title: Using gamification to support positive health behaviour change: A kaupapa Māori approach

authors: Jefferies, Dannette (Dannie) Louise

subjects: Gamification

abstract: As our lives become increasingly technology-dependent, healthcare practitioners and researchers recognise the opportunities to deliver effective digital healthcare initiatives to improve patient outcomes. Gamification is one such technological approach to consider. While some important work has been done in gamification, to date, there have been few gamified healthy lifestyle intervention studies undertaken within an Indigenous or minority population. Therefore, this research extends the current knowledge of gamification with a focus on an Indigenous population.
Māori are the Indigenous People of New Zealand, and as in many other colonised countries, Māori are over-represented in obesity statistics; a factor which contributes to significant health inequities, such as a higher incidence of chronic illness among Māori people. Gamification may be an effective means of supporting positive lifestyle choices (e.g., increased physical activity) to reduce the prevalence of chronic illness. This research takes a Kaupapa Māori approach to address the research question: How can gamification support positive health behaviour change? Kaupapa Māori is a philosophical Māori-centric approach that ensures tino rangatiratanga (the right to self-determination). The research approach follows Māori tikanga (customary practices) and recognises the importance of Te Reo Māori (Māori language) and Te Ao Māori (a Māori worldview).
This research followed a design science research (DSR) process and consisted of two phases: Phase One was a prototype design phase, and Phase Two evaluated the prototype. Phase One involved a series of co-design hui (focus groups) to explore the social context and health aspirations of Māori and to ideate potential solutions. Phase One found that normative beliefs strongly influence effective gamification design preference for Māori and that culturally-tailored design is effective for Māori; a notion that contradicts previous Western-oriented gamification implementations. Phase Two consisted of a cross-sectional survey and regression analysis to evaluate the prototype designed during Phase One. Major findings from Phase Two show that three critical factors predict whether Māori users would use the gamified intervention: Perceived Ease-of-Use; Māori-Centric Design; and the use of Whakataetae (competitive) persuasive design strategies.  
This research contributes to gamification literature by identifying the gamification elements that most significantly impact behavioural intention toward gamified health applications for Māori; knowledge that may be transferable to other Indigenous populations. The importance of implementing a competitive strategy contradicts previous literature on collectivist cultures and guides the development of future gamified interventions. This research also contributes to theoretical and practical knowledge by demonstrating that effective persuasive strategies are not universal; Māori-centric design is a self-determined approach that keeps the needs of the target audience central to the design of a solution. This research provides theory-driven practical guidelines for design processes and design decisions that are driven by the needs and aspirations of Māori.

text: Using gamification to support positive health behaviour change: A kaupapa Māori approach As our lives become increasingly technology-dependent, healthcare practitioners and researchers recognise the opportunities to deliver effective digital healthcare initiatives to improve patient outcomes. Gamification is one such technological approach to consider. While some important work has been done in gamification, to date, there have been few gamified healthy lifestyle intervention studies undertaken within an Indigenous or minority population. Therefore, this research extends the current knowledge of gamification with a focus on an Indigenous population.
Māori are the Indigenous People of New Zealand, and as in many other colonised countries, Māori are over-represented in obesity statistics; a factor which contributes to significant health inequities, such as a higher incidence of chronic illness among Māori people. Gamification may be an effective means of supporting positive lifestyle choices (e.g., increased physical activity) to reduce the prevalence of chronic illness. This research takes a Kaupapa Māori approach to address the research question: How can gamification support positive health behaviour change? Kaupapa Māori is a philosophical Māori-centric approach that ensures tino rangatiratanga (the right to self-determination). The research approach follows Māori tikanga (customary practices) and recognises the importance of Te Reo Māori (Māori language) and Te Ao Māori (a Māori worldview).
This research followed a design science research (DSR) process and consisted of two phases: Phase One was a prototype design phase, and Phase Two evaluated the prototype. Phase One involved a series of co-design hui (focus groups) to explore the social context and health aspirations of Māori and to ideate potential solutions. Phase One found that normative beliefs strongly influence effective gamification design preference for Māori and that culturally-tailored design is effective for Māori; a notion that contradicts previous Western-oriented gamification implementations. Phase Two consisted of a cross-sectional survey and regression analysis to evaluate the prototype designed during Phase One. Major findings from Phase Two show that three critical factors predict whether Māori users would use the gamified intervention: Perceived Ease-of-Use; Māori-Centric Design; and the use of Whakataetae (competitive) persuasive design strategies.  
This research contributes to gamification literature by identifying the gamification elements that most significantly impact behavioural intention toward gamified health applications for Māori; knowledge that may be transferable to other Indigenous populations. The importance of implementing a competitive strategy contradicts previous literature on collectivist cultures and guides the development of future gamified interventions. This research also contributes to theoretical and practical knowledge by demonstrating that effective persuasive strategies are not universal; Māori-centric design is a self-determined approach that keeps the needs of the target audience central to the design of a solution. This research provides theory-driven practical guidelines for design processes and design decisions that are driven by the needs and aspirations of Māori.

