title: Patenting in nineteenth century New Zealand: An economic and historical analysis

authors: Gibbons, Matthew

subjects: Patents

abstract: This thesis has studied the relationship between patenting and economic development in nineteenth century New Zealand, and the extent to which different population groups patented. These topics are studied using all patents applied for in New Zealand between 1860 and 1899, with the data being weighted by fees and other required expenditure on each patent. 
Patent application costs were substantially reduced in the 1880s when the government sought to broaden access to patenting. This thesis has confirmed that the lower cost of patent applications was associated with increased patent applications by New Zealanders. In addition, the proportion of patenting by some skilled trades workers increased after application fees were reduced. However, despite reduced application costs, patenting by low income earners, such as labourers, remained low. New Zealand farmers made a higher proportion of patent applications than farmers in comparable patenting systems, but the rate at which they patented was below average for male workers. Engineers, who had trained through apprenticeships, were the occupational group that applied for the most patents. Patenting by women increased from the mid-1880s, but even in 1899 women applied for only 2.5% of total patent applications. Maori made little use of the patenting system. No New Zealand region had the highest patenting rates for very long. 
The highest spending New Zealand patentees were typically engineers who patented products, such as agricultural or mining equipment, they had invented. Furthermore, they usually owned a business that produced goods and services they had patented. Some of the highest spending patentees became prosperous, although those who developed mining technology were relatively economically unsuccessful. For individual output series there were more cointegrating relationships between patent expenditure and economic output than between patent applications and economic output. Output series usually led patenting, particularly using patent expenditure data, which indicates patentees were concentrating on economic needs. Nevertheless, there were important examples, such as agriculture, where output followed expenditure on patents. Furthermore, total patent applications per capita and total patent expenditure per capita both Granger caused GDP per capita in New Zealand. This suggests that patent applications and expenditure helped increase living standards in New Zealand over the period studied.

text: Patenting in nineteenth century New Zealand: An economic and historical analysis This thesis has studied the relationship between patenting and economic development in nineteenth century New Zealand, and the extent to which different population groups patented. These topics are studied using all patents applied for in New Zealand between 1860 and 1899, with the data being weighted by fees and other required expenditure on each patent. 
Patent application costs were substantially reduced in the 1880s when the government sought to broaden access to patenting. This thesis has confirmed that the lower cost of patent applications was associated with increased patent applications by New Zealanders. In addition, the proportion of patenting by some skilled trades workers increased after application fees were reduced. However, despite reduced application costs, patenting by low income earners, such as labourers, remained low. New Zealand farmers made a higher proportion of patent applications than farmers in comparable patenting systems, but the rate at which they patented was below average for male workers. Engineers, who had trained through apprenticeships, were the occupational group that applied for the most patents. Patenting by women increased from the mid-1880s, but even in 1899 women applied for only 2.5% of total patent applications. Maori made little use of the patenting system. No New Zealand region had the highest patenting rates for very long. 
The highest spending New Zealand patentees were typically engineers who patented products, such as agricultural or mining equipment, they had invented. Furthermore, they usually owned a business that produced goods and services they had patented. Some of the highest spending patentees became prosperous, although those who developed mining technology were relatively economically unsuccessful. For individual output series there were more cointegrating relationships between patent expenditure and economic output than between patent applications and economic output. Output series usually led patenting, particularly using patent expenditure data, which indicates patentees were concentrating on economic needs. Nevertheless, there were important examples, such as agriculture, where output followed expenditure on patents. Furthermore, total patent applications per capita and total patent expenditure per capita both Granger caused GDP per capita in New Zealand. This suggests that patent applications and expenditure helped increase living standards in New Zealand over the period studied.

year: 2016

title: Supportive interactions with primary care doctors are associated with better mental health among transgender people: results of a nationwide survey in Aotearoa/New Zealand.

authors: Treharne, Gareth J.

subjects: LGBTQ

abstract: BACKGROUND: Past research has established that transgender people experience significant disparities in mental health outcomes and healthcare dissatisfaction compared with cisgender people, but more research is needed on how supportive healthcare interactions relate to the mental health of transgender people. OBJECTIVES: The 2 main aims of our analyses were: (i) to establish the most common negative experiences in healthcare and the most common supportive experiences specifically with primary care doctors for transgender people; and (ii) to examine the association of supportive experiences with mental health variables after controlling for demographic factors. METHODS: Data from the 2018 Counting Ourselves nationwide survey of transgender people were analysed using regression modelling. The 948 participants with a primary care doctor or general practitioner were included in analyses. Participants were aged 14-83 years old (mean 30.20). RESULTS: The most common supportive experiences involved primary care doctors treating transgender people equitably, with competence, and with respect. Participants with more negative healthcare experiences had higher psychological distress as well as higher likelihood of reporting nonsuicidal self-injury and suicidality. Conversely, participants with more experiences of supportive primary care doctors had lower psychological distress and were less likely to have attempted suicide in the past 12 months. CONCLUSION: When transgender people receive supportive care from their primary care providers they experience better mental health, despite ongoing negative healthcare experiences. Future research is needed to confirm ways of supporting positive trajectories of mental health for transgender people but these findings demonstrate the importance of positive aspects of care.

