title: Acceptance, recognition and supported independence: Wellbeing for children and young people with a disability in New Zealand: The voice of youth with Down Syndrome

authors: Kirk, Maree Louise

subjects: Wellbeing

abstract: The aim of this thesis is to identify what wellbeing means for children and young people with a disability and the factors that influence wellbeing in the home, school, and the community. The research was carried out through consecutive interviews that captured children’s voice through the methods of visual sociology. Grounded theory was the basis for the analysis which produced rich data to describe the lives of these young people with Down syndrome. 
In addition, interviews were undertaken with parents and service providers at a local and national level to gain an insight into the celebrations and challenges of the everyday lives that were experienced by the young people and their families. Service provision was examined from the perspective of all three groups of participants.
Wellbeing is a complex phenomenon and although there has been increasing interest in this field, particularly for children, there is a dearth of research about wellbeing for children and young people with a disability. The findings of the research pointed to three key principles of wellbeing: acceptance, recognition, and supported independence.
These three key principles form the basis of three models in the findings. The first model is an ecological perspective; it illustrates how the level at which policy is introduced and implemented intersects and works to benefit or hinder the service provision in schools and for the children and their families. 
The second model—the dimensions of wellbeing for children and young people—emerged from the data and was used in conjunction with the ecological perspective model to develop the supporting teaching practice for students with Down syndrome and learning disability programme. The third model is, therefore, a capability model for schools. 
The result of the research is the creation of practical tools that can be used to review policy and service provision with the aim of ensuring that children and young people with a disability enjoy entitlements equal to those of all children in New Zealand.

text: Acceptance, recognition and supported independence: Wellbeing for children and young people with a disability in New Zealand: The voice of youth with Down Syndrome The aim of this thesis is to identify what wellbeing means for children and young people with a disability and the factors that influence wellbeing in the home, school, and the community. The research was carried out through consecutive interviews that captured children’s voice through the methods of visual sociology. Grounded theory was the basis for the analysis which produced rich data to describe the lives of these young people with Down syndrome. 
In addition, interviews were undertaken with parents and service providers at a local and national level to gain an insight into the celebrations and challenges of the everyday lives that were experienced by the young people and their families. Service provision was examined from the perspective of all three groups of participants.
Wellbeing is a complex phenomenon and although there has been increasing interest in this field, particularly for children, there is a dearth of research about wellbeing for children and young people with a disability. The findings of the research pointed to three key principles of wellbeing: acceptance, recognition, and supported independence.
These three key principles form the basis of three models in the findings. The first model is an ecological perspective; it illustrates how the level at which policy is introduced and implemented intersects and works to benefit or hinder the service provision in schools and for the children and their families. 
The second model—the dimensions of wellbeing for children and young people—emerged from the data and was used in conjunction with the ecological perspective model to develop the supporting teaching practice for students with Down syndrome and learning disability programme. The third model is, therefore, a capability model for schools. 
The result of the research is the creation of practical tools that can be used to review policy and service provision with the aim of ensuring that children and young people with a disability enjoy entitlements equal to those of all children in New Zealand.

year: 2019

title: Functional trait variation along a hydrological gradient and trait-based predictions of the composition of a wetland plant community

