title: Exploring medications amongst Tongan households in New Zealand

authors: Tongi, Lolohea

subjects: medications

abstract: The current thesis explores: how four related Tongan households understand, treat and use medications; and the ‘flow’ of medications into, around and out of these households. The participants for this research come from four Tongan families living in the Auckland area. A broad ethnographic approach which is multilayered, multi-method and multi-centred was to capture such data. This included individual interviews, household discussions, diaries and photo elicitation methods. Key themes reported on are Western and Traditional Medication Use; Faito’o fakatonga; Use of Western Medication; Prayer, Faith and Medications; and Flow. Tongan cultural values and practices shape how these four households treat, use and understand medications. Participants in this study structured their lives around Tongan customary relationships, obligations to respect and care, and to have faith that resolutions would be found to any ailments or illnesses suffered by household members. Household members clearly had a respect and regard for Western medications and trust in Western practitioners but were sometimes frustrated by the dominance of this model. The same was mostly true of Tongan medicine and associated healers. Some household members went as far as using both in conjunction with each other. However, across most households, there was the presence of a firm belief that a resolution of health issues required more than medication. Good health was a product of rightful relationships and faith and trust, in medications, health practitioners and God. This study adds to research on medication use by highlighting the importance of culture to extending existing understandings of the everyday practices through which people use and share medications.

text: Exploring medications amongst Tongan households in New Zealand The current thesis explores: how four related Tongan households understand, treat and use medications; and the ‘flow’ of medications into, around and out of these households. The participants for this research come from four Tongan families living in the Auckland area. A broad ethnographic approach which is multilayered, multi-method and multi-centred was to capture such data. This included individual interviews, household discussions, diaries and photo elicitation methods. Key themes reported on are Western and Traditional Medication Use; Faito’o fakatonga; Use of Western Medication; Prayer, Faith and Medications; and Flow. Tongan cultural values and practices shape how these four households treat, use and understand medications. Participants in this study structured their lives around Tongan customary relationships, obligations to respect and care, and to have faith that resolutions would be found to any ailments or illnesses suffered by household members. Household members clearly had a respect and regard for Western medications and trust in Western practitioners but were sometimes frustrated by the dominance of this model. The same was mostly true of Tongan medicine and associated healers. Some household members went as far as using both in conjunction with each other. However, across most households, there was the presence of a firm belief that a resolution of health issues required more than medication. Good health was a product of rightful relationships and faith and trust, in medications, health practitioners and God. This study adds to research on medication use by highlighting the importance of culture to extending existing understandings of the everyday practices through which people use and share medications.

year: 2010

title: Tootling through a cultural lens: Effects of tootling on student and teacher behaviours in an inclusive school in Aotearoa

authors: Choundira, Rhea

subjects: Tootling

abstract: This study aimed to extend the literature on the effects of tootling in an inclusive classroom in Aotearoa New Zealand. The tootling intervention involved students monitoring and reporting their peers’ prosocial behaviours, which was used with an interdependent group contingency. The current study used a series of AB designs to evaluate the effects on three teacher-nominated students from primary and middle-block classrooms separately. The study also investigated the effects of tootling on teacher praise statements with participant teachers from primary and middle-block classrooms. Target students were nominated for the study as they were thought to be at risk for emotional and behavioural disorders (EBD). Students were randomly picked from the rest of the class during data collection for the comparison group. Participant teachers included the classroom teachers present in class. An increase in academically engaged behaviour (AEB) was found across all three target students in the middle-block classroom and found in two out of three students in the primary-block classroom. An increase in praise statements from the middle block participant teacher was also found. Incidentally, the tootling intervention was integrated with MANA values practised in both classes; as a result, it was accepted as socially valid by the teachers and students. Discussion focuses on limitations due to Covid-19 restrictions and direction for future research.

text: Tootling through a cultural lens: Effects of tootling on student and teacher behaviours in an inclusive school in Aotearoa This study aimed to extend the literature on the effects of tootling in an inclusive classroom in Aotearoa New Zealand. The tootling intervention involved students monitoring and reporting their peers’ prosocial behaviours, which was used with an interdependent group contingency. The current study used a series of AB designs to evaluate the effects on three teacher-nominated students from primary and middle-block classrooms separately. The study also investigated the effects of tootling on teacher praise statements with participant teachers from primary and middle-block classrooms. Target students were nominated for the study as they were thought to be at risk for emotional and behavioural disorders (EBD). Students were randomly picked from the rest of the class during data collection for the comparison group. Participant teachers included the classroom teachers present in class. An increase in academically engaged behaviour (AEB) was found across all three target students in the middle-block classroom and found in two out of three students in the primary-block classroom. An increase in praise statements from the middle block participant teacher was also found. Incidentally, the tootling intervention was integrated with MANA values practised in both classes; as a result, it was accepted as socially valid by the teachers and students. Discussion focuses on limitations due to Covid-19 restrictions and direction for future research.

year: 2022

title: Using inclusive research with participants with learning (intellectual) disability to better inform adult literacy policies in Aotearoa New Zealand

authors: Newcombe, Nicolina

abstract: Western ideas about disability and literacy were developed in tandem during the Industrial Revolution and subsequently brought to Aotearoa New Zealand via colonisation. These ideas inform and reinforce educator attitudes, which are the leading factor impeding adults with learning [intellectual] disability from their educational pathways of choice. People without learning disability need to hear the voices of people with learning disability to counteract these attitudes and move towards transformational equality.