text: Supportive interactions with primary care doctors are associated with better mental health among transgender people: results of a nationwide survey in Aotearoa/New Zealand. BACKGROUND: Past research has established that transgender people experience significant disparities in mental health outcomes and healthcare dissatisfaction compared with cisgender people, but more research is needed on how supportive healthcare interactions relate to the mental health of transgender people. OBJECTIVES: The 2 main aims of our analyses were: (i) to establish the most common negative experiences in healthcare and the most common supportive experiences specifically with primary care doctors for transgender people; and (ii) to examine the association of supportive experiences with mental health variables after controlling for demographic factors. METHODS: Data from the 2018 Counting Ourselves nationwide survey of transgender people were analysed using regression modelling. The 948 participants with a primary care doctor or general practitioner were included in analyses. Participants were aged 14-83 years old (mean 30.20). RESULTS: The most common supportive experiences involved primary care doctors treating transgender people equitably, with competence, and with respect. Participants with more negative healthcare experiences had higher psychological distress as well as higher likelihood of reporting nonsuicidal self-injury and suicidality. Conversely, participants with more experiences of supportive primary care doctors had lower psychological distress and were less likely to have attempted suicide in the past 12 months. CONCLUSION: When transgender people receive supportive care from their primary care providers they experience better mental health, despite ongoing negative healthcare experiences. Future research is needed to confirm ways of supporting positive trajectories of mental health for transgender people but these findings demonstrate the importance of positive aspects of care.

year: 2022

title: Māori whānau experiences of a neonatal intensive care unit: Waikato hospital

authors: Thompson, Keri

subjects: Maori whanau narratives

abstract: This thesis topic emerged from my personal experience of having a premature baby in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Waikato hospital.  My whānau and I felt like aliens; culturally inept, and totally alone during our time in the NICU.  It was not until I spoke to other Māori mothers that I realised our stories were similar.   

I sought to understand how other Māori whānau members made sense of their own experiences, how they coped/adjusted to the experience of having a premature baby in an NICU and at home, and the sources of support they utilised. This study did not seek to delineate parents' experiences but attempted to allow whānau members to share their stories and explore their experiences of having a premature or special-care baby in an NICU.

The event of childbirth and the placing of a natural event into a pathological illness model through necessity has repercussions for the ways in which women experience and make sense of the event.  Knowing this, six whānau stories were collected comprising of four individual interviews with the mothers and two whānau hui (focus groups).  My use of a narrative methodology and kaupapa Māori approach enabled all the participants the opportunity to share their stories on how they make sense of their own experiences without the frame of pathological illness. 

The findings present each whānau story autonomously, to highlight the key events that   occur once the birth of a premature/special-care infant is admitted into an NICU. The participants' narratives followed their transitions through an NICU and return home. The narrative analysis and discussion confirmed that this research had been successful in creating a space for the mothers and their whānau members to share their stories.  The discussion combined their narratives to reveal that the effective coping strategies did not remove the sources of stress but rather lessened the impact of the stresses.  In situations where sources of stress were unable to be removed or reduced, participants perceptions of ineffective coping translated into narratives of negative perceptions of the NICU, and birthing experience. 

The importance of positive relationships within an NICU, and in particular, the role of the nurse as a key facilitator, highlighted that efficacious communication resulted in positive experiences for Māori whānau.  Whānau support was identified as one of the most important coping strategies for mothers in the NICU.  Those participants who were encouraged to maintain connections with whānau members reported more positive experiences overall.

Three levels of implications were identified in this research. Firstly, that the participants'narratives provided a range of coping strategies for future Māori parents and their whānau who enter an NICU.  Secondly, there are implications for NICU policy, and best practice particularly when supporting Māori in an NICU environment.  Lastly, the narratives provided meaningful insights that contribute to gaps in local, national, and international literature.  Overall, I realised that just like me, these mothers, and other whānau members, constructed narratives that are meaningful accounts to be shared with others.

text: Māori whānau experiences of a neonatal intensive care unit: Waikato hospital This thesis topic emerged from my personal experience of having a premature baby in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Waikato hospital.  My whānau and I felt like aliens; culturally inept, and totally alone during our time in the NICU.  It was not until I spoke to other Māori mothers that I realised our stories were similar.   

I sought to understand how other Māori whānau members made sense of their own experiences, how they coped/adjusted to the experience of having a premature baby in an NICU and at home, and the sources of support they utilised. This study did not seek to delineate parents' experiences but attempted to allow whānau members to share their stories and explore their experiences of having a premature or special-care baby in an NICU.

The event of childbirth and the placing of a natural event into a pathological illness model through necessity has repercussions for the ways in which women experience and make sense of the event.  Knowing this, six whānau stories were collected comprising of four individual interviews with the mothers and two whānau hui (focus groups).  My use of a narrative methodology and kaupapa Māori approach enabled all the participants the opportunity to share their stories on how they make sense of their own experiences without the frame of pathological illness. 

The findings present each whānau story autonomously, to highlight the key events that   occur once the birth of a premature/special-care infant is admitted into an NICU. The participants' narratives followed their transitions through an NICU and return home. The narrative analysis and discussion confirmed that this research had been successful in creating a space for the mothers and their whānau members to share their stories.  The discussion combined their narratives to reveal that the effective coping strategies did not remove the sources of stress but rather lessened the impact of the stresses.  In situations where sources of stress were unable to be removed or reduced, participants perceptions of ineffective coping translated into narratives of negative perceptions of the NICU, and birthing experience. 

The importance of positive relationships within an NICU, and in particular, the role of the nurse as a key facilitator, highlighted that efficacious communication resulted in positive experiences for Māori whānau.  Whānau support was identified as one of the most important coping strategies for mothers in the NICU.  Those participants who were encouraged to maintain connections with whānau members reported more positive experiences overall.

Three levels of implications were identified in this research. Firstly, that the participants'narratives provided a range of coping strategies for future Māori parents and their whānau who enter an NICU.  Secondly, there are implications for NICU policy, and best practice particularly when supporting Māori in an NICU environment.  Lastly, the narratives provided meaningful insights that contribute to gaps in local, national, and international literature.  Overall, I realised that just like me, these mothers, and other whānau members, constructed narratives that are meaningful accounts to be shared with others.

year: 2009