authors: Purcell, Adam

subjects: functional trait

abstract: Predicting the assembly of plant communities is considered the Holy Grail of functional ecology and has never been more important as we head into an era of environmental change. Studying plant functional traits provides the best opportunity for understanding the community assembly processes that determine the abundance and distribution of plant species. Plant functional traits provide information on the direct physiological adaptations of plants to various environmental conditions. The assembly of plant communities is driven by filtering processes that select for or against certain functional traits and a plant can only be present within a community if it contains the functional traits necessary to germinate, survive and compete in the environment of the community. An understanding of how functional traits are filtered by the environment and biotic interactions provides the foundations for predictive community assembly models. However, the understanding of how functional traits are filtered along hydrological gradients is poor for the majority of functional traits. 
In this thesis I aimed to identify how plant functional traits respond to variation in soil hydrology in the presence and absence of grazing and determine whether a trait-based model of environmental filtering could predict the composition of an ephemeral wetland plant community. To achieve these aims, I performed a survey of the plant community in an ephemeral wetland in grazed and ungrazed transects. The survey was conducted along a hydrological gradient that was split into an elevation gradient above the flood line and a flooding gradient below the flood line. I measured nine root, leaf and shoot traits on 885 plant samples collected during the community survey and investigated the response of community-weighted and individual-level traits along the hydrological gradient using Generalized Additive Models (GAMs) and Generalized Linear Models (GLMs). To determine whether a trait-based model of environmental filtering could predict the composition of the plant community, I incorporated the individual-level trait relationships into a community assembly model known as Traitspace and predicted the relative abundance of the 23 most common species found within the Kettlehole.
Community-weighted root traits were more strongly related to the hydrological gradient than aboveground traits. Root aerenchyma increased as the number of days submerged increased while root dry matter content (RDMC), specific root length (SRL), root tissue density (RTD) and root branching intensity (RBI) decreased with increasing flooding. Community-weighted specific leaf area (SLA) and root tissue density were more closely related to the elevation gradient than any other traits. SLA decreased as elevation above the flood line increased while RTD increased with elevation. The relationships between individual-level traits and the elevation and flooding gradients were far weaker than community-weighted traits but showed similar trends in the directions of trait responses along the gradients. Grazing reduced the community-weighted trait values of all traits except SLA and aboveground dry matter content (AGDMC) along the flooding gradient and had little effect on the trait values observed along the elevation gradient.
Using environmental filtering of functional traits, the Traitspace model was able to predict the distribution and abundance of a number of key species within the wetland plant community but was unable to accurately predict the abundance and distribution of other species. The accuracy of the Traitspace model was best when all nine functional traits were used to produce predictions of species abundances but SLA and height were recognised as the two traits to provide the most predictive ability.
The strong filtering of root traits illustrate the important information that root traits provide in terms of the adaptations of plants in environments with varied soil hydrology. Easily measurable aboveground traits are often favoured in functional ecology but these results highlight the importance of measuring root traits in trait-based research. Traitspace has the ability to predict the abundance and distribution of some species within a wetland plant community using environmental filtering of functional traits. Community assembly at small spatial scales is mostly driven by biotic interactions rather than environmental filtering which may limit the power of current predictive models. The inclusion of biotic interactions into trait-based models will improve the predictions of community composition at small spatial scales in wetland ecosystems and help us to progress towards achieving the goal of accurately predicting the composition of plant communities.