There is a paucity of information about the access to and accessibility of adult literacy education for people with learning disability in Aotearoa New Zealand. However, anecdotal evidence reports their exclusion, even from foundational adult learning. There was a gap in knowledge where collaborative research that conveys the experiences of adults with learning disability was needed to gain greater insight to these issues in our bicultural context. My original contribution to knowledge is to present the voices of adults with learning disability as they discuss and demonstrate their literacy practices, and to use their perspectives to make recommendations for adult literacy policies in Aotearoa New Zealand.

I undertook a thematic analysis of current adult literacy policies in Aotearoa New Zealand and found that they target “most” adult learners, while positioning disabled people as needing specialised, and by inference optional to provide, education and resources. These policies also prescribe a linear and progressive andragogy that may not meet the needs of all adults with learning disability, while measuring literacy skills in a way that does not foreground their strengths or value their purposes for engagement.

Then, I conducted Inclusive Participatory Action Research with five adults with learning disability to gather information about their literacy practices and perspectives. Participants in this research decided to call themselves the Passioners. We met for 10 research meetings, preceded by at least two home visits, and interspersed by reflective meetings with individual participants. All research information was presented in easy read and key information was distributed audiovisually.

The Passioners added value to this research by providing unique opportunities that are only available through doing inclusive research with them, prompting research improvements, innovation, and my efforts towards acculturation in their worlds. I evaluated my inclusive approach in this research to learn more about how people with learning disability do research as people with learning disability, and what dispositions, resources, and skills people without learning disability need to do research with them.

Using reflexive thematic analysis, I constructed six themes from our research meetings data: learning disability cultural literacies, Māori (Indigenous peoples of Aotearoa New Zealand) cultural literacies, Pākehā (New Zealanders of European descent) cultural literacies, encoding, decoding, and social media, which extends the narrow definition of literacy in our adult literacy policies. These findings, and those from my policy analysis, were used to inform policy recommendations. Policy recommendations in this research may support implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, particularly access to lifelong learning on an equal basis with others.

text: Using inclusive research with participants with learning (intellectual) disability to better inform adult literacy policies in Aotearoa New Zealand Western ideas about disability and literacy were developed in tandem during the Industrial Revolution and subsequently brought to Aotearoa New Zealand via colonisation. These ideas inform and reinforce educator attitudes, which are the leading factor impeding adults with learning [intellectual] disability from their educational pathways of choice. People without learning disability need to hear the voices of people with learning disability to counteract these attitudes and move towards transformational equality.

There is a paucity of information about the access to and accessibility of adult literacy education for people with learning disability in Aotearoa New Zealand. However, anecdotal evidence reports their exclusion, even from foundational adult learning. There was a gap in knowledge where collaborative research that conveys the experiences of adults with learning disability was needed to gain greater insight to these issues in our bicultural context. My original contribution to knowledge is to present the voices of adults with learning disability as they discuss and demonstrate their literacy practices, and to use their perspectives to make recommendations for adult literacy policies in Aotearoa New Zealand.

I undertook a thematic analysis of current adult literacy policies in Aotearoa New Zealand and found that they target “most” adult learners, while positioning disabled people as needing specialised, and by inference optional to provide, education and resources. These policies also prescribe a linear and progressive andragogy that may not meet the needs of all adults with learning disability, while measuring literacy skills in a way that does not foreground their strengths or value their purposes for engagement.

Then, I conducted Inclusive Participatory Action Research with five adults with learning disability to gather information about their literacy practices and perspectives. Participants in this research decided to call themselves the Passioners. We met for 10 research meetings, preceded by at least two home visits, and interspersed by reflective meetings with individual participants. All research information was presented in easy read and key information was distributed audiovisually.

The Passioners added value to this research by providing unique opportunities that are only available through doing inclusive research with them, prompting research improvements, innovation, and my efforts towards acculturation in their worlds. I evaluated my inclusive approach in this research to learn more about how people with learning disability do research as people with learning disability, and what dispositions, resources, and skills people without learning disability need to do research with them.

Using reflexive thematic analysis, I constructed six themes from our research meetings data: learning disability cultural literacies, Māori (Indigenous peoples of Aotearoa New Zealand) cultural literacies, Pākehā (New Zealanders of European descent) cultural literacies, encoding, decoding, and social media, which extends the narrow definition of literacy in our adult literacy policies. These findings, and those from my policy analysis, were used to inform policy recommendations. Policy recommendations in this research may support implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, particularly access to lifelong learning on an equal basis with others.

year: 2024-09