development. In this article, we achieve this by presenting a genealogy of food charity within Aotearoa New Zealand, which witnessed a fluctuation in the use of soup kitchens during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and a rise of foodbanks in the 1980s and '90 s. Highlighting the historical parallels and major economic and cultural shifts that have allowed for the institutionalisation of foodbanks, we explore the patterns, parallels and differences exposed, and how they yield an alternative understanding of hunger. Using this analysis, we then discuss the wider implications of the historical foundations of food charity and hunger to better understand the role neoliberalism has played in the entrenchment of foodbanks, and advocate the importance of looking beyond a neoliberal critique in order to entertain alternative solutions to addressing food insecurity., (© The Author(s) 2023.)

Background: Social science research has demonstrated how health practitioners negotiate and contest professional roles and jurisdictions in practice, and in ways that reflect the power dynamics that permeate medicine. This article further explores these relational dynamics by examining how general practitioners (GPs) in Aotearoa New Zealand frame their working relationships with pharmacists., Methods: We conducted semi-structured interviews with 16 GPs from around the country. Interviews had a mean duration of 46 min, and were thematically analysed., Results: GPs saw and used pharmacists as a key source of information about both medicines and patients; thus it was not only pharmacists' training and expertise, but also their community setting and patient proximity, that made them a useful resource to doctors. Furthermore, GPs framed pharmacists as a critical 'safety net' due to their role in catching errors and checking prescribing details. The pharmacy 'safety net' also came through in participants' comments on discount pharmacies, which have introduced pronounced cost-cutting logics to Aotearoa New Zealand's pharmaceutical landscape; in their reflections on these organisations, prescribers express the importance of robust pharmacy practice to their own work., Conclusions: Whilst the literature often foregrounds tensions in how health providers reinscribe their professional roles, this research highlights the interdependence that doctors identify with pharmacists, and their aspirations for working together. Both professional groups navigate a pressed health system that presents a set of common challenges to good medicines practice., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Clinical Relevance: Efforts to provide accessible eye care must consider the extent to which travel-distance may be a barrier for some communities., Background: This study aimed to determine the distribution of - and geographic access to - eye health services in Aotearoa New Zealand. We further sought to identify communities who might benefit from provision of eye health services that were more geographically accessible., Methods: We obtained addresses of optometry and ophthalmology clinics from regulatory bodies and augmented this with online searches. Address locators were created using a Land Information dataset and geocoded using ArcGIS 10.6. A national population was derived using Statistics New Zealand's Integrated Data Infrastructure. We generated population-weighted centroids of each of New Zealand's 50,938 meshblocks and calculated the travel distance along the road network between each clinic and population (meshblock centroid). The proportion of the population living >50 km from each clinic type was calculated; as was the median, inter-quartile range and maximum distance across area-level deprivation quintiles in each district., Results: A national population of 4.88 million was identified, as were addresses for 344 optometry, 46 public ophthalmology and 90 private ophthalmology clinics. Nationally and within each district, travel distance to optometry was shorter than to either type of ophthalmology clinic. The region of Northland - with a high proportion of the population Māori and in the highest quintile of area-level deprivation - had the furthest average distance to travel to optometry and public ophthalmology, while the West Coast region on the South Island had the farthest to travel to private ophthalmology. Several communities were identified where longer distances intersected with higher area-level deprivation., Conclusion: Most New Zealanders live within 10 km of eye health services. However, to achieve equitable eye health, strategies are required that make affordable eye health services accessible to communities for whom large travel distances intersect with high deprivation.

