title: Health promotion opportunities for lesbian, gay and bisexual people: Using data from the New Zealand Health Survey

authors: Adams, Jeffery

subjects: alcohol consumption

abstract: Issue Addressed
Health inequity for sexual minority (lesbian, gay and bisexual) people compared with heterosexual people is well documented globally. However, limited local data have been used to inform health policy and practice. This project analysed data from the New Zealand Health Survey to determine areas of inequity in health behaviours and identify opportunities for health promotion action.

Methods
We used pooled data from six waves of the New Zealand Health Survey (from 2015/2016 to 2020/2021). The sample for analysis comprised 67 426 people aged 15 years and older, including 1224 sexual minority females and 703 sexual minority males. We applied multiple logistic regression to investigate the association between health behaviours and sexual identity.

Results
Sexual minority people were found to have poorer health behaviours in comparison to heterosexual people in relation to alcohol consumption, smoking, drug use, physical activity and nutrition (eating fruit and vegetables). For example, compared to heterosexual females, female minorities were more likely to be binge drinkers (OR:1.61; 95% CI:1.60, 1.62), current smokers (OR:1.88; 95% CI:1.86, 1.90), drug users (OR:3.23; 95% CI:3.20, 3.25) as well as being less likely to meet fruit (OR:0.84; 95% CI:0.84, 0.85) and vegetable consumption guidelines (OR:0.94; 95% CI:0.93, 0.94). It shows similar patterns of the associations when compared to heterosexual males with male minorities. In relation to physical activity, female minority people were more likely to meet the guidelines compared to heterosexual females.

Conclusion
Our results from the New Zealand Survey data are broadly consistent with the current international literature demonstrating health inequity for sexual minorities compared with heterosexual people in relation to alcohol consumption, smoking, drug use, physical activity and eating fruit and vegetables.

So What?
Opportunities exist in New Zealand to improve the health behaviours of sexual minorities, and health promotion agencies should ensure their interventions address the needs of these groups. Health promotion agencies have an ethical and moral responsibility to address these areas of inequity.

text: Health promotion opportunities for lesbian, gay and bisexual people: Using data from the New Zealand Health Survey Issue Addressed
Health inequity for sexual minority (lesbian, gay and bisexual) people compared with heterosexual people is well documented globally. However, limited local data have been used to inform health policy and practice. This project analysed data from the New Zealand Health Survey to determine areas of inequity in health behaviours and identify opportunities for health promotion action.

Methods
We used pooled data from six waves of the New Zealand Health Survey (from 2015/2016 to 2020/2021). The sample for analysis comprised 67 426 people aged 15 years and older, including 1224 sexual minority females and 703 sexual minority males. We applied multiple logistic regression to investigate the association between health behaviours and sexual identity.

Results
Sexual minority people were found to have poorer health behaviours in comparison to heterosexual people in relation to alcohol consumption, smoking, drug use, physical activity and nutrition (eating fruit and vegetables). For example, compared to heterosexual females, female minorities were more likely to be binge drinkers (OR:1.61; 95% CI:1.60, 1.62), current smokers (OR:1.88; 95% CI:1.86, 1.90), drug users (OR:3.23; 95% CI:3.20, 3.25) as well as being less likely to meet fruit (OR:0.84; 95% CI:0.84, 0.85) and vegetable consumption guidelines (OR:0.94; 95% CI:0.93, 0.94). It shows similar patterns of the associations when compared to heterosexual males with male minorities. In relation to physical activity, female minority people were more likely to meet the guidelines compared to heterosexual females.

Conclusion
Our results from the New Zealand Survey data are broadly consistent with the current international literature demonstrating health inequity for sexual minorities compared with heterosexual people in relation to alcohol consumption, smoking, drug use, physical activity and eating fruit and vegetables.

So What?
Opportunities exist in New Zealand to improve the health behaviours of sexual minorities, and health promotion agencies should ensure their interventions address the needs of these groups. Health promotion agencies have an ethical and moral responsibility to address these areas of inequity.

year: 2025-07-15

title: Education: a space to survive and thrive?

authors: O'Sullivan, Mary

subjects: teacher educator

abstract: The article presents our response to some ideas presented by David Kirk in his 2012 Scholar Lecture to the Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy Special Interest Group of the British Educational Research Association Annual Conference in September 2012. We seek to present an alternate view to one aspect of Kirk's argument which supports a view that physical education pedagogues are marginalised in academia and that such a status is attributed at least in part to their professional positioning within the field of education and within schools or faculties of education. We argue that a career as a scholar in the university sector means understanding the goals and priorities of the particular university where you work and how your interests and capacities align. We argue that being a teacher educator or a sport pedagogy scholar in a College of Education or in a Department of Human Movement Studies is not the central defining characteristic in progressing your career. What matters is that the priorities of your department and the attitude of your colleagues to your teaching and research align with your capacities and interests. We reject what we read as the message that being involved in teacher education is not a good career move in the contemporary university. While we acknowledge challenges to teacher education in England and elsewhere, this is not a reason to abandon research on teaching/teacher education or careers in schools/departments of education.

text: Education: a space to survive and thrive? The article presents our response to some ideas presented by David Kirk in his 2012 Scholar Lecture to the Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy Special Interest Group of the British Educational Research Association Annual Conference in September 2012. We seek to present an alternate view to one aspect of Kirk's argument which supports a view that physical education pedagogues are marginalised in academia and that such a status is attributed at least in part to their professional positioning within the field of education and within schools or faculties of education. We argue that a career as a scholar in the university sector means understanding the goals and priorities of the particular university where you work and how your interests and capacities align. We argue that being a teacher educator or a sport pedagogy scholar in a College of Education or in a Department of Human Movement Studies is not the central defining characteristic in progressing your career. What matters is that the priorities of your department and the attitude of your colleagues to your teaching and research align with your capacities and interests. We reject what we read as the message that being involved in teacher education is not a good career move in the contemporary university. While we acknowledge challenges to teacher education in England and elsewhere, this is not a reason to abandon research on teaching/teacher education or careers in schools/departments of education.

