Perceived discrimination is associated with poorer health and well‐being outcomes among Pacific peoples in New Zealand

BACKGROUND The global prevalence of mental health disorders is at a crisis point, particularly in the wake of COVID-19, prompting calls for the development of digital interdisciplinary mental health promotion interventions (MHPIs) for nonclinical cohorts. However, the influence of gender and age on the outcomes of and adherence to MHPIs is not well understood. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to determine the influence of gender and age on the outcomes of and adherence to a 10-week digital interdisciplinary MHPI that integrates strategies from positive psychology and lifestyle medicine and utilizes persuasive systems design (PSD) principles in a nonclinical setting. METHODS This study involved 488 participants who completed the digital interdisciplinary MHPI. Participants completed a pre and postintervention questionnaire that used: (1) the “mental health” and “vitality” subscales from the Short Form 36 (SF-36) Health Survey; (2) the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21); and (3) Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWL). Adherence to the digital interdisciplinary MHPI was measured by the number of educational videos the participants viewed and the extent to which they engaged in experiential challenge activities offered as part of the program. RESULTS On average, the participants (N=488; mean age 47.1 years, SD 14.1; 77.5% women) demonstrated statistically significant improvements in all mental health and well-being outcome measures, and a significant gender and age interaction was observed. Women tended to experience greater improvements than men in the mental health and well-being measures, and older men experienced greater improvements than younger men in the mental health and vitality subscales. Multiple analysis of variance results of the adherence measures indicated a significant difference for age but not gender. No statistically significant interaction between gender and age was observed for adherence measures. CONCLUSIONS Digital interdisciplinary MHPIs that utilize PSD principles can improve the mental health and well-being of nonclinical cohorts, regardless of gender or age. Hence, there may be a benefit in utilizing PSD principles to develop universal MHPIs such as that employed in this study, which can be used across gender and age groups. Future research should examine which PSD principles optimize universal digital interdisciplinary MHPIs. CLINICALTRIAL Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry ACTRN12619000993190; http://www.anzctr.org.au/Trial/Registration/TrialReview.aspx?id=377889 and Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry ACTRN12619001009101; http://www.anzctr.org.au/ACTRN12619001009101.aspx

Download Full-text

The Influence of Gender and Age on the Outcomes of and Adherence to a Digital Interdisciplinary Mental Health Promotion Intervention in an Australasian Nonclinical Setting: Cohort Study

JMIR Mental Health ◽

10.2196/29866 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 8 (11) ◽

pp. e29866

Author(s):

Geraldine Przybylko ◽

Darren Morton ◽

Jason Morton ◽

Melanie Renfrew

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Health Promotion ◽

Clinical Trials ◽

New Zealand ◽

Well Being ◽

Mental Health Promotion ◽

Trial Registration ◽

Gender And Age ◽

Clinical Trials Registry ◽

Health And Well Being

Background The global prevalence of mental health disorders is at a crisis point, particularly in the wake of COVID-19, prompting calls for the development of digital interdisciplinary mental health promotion interventions (MHPIs) for nonclinical cohorts. However, the influence of gender and age on the outcomes of and adherence to MHPIs is not well understood. Objective The aim of this study was to determine the influence of gender and age on the outcomes of and adherence to a 10-week digital interdisciplinary MHPI that integrates strategies from positive psychology and lifestyle medicine and utilizes persuasive systems design (PSD) principles in a nonclinical setting. Methods This study involved 488 participants who completed the digital interdisciplinary MHPI. Participants completed a pre and postintervention questionnaire that used: (1) the “mental health” and “vitality” subscales from the Short Form 36 (SF-36) Health Survey; (2) the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21); and (3) Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWL). Adherence to the digital interdisciplinary MHPI was measured by the number of educational videos the participants viewed and the extent to which they engaged in experiential challenge activities offered as part of the program. Results On average, the participants (N=488; mean age 47.1 years, SD 14.1; 77.5% women) demonstrated statistically significant improvements in all mental health and well-being outcome measures, and a significant gender and age interaction was observed. Women tended to experience greater improvements than men in the mental health and well-being measures, and older men experienced greater improvements than younger men in the mental health and vitality subscales. Multiple analysis of variance results of the adherence measures indicated a significant difference for age but not gender. No statistically significant interaction between gender and age was observed for adherence measures. Conclusions Digital interdisciplinary MHPIs that utilize PSD principles can improve the mental health and well-being of nonclinical cohorts, regardless of gender or age. Hence, there may be a benefit in utilizing PSD principles to develop universal MHPIs such as that employed in this study, which can be used across gender and age groups. Future research should examine which PSD principles optimize universal digital interdisciplinary MHPIs. Trial Registration Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry ACTRN12619000993190; http://www.anzctr.org.au/Trial/Registration/TrialReview.aspx?id=377889 and Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry ACTRN12619001009101; http://www.anzctr.org.au/ACTRN12619001009101.aspx

