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Lawson-Te Aho, K. R. (2016). The power of hope for Māori youth suicide prevention: Preliminary themes from the Aotearoa/New Zealand HOPE studies. Journal of Indigenous Research, 5(2).
Abstract: Hope is considered a protective factor for suicide prevention in Māori communities. In this small study, twenty-one Māori youth in four at risk communities participated in a digital media project on the constituents of HOPE. The preliminary results show that a positive relationship with peers and family is critical for the maintenance of hope in the lives of these Māori youth. The constituents of HOPE identified in this study include; a supportive non-judgmental family, particularly important for queer/LGBTI Māori youth; stable family relationships; knowledge of one’s cultural identity, exposure to opportunities to learn about being Māori; faith and capacity to envisage a life beyond the immediate struggle for survival and to set and achieve personal goals. This preliminary study will inform an extended study with Māori youth and development of a Māori measure of HOPE to guide suicide prevention efforts in the future.
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Lawson-Te Aho, K., Rose. (2017). The case of Re-framing Māori Suicide Prevention Research in Aotearoa/New Zealand: Applying Lessons from Indigenous Suicide Prevention Research. Journal of Indigenous Research, 6(2017), 18 pp.
Abstract: The aim of this paper is to present a case for reframing Māori suicide prevention research away from a strong emphasis on clinical research towards research that is more self-determining and historically and culturally contextualised. Rising levels of indigenous suicide have produced an intensified global focus on suicide prevention in indigenous, migrant and LGBTIQ populations.
Suicide research in Aotearoa/New Zealand has largely disregarded the potential explanatory power of historical trauma and the inter-generational transfer of collective suffering on Māori suicide levels. Similarly, the effects of regular exposure to racism, daily micro-aggressions and structural violence are often overlooked as explanatory of Māori suicide. Instead, Māori suicide is generally viewed through a pathological, agentic and individualistic lens and Māori suicide prevention efforts framed and informed by a risk factor discursive minimising the historical and contemporary outcomes of pervasive and pernicious histories under colonisation. This paper describes Māori suicide prevention research as a body of knowledge dominated by Western mono-cultural and a/historicised analysis. Such research has overwhelmingly informed Māori suicide prevention strategies and policies for thirty years. However, recent innovations in Māori suicide prevention research which take into account Māori imperatives for self-determination and re-claiming the healing potential of cultural sovereignty are considered and the case for a new frame that enables a more comprehensive, accurate analysis of suicide is proposed.
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Lawson-Te Aho, K., Fariu-Ariki, P., Ombler, J., Howden-Chapman, P., Pierse, N. (2019). A principles framework for taking action on Māori/Indigenous Homelessness in Aotearoa/New Zealand. National Institutes of Health, .
Abstract: OBJECTIVE:
The objective of this research was to develop a principles framework to guide action on Māori/Indigenous homelessness in Aotearoa incorporating Rangatiratanga (Māori self-determination), Whānau Ora (Government policy that places Māori families at the center of funding, policy and services) and Housing First.
METHOD:
Three pathways were identified as creating opportunities for action on Māori homelessness: Te Tiriti o Waitangi/Treaty of Waitangi is the Māori self-determination pathway; Whānau Ora, a government-sponsored policy supports whānau/family as the pathway for Māori wellbeing and disparities reduction; and Housing First, an international pathway with local application for homelessness that is being implemented in parts of Aotearoa. The potential opportunities of the three pathways shaped interviews with authoritative Māori about Māori principles (derived from the three pathways) for addressing Māori homelessness. Twenty interviews were conducted with Māori experts using Kaupapa Māori research processes, eliciting advice about addressing Māori homelessness. A principles framework called Whare Ōranga was developed to synthesise these views.
RESULTS:
Addressing Māori homelessness must be anchored in rights-based and culturally aligned practice empowered by Māori worldviews, principles and processes. Te Tiriti o Waitangi, which endorses Māori tribal self-determination and authority, and Whānau Ora as a government obligation to reduce inequities in Māori homelessness, are the foundations for such action. Colonisation and historical trauma are root causes of Māori homelessness. Strong rights-based frameworks are needed to enact decolonisation and guide policy. These frameworks exist in Tino Rangatiratanga/Māori self-determination and Whānau Ora.
CONCLUSION:
Whare Ōranga: An Indigenous Housing Interventions Principles Framework was developed in Aotearoa/New Zealand to end Māori homelessness. Future research is needed on the practical application of this framework in ending Māori homelessness. Moreover, the use value of the Whare Ōranga Framework as a workable approach to ending homelessness in other indigenous populations is yet to be considered.
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Dudgeon, P., Ring, I., Leyendekkers, G., McClintock, K., Lawson-Te Aho, K., Morse, G, S., Connolly, M., Stoor, J.P.A. King, M., King, A.,. (2018). Global Overview Indigenous Suicide Rates.29 pp.
Abstract: This background paper presents an overview of suicide in Indigenous peoples in countries where there is a dominant White society. The countries identified for this background paper share similar colonial histories and all but Greenland have populations where the Indigenous population is significantly smaller in comparison to the non-Indigenous/mainstream population.
The countries reviewed for suicide rates were Australia, Aotearoa/New Zealand, Canada, the United States of America, Greenland, and Scandinavian countries of Finland, Norway, Sweden, and Russia . These are all countries where the Indigenous peoples have elevated suicide rates compared to the non-Indigenous/mainstream population (Pollock, Naicker, Loro, Mulay & Colman, 2018).
Whilst definite figures for Greenland are unavailable, a rate of 82.8 suicide deaths per 100 000 in 2015 was identified in an analysis of suicides (Hersher, 2016). Greenland Inuit people make up 90% of the population of Greenland, and it shares a colonial history.
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Lawson-Te Aho, K. (1994). The Master's Tools: Maori Development Inside Pakeha psychology (Vol. Master of Social Sciences in Psychology). Master's thesis, University of Waikato, .
Abstract: The relationship between Maori people and Pakeha psychologists has been one of inequality in which Maori, often positioned as client or student, have been abnormalised through the wholesale application of foreign psychological models and theories. Pakeha psychologists by and large have closed ranks to disguise the essentially racist nature of their discipline and, of the practises which arise from it. This is evident in their failure to challenge in real terms, the cultural biases in their knowledge and practices and, the politically motivated and inspired agendas of their discipline. Given this, Pakeha psychology may be understood as part of the mechanics of colonization and neocolonialism. Challenges from inside the discipline have produced minor changes to the recruitment and training of Maori psychology students and staff, and, rhetorical statements about ethical commitments to Maori people based on the Treaty of Waitangi, however, the talk has been far more prolific than the walk-In the attempt to develop a Maori and psychology course, the first of its kind in a New Zealand university, questionnaires seeking comment on the content and process of such a course were administered to forty four undergraduate Maori psychology students from the University of Waikato. The respondents identified Pakeha psychology as monocultural and provided this as a rationale for the development of Maori psychology. Other major themes included the contemporary position of Maori, the interface between Pakeha psychology and Maori, Pakeha psychology and colonization and the Treaty of Waitangi.
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