text: Functional trait variation along a hydrological gradient and trait-based predictions of the composition of a wetland plant community Predicting the assembly of plant communities is considered the Holy Grail of functional ecology and has never been more important as we head into an era of environmental change. Studying plant functional traits provides the best opportunity for understanding the community assembly processes that determine the abundance and distribution of plant species. Plant functional traits provide information on the direct physiological adaptations of plants to various environmental conditions. The assembly of plant communities is driven by filtering processes that select for or against certain functional traits and a plant can only be present within a community if it contains the functional traits necessary to germinate, survive and compete in the environment of the community. An understanding of how functional traits are filtered by the environment and biotic interactions provides the foundations for predictive community assembly models. However, the understanding of how functional traits are filtered along hydrological gradients is poor for the majority of functional traits. 
In this thesis I aimed to identify how plant functional traits respond to variation in soil hydrology in the presence and absence of grazing and determine whether a trait-based model of environmental filtering could predict the composition of an ephemeral wetland plant community. To achieve these aims, I performed a survey of the plant community in an ephemeral wetland in grazed and ungrazed transects. The survey was conducted along a hydrological gradient that was split into an elevation gradient above the flood line and a flooding gradient below the flood line. I measured nine root, leaf and shoot traits on 885 plant samples collected during the community survey and investigated the response of community-weighted and individual-level traits along the hydrological gradient using Generalized Additive Models (GAMs) and Generalized Linear Models (GLMs). To determine whether a trait-based model of environmental filtering could predict the composition of the plant community, I incorporated the individual-level trait relationships into a community assembly model known as Traitspace and predicted the relative abundance of the 23 most common species found within the Kettlehole.
Community-weighted root traits were more strongly related to the hydrological gradient than aboveground traits. Root aerenchyma increased as the number of days submerged increased while root dry matter content (RDMC), specific root length (SRL), root tissue density (RTD) and root branching intensity (RBI) decreased with increasing flooding. Community-weighted specific leaf area (SLA) and root tissue density were more closely related to the elevation gradient than any other traits. SLA decreased as elevation above the flood line increased while RTD increased with elevation. The relationships between individual-level traits and the elevation and flooding gradients were far weaker than community-weighted traits but showed similar trends in the directions of trait responses along the gradients. Grazing reduced the community-weighted trait values of all traits except SLA and aboveground dry matter content (AGDMC) along the flooding gradient and had little effect on the trait values observed along the elevation gradient.
Using environmental filtering of functional traits, the Traitspace model was able to predict the distribution and abundance of a number of key species within the wetland plant community but was unable to accurately predict the abundance and distribution of other species. The accuracy of the Traitspace model was best when all nine functional traits were used to produce predictions of species abundances but SLA and height were recognised as the two traits to provide the most predictive ability.
The strong filtering of root traits illustrate the important information that root traits provide in terms of the adaptations of plants in environments with varied soil hydrology. Easily measurable aboveground traits are often favoured in functional ecology but these results highlight the importance of measuring root traits in trait-based research. Traitspace has the ability to predict the abundance and distribution of some species within a wetland plant community using environmental filtering of functional traits. Community assembly at small spatial scales is mostly driven by biotic interactions rather than environmental filtering which may limit the power of current predictive models. The inclusion of biotic interactions into trait-based models will improve the predictions of community composition at small spatial scales in wetland ecosystems and help us to progress towards achieving the goal of accurately predicting the composition of plant communities.

year: 2016

title: Ascending the Poutama: Culturally responsive diabetes care for Māori communities

authors: Crosswell, Rebekah Jane

subjects: culturally responsive

abstract: Introduction
Type 2 diabetes (T2D) significantly impacts Māori populations in Aotearoa New Zealand (NZ) who experience health disparities including suboptimal disease management.

Aim
To explore culturally responsive approaches to supporting Māori living with T2D from the perspective of healthcare providers.

Methods
Nine semi-structured interviews were conducted with clinicians from various disciplines (general practitioner, podiatrist, exercise physiologist, three kaiāwhina, dietitian, two pharmacists); five clinicians identify as Māori, four as non-Māori. Kaupapa Māori inductive thematic analysis was used.

Results
Four key themes emerged: empowering patient-centred communication, whānau involvement, interprofessional collaboration, and culturally appropriate analogies.

Discussion
The findings underscore the need for holistic, culturally responsive T2D care that prioritises culturally appropriate communication to improve patient engagement, health outcomes and address Māori health disparities.

text: Ascending the Poutama: Culturally responsive diabetes care for Māori communities Introduction
Type 2 diabetes (T2D) significantly impacts Māori populations in Aotearoa New Zealand (NZ) who experience health disparities including suboptimal disease management.

Aim
To explore culturally responsive approaches to supporting Māori living with T2D from the perspective of healthcare providers.

Methods
Nine semi-structured interviews were conducted with clinicians from various disciplines (general practitioner, podiatrist, exercise physiologist, three kaiāwhina, dietitian, two pharmacists); five clinicians identify as Māori, four as non-Māori. Kaupapa Māori inductive thematic analysis was used.

Results
Four key themes emerged: empowering patient-centred communication, whānau involvement, interprofessional collaboration, and culturally appropriate analogies.

Discussion
The findings underscore the need for holistic, culturally responsive T2D care that prioritises culturally appropriate communication to improve patient engagement, health outcomes and address Māori health disparities.

year: 2025