year: 2023

title: Words on Walls: Te reo Māori (loan)words in Aotearoa New Zealand primary school classrooms

authors: Burnette, Jessie

abstract: The unique language contact situation within Aotearoa New Zealand has informed a range of studies of the defining and increasingly salient feature of New Zealand English (NZE): the integration of loanwords from the indigenous, donor language, te reo Māori, into the dominant recipient language, English (Hay et al. 2008). As NZE is experiencing a state of great lexical flux, it is important to establish which (loan)words children are regularly exposed to and what social meanings they may be acquiring in relation to these. One relevant domain that can be examined for this purpose is that of the classroom. The classroom is educational in the traditional sense, but also in the developmental sense, in the acquisition of broader social meaning. Previous schoolscape research has highlighted not only the pedagogical importance of these spaces, but their influence in the construction and transmission of language ideologies (Pzymus and Huddleston 2021; Brown 2012). The present study aims to answer two questions: RQ1) Which (loan)words are children regularly exposed to through schoolscapes in Aotearoa (and do these words align with the loanwords identified as frequently appearing in previously collected corpora)? RQ2) What implicit language ideologies does the presentation of loanwords display (e.g. are loanwords presented as ‘flagged’/foreign (Levendis and Calude 2019))? This study brings together quantitative and qualitative analysis methods in an in-depth investigation of nine classrooms within three separate primary schools, and aims to provide a broad and perationalizable framework for conducting LL.

text: Words on Walls: Te reo Māori (loan)words in Aotearoa New Zealand primary school classrooms The unique language contact situation within Aotearoa New Zealand has informed a range of studies of the defining and increasingly salient feature of New Zealand English (NZE): the integration of loanwords from the indigenous, donor language, te reo Māori, into the dominant recipient language, English (Hay et al. 2008). As NZE is experiencing a state of great lexical flux, it is important to establish which (loan)words children are regularly exposed to and what social meanings they may be acquiring in relation to these. One relevant domain that can be examined for this purpose is that of the classroom. The classroom is educational in the traditional sense, but also in the developmental sense, in the acquisition of broader social meaning. Previous schoolscape research has highlighted not only the pedagogical importance of these spaces, but their influence in the construction and transmission of language ideologies (Pzymus and Huddleston 2021; Brown 2012). The present study aims to answer two questions: RQ1) Which (loan)words are children regularly exposed to through schoolscapes in Aotearoa (and do these words align with the loanwords identified as frequently appearing in previously collected corpora)? RQ2) What implicit language ideologies does the presentation of loanwords display (e.g. are loanwords presented as ‘flagged’/foreign (Levendis and Calude 2019))? This study brings together quantitative and qualitative analysis methods in an in-depth investigation of nine classrooms within three separate primary schools, and aims to provide a broad and perationalizable framework for conducting LL.

year: 2024

title: The energy cultures framework: Exploring the role of norms, practices and material culture in shaping energy behaviour in New Zealand

authors: Stephenson, Janet

subjects: Energy behaviour

abstract: The energy cultures framework was developed in 2009 to support interdisciplinary investigation into energy behaviour in New Zealand. In this paper, we discuss the framework in light of 5 years of empirical application and conceptual development. The concept of culture is helpful in seeking to better understand energy behaviour because it conveys how behaviours are embedded within the physical and social contexts of everyday life, and how they are both repetitive and heterogeneous. The framework suggests that the energy culture of a given subject (e.g. an individual, a household, a business, a sector) can be studied by examining the interrelationships between their norms, practices and material culture, and how these, in turn, are shaped by external influences. We discuss the key theoretical influences of the framework, and how the core concepts of the framework have evolved as we have applied them in different research situations. We then illustrate how we have applied the framework to a range of topics and sectors, and how it has been used to support interdisciplinary research, in identifying clusters of energy cultures, in examining energy cultures at different scales and in different sectors, and to inform policy development.

text: The energy cultures framework: Exploring the role of norms, practices and material culture in shaping energy behaviour in New Zealand The energy cultures framework was developed in 2009 to support interdisciplinary investigation into energy behaviour in New Zealand. In this paper, we discuss the framework in light of 5 years of empirical application and conceptual development. The concept of culture is helpful in seeking to better understand energy behaviour because it conveys how behaviours are embedded within the physical and social contexts of everyday life, and how they are both repetitive and heterogeneous. The framework suggests that the energy culture of a given subject (e.g. an individual, a household, a business, a sector) can be studied by examining the interrelationships between their norms, practices and material culture, and how these, in turn, are shaped by external influences. We discuss the key theoretical influences of the framework, and how the core concepts of the framework have evolved as we have applied them in different research situations. We then illustrate how we have applied the framework to a range of topics and sectors, and how it has been used to support interdisciplinary research, in identifying clusters of energy cultures, in examining energy cultures at different scales and in different sectors, and to inform policy development.

year: 2015