title: Kaumatua Mana Motuhake Poi: a study protocol for enhancing wellbeing, socia connectedness and cultural identity for Maori elders

authors: Hokowhitu, Brendan

subjects: Science & Technology

abstract: Background: The Aotearoa New Zealand population is ageing, accompanied by health and social challenges, including significant inequities that exist between Māori and non-Māori around poor ageing and health. Although historically, kaumātua (elder Māori) faced a dominant society that failed to realize their full potential as they age, Māori culture has remained steadfast in upholding elders as cultural/community anchors. Yet, many of today’s kaumātua have experienced ‘cultural dissonance’ as the result of a hegemonic dominant culture subjugating an Indigenous culture, leading to generations of Indigenous peoples compelled or forced to dissociate with their culture. The present research project, Kaumātua Mana Motuhake Pōī (KMMP), comprises two interrelated projects that foreground dimensions of wellbeing within a holistic Te Ao Māori (Māori epistemology) view of wellbeing. Project 1 involves a tuakana-teina/peer educator model approach focused on increasing service access and utilization to support kaumātua with the greatest health and social needs. Project 2 focuses on physical activity and cultural knowledge exchange (including te reo Māori—Māori language) through intergenerational models of learning.

Methods: Both projects have a consistent research design and common set of methods that coalesce around the emphasis on kaupapa kaumātua; research projects led by kaumātua and kaumātua providers that advance better life outcomes for kaumātua and their communities. The research design for each project is a mixed-methods, pretest and two post-test, staggered design with 2–3 providers receiving the approach first and then 2–3 receiving it on a delayed basis. A pre-test (baseline) of all participants will be completed. The approach will then be implemented with the first providers. There will then be a follow-up data collection for all participants (post-test 1). The second providers will then implement the approach, which will be followed by a final data collection for all participants (post-test 2).

Discussion: Two specific outcomes are anticipated from this research; firstly, it is hoped that the research methodology provides a framework for how government agencies, researchers, and relevant sector stakeholders can work with Māori communities. Secondly, the two individual projects will each produce a tangible approach that, it is anticipated, will be cost-effective in enhancing kaumātua hauora and mana motuhake.

text: Kaumatua Mana Motuhake Poi: a study protocol for enhancing wellbeing, socia connectedness and cultural identity for Maori elders Background: The Aotearoa New Zealand population is ageing, accompanied by health and social challenges, including significant inequities that exist between Māori and non-Māori around poor ageing and health. Although historically, kaumātua (elder Māori) faced a dominant society that failed to realize their full potential as they age, Māori culture has remained steadfast in upholding elders as cultural/community anchors. Yet, many of today’s kaumātua have experienced ‘cultural dissonance’ as the result of a hegemonic dominant culture subjugating an Indigenous culture, leading to generations of Indigenous peoples compelled or forced to dissociate with their culture. The present research project, Kaumātua Mana Motuhake Pōī (KMMP), comprises two interrelated projects that foreground dimensions of wellbeing within a holistic Te Ao Māori (Māori epistemology) view of wellbeing. Project 1 involves a tuakana-teina/peer educator model approach focused on increasing service access and utilization to support kaumātua with the greatest health and social needs. Project 2 focuses on physical activity and cultural knowledge exchange (including te reo Māori—Māori language) through intergenerational models of learning.

Methods: Both projects have a consistent research design and common set of methods that coalesce around the emphasis on kaupapa kaumātua; research projects led by kaumātua and kaumātua providers that advance better life outcomes for kaumātua and their communities. The research design for each project is a mixed-methods, pretest and two post-test, staggered design with 2–3 providers receiving the approach first and then 2–3 receiving it on a delayed basis. A pre-test (baseline) of all participants will be completed. The approach will then be implemented with the first providers. There will then be a follow-up data collection for all participants (post-test 1). The second providers will then implement the approach, which will be followed by a final data collection for all participants (post-test 2).

