Auckland Council commissioned Katoa Ltd to undertake a small qualitative study of the quality of life of older Māori in Tāmaki Makaurau, guided by a Kaupapa Māori (by, with, and for Māori) distributed methodology. Seven community interviewers recruited older Māori through their networks. Thirty-five older Māori (28 women and 7 men) aged from 60 to 93 years (average=74 years) were interviewed, half of whom described their whakapapa connections to Iwi of Tāmaki Makaurau. The interviews canvassed the personal experiences of older Māori as well as their insights into the quality of life for older Māori in their community. 

A research magazine funded by the Ageing Well National Science Challenge

When it comes to how we will house ourselves as we age, we are indeed in a perfect storm. We stand on a precipice – if we don’t make changes right now, our systems will increasingly disable our seniors today, as well as tomorrow’s seniors. This is particularly true for housing. Now more than ever, we are seeing more seniors renting, becoming homeless and in unstable, precarious housing. This book shares solutions-oriented research that can shape our decisions right now, both locally and nationally.

This article examines what the 35 Māori whānau (56 individuals) said about family success and about supporting the success of young people in their whānau. For many whānau, success embodied happiness, collective wellbeing, and good whānau relationships, alongside education and having a plan for the future. This success was most often hampered by finan- cial restrictions. Whānau wanted young people to be achieving in education, working hard, and engaged in extracurricular activities.

Measuring Māori children's wellbeing, 2019

This paper considers whether a fuller picture of the lived realities of Māori children can be gained from routinely collected data, using a lens of tamariki Māori wellbeing. A mauri framing for the indicator set is proposed, with three components reflecting the ihi, wehi and wana of tamariki. This paper is intended as a resource that can inform discussion of Māori-centric indicators of Māori children’s wellbeing as individuals, within the context of whānau and wider society.

Measuring Māori wellbeing, 2014

This paper describes developments in the culturally responsive measurement of Māori wellbeing. These have culminated in Te Kupenga, the 2013 survey of Māori wellbeing by New Zealand Statistics, and two Māori mental wellbeing assessment tools, Hua Oranga and the Meihana Model. Gaps remain in the measurement of collective Māori wellbeing, or whānau ora, with individual reporting on whānau wellbeing currently being used as a proxy. The close involvement of Māori in the development of any wellbeing measure is essential for that measure to be culturally responsive and valid.

What works for Māori, 2012

The purpose of this review was to study evidence from five major domains (economic development, education, health, whānau and wellness) to identify a common set of interventions, initiatives, approaches and practices that increases understanding of what helps Māori succeed or improve outcomes in life.

Safety of subsequent children, 2012

This paper considers what can be done to: assist families to overcome their complex issues so subsequent children are not at risk, and prevent subsequent children coming into families (while parents are still addressing their complex issues). Māori children belong to whānau, hapū and iwi and, as such, responsibility for raising children falls beyond the bounds of their immediate family. The roles and responsibilities of these childrearing networks include the transmission of cultural mores and monitoring of child safety. Unfortunately, and for often complex reasons, not all whānau are safe places for children in their care and Māori whānau are over-represented in the welfare system, including child-removal statistics. This paper seeks to understand the confluence of factors that place Māori whānau at risk within our society and how these whānau can be supported in their parenting aspirations, especially if they have already had a child removed by Child, Youth and Family (CYF).

Kaitoko Whānau evaluation, 2011

The evaluation of the Kaitoko Whānau programme was undertaken in 2011. Eleven host organisations, their Kaitoko Whānau, key community support people and agencies, and whānau were interviewed about the implementation of, and outcomes from, the programme.