Introduction: While the general principles of healthcare quality are well articulated internationally, less has been written about applying these principles to rural contexts. Research exploring patient and provider views of healthcare quality in rural communities is limited. This study investigated what was important in healthcare quality particularly for hospital-level care for rural communities in Aotearoa New Zealand., Methods: A pragmatic qualitative study was undertaken in four diverse rural communities with access to rural hospitals. Data were gathered through eight community and indigenous (Māori) focus groups (75 participants) and 34 health provider interviews, and analysed thematically., Results: Two study sites had large Māori populations and high levels of socioeconomic deprivation, whereas the other two sites had much lower Māori populations and lower levels of socioeconomic deprivation, but further travel distances to urban facilities. Rural hospitals in the communities ranged from 12 to 80 beds and were both government and community trust owned. A theme of the principles of high quality rurally focused health services was developed. Nine principles were identified: (1) providing patient- and family-centred care that respected people's preferences for where treatment was provided; (2) providing services as close to home as could be done well; (3) quality was everybody's job; (4) consistent care across settings, with reduction on unwarranted variation; (5) team-based care across distance, with clear communication and processes between different facilities working together; (6) equitable health care particularly for Māori, and then for the whole rural community; (7) sustainable service models, particularly for workforce, as a counterbalance to 'closer to home'; (8) health networks to improve patient flow, and reduce waste; and (9) value was more than value for money, and including valuing respectful, timely care. Another theme around rural and urban healthcare quality was developed. While the nature of care was different in different settings, patient experience should be the underlying measure of quality, and quality measures needed to be interpreted in the context of local circumstances, with rural-specific quality measures where appropriate., Conclusion: The researchers developed principles of healthcare quality specific to rural communities regarding patient and family preferences for where care was received, a broader focus on value beyond value for money and a strong focus on equity for indigenous people. These principles add to the rural principles previously described. Patient experience should be the underlying focus of quality, while noting that the nature of health care provided in rural and urban settings is different. The present study's findings support the concept that quality measures should be interpreted in the context of local circumstances, with the development of rural-specific measures. The authors hope the findings, when locally contextualised, will assist health policy makers, planners, providers and community leaders as they strive to improve the quality of health services for their rural communities.

Estuaries are among the world's most productive ecosystems, but due to their geographic location, they are at the forefront of anthropogenic pressures. Sea level rise (SLR) is one major consequence of climate change that poses a threat to estuaries with extensive intertidal habitats. The ecological implications of intertidal habitat loss have been largely overlooked despite their likely significance. We aimed to address this knowledge gap by investigating how benthic macroinvertebrate communities and their contributions to ecosystem function are likely to respond to SLR. Based on a spatially extensive dataset (119 sites) from a large coastal lagoon, depth, sediment chlorophyll concentrations, mud content, and average current speed were identified as the main drivers of community compositional turnover. Shifts in benthic community structure and associated functional implications were then evaluated using depth as a proxy for SLR. Three main macrofaunal groups representing intertidal, shallow subtidal, and deep subtidal habitats were identified. Functional trait analysis indicated low functional redundancy for a key intertidal suspension-feeding bivalve ( Austrovenus stutchburyi ) and the lack of a shallow subtidal functional replacement should intertidal habitats become inundated. These findings strongly suggest SLR and the associated environmental changes will alter estuarine macroinvertebrate communities, with implications for future ecosystem function and resilience.

COVID-19 pandemic planning and response has resulted in unprecedented upheaval within health systems internationally. With a concern for increasing frequency and escalation of family violence, the so called "shadow pandemic," we wondered how health system violence intervention programs were operating during this time. In Aotearoa New Zealand, the Ministry of Health Violence Intervention Program (VIP), using a systems approach, seeks to reduce and prevent the health impacts of family violence and abuse through early identification, assessment, and referral of victims presenting to designated health services. In this qualitative descriptive study, we explored how the VIP program was impacted during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. Forty-one VIP coordinators and managers representing 15 of the 20 New Zealand District Health Boards and the National VIP Team participated. Across 12 focus groups (8 face to face and 4 via Zoom) and 7 individual interviews (all via Zoom) participants shared their experience navigating systems to support frontline health providers' responsiveness to people impacted by family violence during the pandemic. In our reflexive thematic analysis, we generated 3 themes: Responding to the moment, valuing relationships, and reflecting on the status quo. Our findings demonstrate the dynamic environment in which participants found creative ways to adapt to the uncertainty and engage with communities to re-shape interventions and ensure continued implementation of the program. At the same time, challenges within the system prior to the pandemic were brought into view and highlighted the need for action. These included, for example, the need for improved engagement with Māori (Indigenous people of Aotearoa New Zealand) to address long-standing health inequities. Having quality essential services for those impacted by family violence that engages with local knowledge and networks and routinely copes with uncertainty will strengthen our systems to minimize risk of harm during emergencies.