Discussion: Two specific outcomes are anticipated from this research; firstly, it is hoped that the research methodology provides a framework for how government agencies, researchers, and relevant sector stakeholders can work with Māori communities. Secondly, the two individual projects will each produce a tangible approach that, it is anticipated, will be cost-effective in enhancing kaumātua hauora and mana motuhake.

year: 2020-10-02

title: Does within-treatment change on dynamic risk factors and psychopathology predict recidivism for men graduating from Tai Aroha?

authors: Tanner Dempsey, Arden

subjects: dynamic risk factors

abstract: Dynamic risk factors are modifiable aspects of justice-involved people and their environment that can change over time and are associated with criminal behaviour. Because they are considered changeable, they are therefore typically the focus of rehabilitative treatment (Bonta & Andrews, 2024). Research shows that correctional rehabilitation that targets dynamic risk factors effectively reduces recidivism, and psychometric tools assessing these factors generally show improvements during treatment. However, there is a missing link; current research lacks consistent evidence linking changes on dynamic risk factors during treatment to recidivism. Relatedly, there are few studies assessing within-treatment changes in psychopathology and how they may affect recidivism, though they are commonly assessed alongside dynamic risk factors in correctional settings. 
This study, involving 164 people with violent offence convictions who completed the Tai Aroha community treatment programme, aimed to address this missing link. A battery of tests measured pre- and post-programme included dynamic risk factor measures, the Anger Disorders Scale (ADS), Psychological Inventory of Criminal Thinking Styles (PICTS), Criminal Attitudes to Violence Scale (CAVS), and the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory (MCMI-III and IV) which is designed to assess personality and clinical psychopathology. Standardised residual change scores were used to account for variance in pre-treatment scores, and Cox regression hazard ratios to test prediction of general and violent recidivism.
Most subscales for dynamic risk factor measures and the MCMI-III and IV showed substantial improvements during treatment, however, this did not translate to predicting the probability of recidivism. While several hazard ratios indicated effects in a positive direction, none were significant when adjusted for multiple comparisons, and controlling for actuarial risk did not improve predictive accuracy. There was some evidence of increased socially desirable responding which increased at the end of treatment, this included responses on the MCMI-III and IV consistent with the “Normal Quartet.” Interpretations of these findings and both theoretical and empirical implications are discussed.

text: Does within-treatment change on dynamic risk factors and psychopathology predict recidivism for men graduating from Tai Aroha? Dynamic risk factors are modifiable aspects of justice-involved people and their environment that can change over time and are associated with criminal behaviour. Because they are considered changeable, they are therefore typically the focus of rehabilitative treatment (Bonta & Andrews, 2024). Research shows that correctional rehabilitation that targets dynamic risk factors effectively reduces recidivism, and psychometric tools assessing these factors generally show improvements during treatment. However, there is a missing link; current research lacks consistent evidence linking changes on dynamic risk factors during treatment to recidivism. Relatedly, there are few studies assessing within-treatment changes in psychopathology and how they may affect recidivism, though they are commonly assessed alongside dynamic risk factors in correctional settings. 
This study, involving 164 people with violent offence convictions who completed the Tai Aroha community treatment programme, aimed to address this missing link. A battery of tests measured pre- and post-programme included dynamic risk factor measures, the Anger Disorders Scale (ADS), Psychological Inventory of Criminal Thinking Styles (PICTS), Criminal Attitudes to Violence Scale (CAVS), and the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory (MCMI-III and IV) which is designed to assess personality and clinical psychopathology. Standardised residual change scores were used to account for variance in pre-treatment scores, and Cox regression hazard ratios to test prediction of general and violent recidivism.
Most subscales for dynamic risk factor measures and the MCMI-III and IV showed substantial improvements during treatment, however, this did not translate to predicting the probability of recidivism. While several hazard ratios indicated effects in a positive direction, none were significant when adjusted for multiple comparisons, and controlling for actuarial risk did not improve predictive accuracy. There was some evidence of increased socially desirable responding which increased at the end of treatment, this included responses on the MCMI-III and IV consistent with the “Normal Quartet.” Interpretations of these findings and both theoretical and empirical implications are discussed.

