Whakaoranga Whanau: Whanau Resilience

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Whakaoranga Whanau Whanau Resilience

• Jordan Waiti (Ngati Pikiao, Te Rarawa)
• Massey University
• Wellington

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Outline

• Background and Resilience Literature
• Methods
• Findings
• Whakaoranga Whanau Framework
• Discussion

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Question What are the resilience strategies
employed by Maori whanau?

• Resilience the ability to withstand and rebound
  from crisis and adversity
• Extensive International Literature (Western
  Models)
• Often focused on Individuals Resilience
• Recent acknowledgement of family systems
  Collective Resilience
• Networks, Family belief systems, Organizational
  patterns, Communication, Spirituality,
  coping/protective factors.
• Lack of Maori-based Resilience research (cultural
  perspectives)
• ? Deficit Theory - Strength orientated
• Recent interest attached to Whanau Ora.

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Methods

• Whanau interviews (n 15) kanohi-ki-te-kanohi
  
• - Family death, chronic ill-health,
  redundancy, incarceration, disabilities,
  solo-parenting etc.
• Rural and Urban
• mixed, blended
• Participation in Te Ao Maori
• Analysis
• - Thematic Networks
• Key Informant interviews (n 10) kaumatua,
  family practitioners, clinicians,
  psychiatrists/psychologists, policy makers,
  academics and researchers
• Design a Conceptual Framework - Coping
  Strategies and Protective Factors

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Principles Networks/Relationships

• Whakapapa Whanau, Kaupapa Whanau,
• Significant attachments, Whanau systems,
  Tangihanga.
• of course my whanau, theyre always there no
  matter what crap weve been through or given each
  other. Just to know that theyre always there
  whether its money, whether its just support,
  like I could not have done this research without
  them. You know, work full time and be a single
  Mum, impossible, especially the travel that I
  do. (single-parent)
• it was good even just to go there and she was
  so happy, especially to see mumkuia and so its
  that intergenerational kind of support that can
  help people when theyre feeling down (family
  death)
• One of my mums safety mechanisms for us when
  our father had his alcoholism, was that if she
  knew that the abuse was going to happen in the
  house, get down to Aunty Bettys house, you
  know. (multiple life shocks)
• Yeah, and aunties and uncles in a real broad
  term. So shes got heaps of aunties and uncles
  even though Ive got only four brother and
  sisters, shes got heaps of aunties and uncles
  and cousins. So all of those things have
  supported me through this (single-parent)

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Principles Abilities and Skills

• Flexibility, Education, Sport/Exercise, Humour,
  Positivity, Aroha/Manaaki, whanau accounts,
  Previous exp.
• yeah built it up protective factors, wed
  always made sure that we went back home to visit
  all the aunties and uncles and those kind of
  things. Because while dad was doing his studies,
  every January he would take two weeks off and
  then wed go up home up north and do the
  visiting rounds, so we already had all those
  kind of systems in place before dad died. He had
  a lot of time for my family and so we already had
  the strong support from my aunties and uncles,
  and that also gave me the strength when he passed
  on (family death)
• You know, my strategies of parenting and
  resilience have evolved over time. You know, Im
  less rigid compared to what I used to be and I
  have to accommodate contemporary challenges for
  adolescents. I have to move and shift with
  whats working for my tamariki. (multiple life
  shocks)
• So, one of the big things about going through
  the adversity that we had, was being able to use
  that to help other people help our whanau, help
  other people. To me, thats a wonderful thing
  and its healing for us, too that we can go and
  manaki people whove been saddened. (suicide)

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Principles Meaning, Values and Faith

• Cultural Identity, Spirituality, Religion,
  Responsibility
• There was the negative stuff Id been carrying
  around within me and I was translating that into
  what was wrong with me. And you cant understand
  that without a historical context. So learning
  that history and learning my whakapapa, learning
  my place within this lifetime has been so helpful
  too, so important (single-parent)
• So te taha wairua from my viewpoint as a single
  parent has actually being absolutely crucial for
  assisting us in our journey of resilience and
  coping. You know, its important for our family
  because our ancestors are very important to our
  whanau. (multiple life shocks)
• A few weeks later I had this beam come through
  me, this sort of light, and its the most
  beautiful feeling in the world. This beam came
  down through me and I was just blown away. For me
  it was her deceased daughter telling me that
  everything was alright, that she was alright.
  And so I never sought any of that stuff but it
  came to meIt gave me confidence to move on, it
  made me feel a lot better. (family death)

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Framework (adpated from Gunnestad, 2003)
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Conclusions

• Nothing new
• Not fixed, but rather dynamic
• The broad principles which contribute to whanau
  and family resilience are similar
• The application and interpretation of these
  principles can be quite different
• For whanau resilience strategies are both
  generic and culturally specific
• Resilience strategies (the mix of generic or
  culturally specific) will vary amongst whanau
• Implications social capital, whanau identity,
  s-determination, sound education.

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Culturally Aligned Resilience Factors

• The fact that there are fewer neurotic and
  psychotic illness among Mäori than among Päkehäs
  in New Zealand emphasises among other things the
  tremendous value to the Mäori of possessing a
  psychological security that comes from tribal and
  family security.
• (Beaglehole - 1947)

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Acknowledgements

• Various whanau
• Key Informants
• Funders HRC, Nga Pae o te Maramatanga, ACC,
  Families Commission.