year: 2013

title: Kei hea te tangi a te Tūī? An exploration of Kaitiakitanga in urban spaces

authors: Walker, Erana

subjects: Kaitiakitanga

abstract: Indigenous people’s connection to the natural world differs from place to place. In Aotearoa, New Zealand, Māori connection to nature is often articulated through the concept of kaitiakitanga whilst intertwining concepts of whakapapa, wairua, mana, mauri and place. Kaitiakitanga captures the relationships, narratives and practices that Māori utilise to protect kin of the natural environment as well as Māori communities in general. Over recent decades increase use of kaitiakitanga with respect to resource management has been linked to ideas of guardianship and stewardship, departing from important aspects such as place, whakapapa, intergenerational knowledge, spirituality and resource use. Calls to recognise the diverse ways kaitiakitanga has and can be expressed by Māori have echoed through academic literature, encouraging wider perspectives and application of the concept to develop. This has reinvigorated not only the need for natures protection but also the recognition of cultural knowledges and concepts in practicing kaitiakitanga. 
 
As with most indigenous people, Māori have experienced urbanisation that has spanned across generations of whānau and hapū. Urbanisation has the ability to challenge health outcomes, cultural practices and cultural knowledge, and more importantly, relationships to nature. Growing urbanisation and environmental degradation continue to challenge people and our relationships to nature. There is now a need to understand how urban spaces may also challenge the concepts that encourage connections to nature like kaitiakitanga. Moreover, there is a need to understand if such cultural concepts can become challenged when transient Māori reside in another tribal group’s boundaries. This research provides a deeper analysis of kaitiakitanga by understanding its application within the urban space of Kirikiriroa/Hamilton. From data gathered through a survey, focus groups and interviews, this research project illustrates the experiences of Māori in the urban space who know and practice kaitiakitanga in Kirikiriroa/Hamilton. More importantly, this study posits the integral role of place connection and mana in supporting and shaping kaitiakitanga practices in urban spaces.

The data from participants shows a clear narrative of kaitiakitanga from both local and transient Māori exist and indicates that kaitiakitanga is practiced in accordance with their location and whakapapa to their area of residence. The study has found that kaitiakitanga practices have adapted to suit urban spaces allowing for both transient and local knowledges to exist within the urban space. The key findings of this research show many influences that impact kaitiakitanga practices like the recognition of childhood spaces and experiences, ideas of kinship, cultural knowledges, spirituality, mobility, nature as well as modernisation. Through exploring participants use and knowledge of kaitiakitanga, this research provides a new lens in which to view this concept and bring to the fore, the various experiences and ways that participants connect to place, people, culture and most importantly, nature.

text: Kei hea te tangi a te Tūī? An exploration of Kaitiakitanga in urban spaces Indigenous people’s connection to the natural world differs from place to place. In Aotearoa, New Zealand, Māori connection to nature is often articulated through the concept of kaitiakitanga whilst intertwining concepts of whakapapa, wairua, mana, mauri and place. Kaitiakitanga captures the relationships, narratives and practices that Māori utilise to protect kin of the natural environment as well as Māori communities in general. Over recent decades increase use of kaitiakitanga with respect to resource management has been linked to ideas of guardianship and stewardship, departing from important aspects such as place, whakapapa, intergenerational knowledge, spirituality and resource use. Calls to recognise the diverse ways kaitiakitanga has and can be expressed by Māori have echoed through academic literature, encouraging wider perspectives and application of the concept to develop. This has reinvigorated not only the need for natures protection but also the recognition of cultural knowledges and concepts in practicing kaitiakitanga. 
 
As with most indigenous people, Māori have experienced urbanisation that has spanned across generations of whānau and hapū. Urbanisation has the ability to challenge health outcomes, cultural practices and cultural knowledge, and more importantly, relationships to nature. Growing urbanisation and environmental degradation continue to challenge people and our relationships to nature. There is now a need to understand how urban spaces may also challenge the concepts that encourage connections to nature like kaitiakitanga. Moreover, there is a need to understand if such cultural concepts can become challenged when transient Māori reside in another tribal group’s boundaries. This research provides a deeper analysis of kaitiakitanga by understanding its application within the urban space of Kirikiriroa/Hamilton. From data gathered through a survey, focus groups and interviews, this research project illustrates the experiences of Māori in the urban space who know and practice kaitiakitanga in Kirikiriroa/Hamilton. More importantly, this study posits the integral role of place connection and mana in supporting and shaping kaitiakitanga practices in urban spaces.

The data from participants shows a clear narrative of kaitiakitanga from both local and transient Māori exist and indicates that kaitiakitanga is practiced in accordance with their location and whakapapa to their area of residence. The study has found that kaitiakitanga practices have adapted to suit urban spaces allowing for both transient and local knowledges to exist within the urban space. The key findings of this research show many influences that impact kaitiakitanga practices like the recognition of childhood spaces and experiences, ideas of kinship, cultural knowledges, spirituality, mobility, nature as well as modernisation. Through exploring participants use and knowledge of kaitiakitanga, this research provides a new lens in which to view this concept and bring to the fore, the various experiences and ways that participants connect to place, people, culture and most importantly, nature.

year: 2021