In 2020, the New Zealand (NZ) Parliament voted to decriminalise abortion. Although NZ's abortion law formally opposes sex selective abortions, there is considerable complexity in the gender politics of 'choice' and 'agency' in multi-ethnic societies, and interpretations of reproductive rights for ethnic minority women and for the girl child, respectively. This paper explores these complexities through the perspectives of reproductive and maternity care practitioners who are situated at the interface of legal systems, health service provision, and delivery of culturally sensitive care. Thirteen practitioners were interviewed as part of this study. The analysis highlights strains in framings of 'reproductive choice' (underpinned by western liberal notions of rights) and 'gender equality' (abortion rights that acknowledge the complexity of cultural son-preference) for ethnic minority women. These tensions are played out in three aspects of the post-reform landscape: (a) everyday practice and accountability; (b) consumerism and choice; (c) custodianship and gender rights. The findings point to the limitations in operationalising choices for ethnic women in health systems wherein trust deficit prevails, and cultural dynamics render complex responses to abortion. They also highlight reconfigurations of client-expert relationships that may have implications for practitioners' abilities to advocate for ethnic women's rights against cultural influences.

Clear delimitation of management units is essential for effective management of invasive species. Analysis of population genetic structure of target species can improve identification and interpretation of natural and artificial barriers to dispersal. In Aotearoa New Zealand where the introduced ship rat ( Rattus rattus ) is a major threat to native biodiversity, effective suppression of pest numbers requires removal and limitation of reinvasion from outside the managed population. We contrasted population genetic structure in rat populations over a wide scale without known barriers, with structure over a fine scale with potential barriers to dispersal. MtDNA D-loop sequences and microsatellite genotypes resolved little genetic structure in southern North Island population samples of ship rat 100 km apart. In contrast, samples from major islands differed significantly for both mtDNA and nuclear markers. We also compared ship rats collected within a small peninsula reserve bounded by sea, suburbs and, more recently, a predator fence with rats in the surrounding forest. Here, mtDNA did not differ but genotypes from 14 nuclear loci were sufficient to distinguish the fenced population. This suggests that natural (sea) and artificial barriers (town, fence) are effectively limiting gene flow among ship rat populations over the short distance (~ 500 m) between the peninsula reserve and surrounding forest. The effectiveness of the fence alone is not clear given it is a recent feature and no historical samples exist; resampling population genetic diversity over time will improve understanding. Nonetheless, the current genetic isolation of the fenced rat population suggests that rat eradication is a sensible management option given that reinvasion appears to be limited and could probably be managed with a biosecurity programme., Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10530-023-03004-8., Competing Interests: Conflict of interestThe authors declare no conflict of interest., (© The Author(s) 2023.)

This article addresses the issue of the state registration of counsellors in Aotearoa New Zealand – and whether this is the most pressing or pertinent question for the profession of counselling. It discusses counselling as a health profession and counsellors as mental health professionals. In the context of enhancing interdisciplinary and relationships between counsellors and health professionals, especially general practitioners, the article promotes professional self-regulation for counsellors and argues that such independence enables counsellors to take leadership in multi-professional settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the enduring influence of the principle of methodological individualism in New Zealand society, following thirty years of neoliberal economic policies. It contextualises this examination within the global financial crisis of 2008-2011 and the debate as to whether this crisis signalled the start of a post-neoliberal epoch. Drawing upon welfare reforms over the past sixteen years, it argues that, within New Zealand, neoliberalism has become more entrenched than ever, manifest in the persistent remoralisation of those defined as poor and through the ways in which the principle of methodological individualism is frequently invoked as a solution to the challenges presented by neoliberal welfare entrenchment. Though it acknowledges neoliberalism as a contested political project, this article supports the view that continuities in successive National and Labour government welfare reforms in housing, child welfare, and social security have embedded a neoliberal culture of disparagement for those deemed unsuitable or unable to participate in the market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Changes in tertiary education policy in Aotearoa New Zealand in the last decade have impacted on adult and community education (ACE). Marginalized and understood as non-formal education at the turn of the century, ACE is now part of the ‘tertiary landscape’. It is explicitly steered by education policy, its role severely narrowed, its emphasis shifted from empowerment, equity, active citizenship to preparation for employment and skills for work. This article explores the policy developments which have led to the changes and analyses possible links between the policies and three neoliberal suppositions: free market economics, the role of the state and homo economicus. It concludes that policies have been influenced by a neoliberal hegemony under both Centre-left Labour-led and Centre-right National-led governments, and that neoliberalism is likely to remain dominant into the future. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]