year: 2024-01-23

title: Making Canons and Finding Flowers - A Study of Selected New Zealand Poetry Anthologies

authors: Bullock, Owen Fred

subjects: Anthologies

abstract: This thesis analyses the poetry contained in anthologies published between the 1940s and 1980s in New Zealand and that of some later anthologies that retrospectively covered the same period. I wanted to find out what subject matter preoccupied poets during these times, to monitor changes in the content of that poetry and to observe what techniques were used and the evolution of styles. Complimentary to the study of the poetry is an evaluation of the intentions of the editors of the anthologies and how much their selections were directed by their tastes and knowledge to form a kind of 'construct', or representation of the publishing of poetry.  
From my reading, I conjectured that the literary canon with regard to poetry was formed in New Zealand by the mid-1970s, on the strength of publications from Penguin and Oxford University Press. The 1945 and 1960 anthologies by Allen Curnow were extremely influential - particularly the second of these two - and the editors of future anthologies from the larger publishers diverged comparatively little from his choices. Curnow's anthologies are the subject of Chapter One, and in Chapter Two, I look at Vincent O'Sullivan's series of three anthologies for Oxford (1970, 1976 and 1987), which confirmed and expanded that canon.
	However, from the mid-1960s, and especially in the early 1970s, new trends emerged in New Zealand writing, linked to a consciousness of post-modernist literary theory. Some of the new trends, together with material that supplemented existing perspectives on poetry, are discussed in Chapter Three. The greater degree of acknowledgement of writing by women poets - which began in the late 1960s in smaller literary journals - reached a point where the first anthology of women's poetry, Private Gardens, could be published in 1977. The first major anthology to be edited by a woman appeared five years later. The gradualness of these changes is stressed, however, with regard to women's poetry included in the larger anthologies themselves. 
A new bias emerged in the late 1970s and 1980s in favour of work from the University presses. Nevertheless, anthologies that presented some alternative point of view on our literary history proliferated at the beginning of the twenty-first century. Taken together, the anthologies Big Smoke and Real Fire form a more holistic picture of what went on in the 1960s and 1970s and are discussed in Chapter Four of this thesis. Concluding remarks focus on the prejudices that appear to have guided the publishing of poetry in New Zealand anthologies, the influence of major poets, and the possibilities for further study of this body of literature.

text: Making Canons and Finding Flowers - A Study of Selected New Zealand Poetry Anthologies This thesis analyses the poetry contained in anthologies published between the 1940s and 1980s in New Zealand and that of some later anthologies that retrospectively covered the same period. I wanted to find out what subject matter preoccupied poets during these times, to monitor changes in the content of that poetry and to observe what techniques were used and the evolution of styles. Complimentary to the study of the poetry is an evaluation of the intentions of the editors of the anthologies and how much their selections were directed by their tastes and knowledge to form a kind of 'construct', or representation of the publishing of poetry.  
From my reading, I conjectured that the literary canon with regard to poetry was formed in New Zealand by the mid-1970s, on the strength of publications from Penguin and Oxford University Press. The 1945 and 1960 anthologies by Allen Curnow were extremely influential - particularly the second of these two - and the editors of future anthologies from the larger publishers diverged comparatively little from his choices. Curnow's anthologies are the subject of Chapter One, and in Chapter Two, I look at Vincent O'Sullivan's series of three anthologies for Oxford (1970, 1976 and 1987), which confirmed and expanded that canon.
	However, from the mid-1960s, and especially in the early 1970s, new trends emerged in New Zealand writing, linked to a consciousness of post-modernist literary theory. Some of the new trends, together with material that supplemented existing perspectives on poetry, are discussed in Chapter Three. The greater degree of acknowledgement of writing by women poets - which began in the late 1960s in smaller literary journals - reached a point where the first anthology of women's poetry, Private Gardens, could be published in 1977. The first major anthology to be edited by a woman appeared five years later. The gradualness of these changes is stressed, however, with regard to women's poetry included in the larger anthologies themselves. 
A new bias emerged in the late 1970s and 1980s in favour of work from the University presses. Nevertheless, anthologies that presented some alternative point of view on our literary history proliferated at the beginning of the twenty-first century. Taken together, the anthologies Big Smoke and Real Fire form a more holistic picture of what went on in the 1960s and 1970s and are discussed in Chapter Four of this thesis. Concluding remarks focus on the prejudices that appear to have guided the publishing of poetry in New Zealand anthologies, the influence of major poets, and the possibilities for further study of this body of literature.

year: 2007