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Background: The Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (RACS) aims to achieve Māori health equity and cultural safety within the surgical workforce. The RACS Māori Health Strategy and Action Plans encourage Surgical Education and Training (SET) selection criteria that recognizes and credit applicants who identify as Māori or demonstrate competence in Māori health issues. This study investigates the current SET selection criteria for Māori entering surgical specialties. Methods: The selection criteria for each surgical speciality for the proposed 2024 intake were examined through a documentary analysis. Criteria were reviewed for applicability to Māori identification and/or cultural competency. Results: Criteria related to Māori identification and/or cultural competency make up 6%, 2%, and 1.5% of Otolaryngology and Head and Neck, General, and Vascular Surgery total SET selection score respectively. Criteria related to Māori identification and/or cultural competency make up 9% and 0.1% of Orthopaedic and Plastics and Reconstructive Surgery ranking scores for interview eligibility respectively. Cardiothoracic Surgery, Paediatric Surgery, Neurosurgery and Urology specialties do not incorporate any criteria appertaining to Māori. Allocation of research‐related points determined by authorship may disincentivize Māori trainees. Conclusions: Some surgical specialties fail to recognize or credit Māori identification and cultural competency in SET selection criteria. There is a need for regular auditing to ensure SET criteria align with the RACS aspirations for Māori health equity and cultural safety within the surgical workforce. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper documents a joint initiative of clinical practice educators from four tertiary institutions and their engagement in the design and development of a proposed Hauora Maori Clinical Guide for Psychologists, which outlines how to apply the Hui Process and Meihana Model to applied psychology. It describes the ability for this proposed Hauora Maori Clinical Guide for Psychologists to assist clinicians, professional psychology training programmes and institutions in meeting the expectations of the Health Practitioners Act and The New Zealand Psychologists Board's (NZPB) Standards and Procedures document. It presents how this proposed guide can support the implementation of clinical and cultural competence and the Code of Ethics for Psychologists Working in New Zealand. It also provides an opportunity for the psychology profession to demonstrate responsivity to Te Tiriti o Waitangi obligations. Keywords: Maori, clinical assessment, clinical practice, formulation, Background Maori mental health inequities are well documented (Baxter, Kingi, Tapsell, Durie, & McGee, 2006; Baxter, Kokaua, Wells, McGee, & Oakley Browne, 2006a; Harris, Tobias, Jeffreys, Waldegrave, Karlsen, & Nazroo, [...]

In 1984 Mason Durie documented a framework for understanding Maori health, Te Whare Tapa Wha, which has subsequently become embedded in Maori health policy. In addition, the adoption of this [...]

Maori and non-Maori health professional educators collaborate to ensure a culturally safe learning environment for Maori educators and Maori students. Each team member actively contributes to the Maori health curriculum, demonstrates clinical role-modelling and ensures a culturally safe learning environment for Maori and non-Maori staff and learners. The role of health professional education to deliver indigenous health and well-being is well documented.1,2 Indigenous health curricula have a key role within health professional education to support Maori health advancement; however, indigenous health professional education is a fragile ecology in terms of curriculum time, resource and institutional priorities.2 Colonisation and racism have caused prolonged health injustices for Maori, the Indigenous Peoples of Aotearoa/New Zealand manifested by reduced life expectancy and lower quality health care. [Extracted from the article]

Effectively conceptualising impaired wellness for physicians requires review of the roles and responsibilities of teams, health service leadership and the health system as a whole. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Māori, the Indigenous population of Aotearoa New Zealand, face a substantial burden of nutrition-related diseases, especially obesity and type 2 diabetes. Weight loss, through dietary change, is a central component of obesity and diabetes prevention and management; however, most approaches have not been designed with or evaluated specifically for Māori. The aim of this study was to review literature on the enablers and barriers to dietary change, for Māori., Design: Relevant literature published from January 2000 to May 2024 was identified by searches in Medline (Ovid), Embase (Ovid), Scopus, Indigenous health (informit), CINAHL (EBSCO), Web of Science and NZResearch. Studies included Māori and reflected enablers and barriers to dietary change for individuals/whānau (families). Data identifying the aims, methods, interventions, location, population studied and identified enablers and barriers to dietary change and responsiveness to Māori were extracted. Enablers and barriers to dietary change were mapped to a New Zealand indigenous health framework, the Meihana model., Setting: Settings included studies based in Aotearoa New Zealand, where participants were free living and able to determine their dietary intake., Participants: Studies included at least 30% Māori participants., Results: Twenty two of 77 identified records met the inclusion criteria. Records included a diverse range of research approaches., Conclusions: Using a relevant Indigenous model, this study highlights that multiple and diverse enablers and barriers to dietary change exist for Māori and the critical importance of developing interventions, in close partnership with Indigenous communities, grounded in Indigenous understandings of health.

Aim: To explore Maori health worker perspectives on colorectal screening and identify factors that may influence Maori participation in a colorectal screening programme., Method: Thirty Maori health workers were interviewed to explore their experience with screening programmes, knowledge of colorectal cancer and their perspective on a potential colorectal screening programme. Health workers shared their perspective informed by both their own whanau and whanau they encountered professionally through their health work., Results: Participants were largely positive about potential colorectal screening; however, various access barriers were identified. These included patient-clinician engagement and communication, lack of provision for patient's privacy during screening and patients feeling discouraged to take part in screening. Factors enabling screening included having an established relationship with their General Practitioner, screening clinicians taking time to build rapport, answer questions and share information, screening practices that were inclusive of Maori cultural norms and possessing high health literacy., Conclusions: Evidence points to growing disparity between the colorectal cancer incidence rates of Maori and non-Maori; disparities in colorectal cancer survival rates are already marked. Participants in the current pilot could provide valuable information to help ensure that the health education, promotion, and clinical practice surrounding a national colorectal screening programme are effective for Maori in reducing disparity and improving health outcomes.

Medical education in Aotearoa/New Zealand has a critical role to play in producing a health professional workforce that is prepared to meet the challenge of addressing Māori health. While cultural competence is an important aspect of this, we argue that Māori health is an educational domain in its own right with distinct learning objectives and educational approaches. An emerging consensus as to the optimal graduate outcomes and key components of a Māori health curriculum is supported by a growing international evidence base in indigenous health education. Several significant challenges exist, many of which can be overcome by reorienting institutional systems, structures and processes to support effective Māori health teaching and learning. We recommend a combination of immersed, integrated and independent teaching and learning approaches in order to promote high-quality outcomes.