Download Full-text

Fighting words in the antipodes

10.26686/wgtn.14173547.v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

C Lacey ◽

MP Kelly ◽

Annemarie Jutel

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

New Zealand ◽

Natural Disasters ◽

Well Being ◽

Rhetorical Strategies ◽

Social Form ◽

Johns Hopkins University ◽

Local Media ◽

Sociology Of Diagnosis ◽

Health And Well Being

© 2020 by Johns Hopkins University Press. In this commentary, written in two bursts—the first completed in April 2020, and the second at the end of July—we explore how media metaphors of COVID-19 constitute the pandemic in Australia and New Zealand. We argue that the media’s rhetorical strategies play an important role not only in describing the illness, but in influencing and shaping individual and collective responses to the pandemic, with significant consequences for mental health and well-being in the context of crisis. We align this commentary with the tenets of the sociology of diagnosis, which argue that even though there are material realities of disease, their social form and conse-quence cannot be separated from the tangible nature of illness and its management. We also lean on Derrida’s approach to metaphor, which underlines how even observable viral entities such as COVID-19 are simultaneously material, abstract, and in flux. We describe the metaphors used by local media to describe the pandemic—including combat, bush fires, earthquakes, and other natural disasters—and we explore how and why these metaphors construct the pandemic locally and farther afield.

Download Full-text

Commentary on Housing, Health, and Well-Being in Aotearoa/New Zealand

Health Education & Behavior ◽

10.1177/1090198120967932 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 47 (6) ◽

pp. 802-804

Author(s):

Philippa Howden-Chapman ◽

Nevil Pierse

Keyword(s):

New Zealand ◽

Public Housing ◽

Community Involvement ◽

Central Government ◽

Rental Housing ◽

Premature Mortality ◽

Well Being ◽

Evidence Base ◽

Aotearoa New Zealand ◽

Health And Well Being

Housing is poorly constructed for the New Zealand climate and is a major cause of poor health and premature mortality. Private rental housing is older and in poorer condition than public housing and owner-occupied housing. This special issue describes four different approaches to improving housing, which have implications for international housing, health, and well-being policies. The first approach looks at generating the evidence base for improving the quality of the rental sector; the second, the aftereffects of the Christchurch earthquake and the unprecedented role taken by the central government to override local government and community involvement in rebuilding housing and regenerating the city; the third, measuring the effectiveness of the remediation of public housing; and finally, community-based partnerships between community workers and academics to improve the housing of children who have been hospitalized for housing-sensitive hospitalizations.

Download Full-text

Waiora: Connecting People, Well-Being, and Environment Through Waka Ama in Aotearoa New Zealand

Health Promotion Practice ◽

10.1177/1524839920978156 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 152483992097815

Author(s):

Christina Severinsen ◽

Angelique Reweti

Keyword(s):

New Zealand ◽

Physical Health ◽

Natural Environment ◽

Language Revitalization ◽

Well Being ◽

General Terms ◽

Aotearoa New Zealand ◽

Health And Well Being ◽

Improve Health

Waka ama is unique as a sport because, as well as the physical benefits for paddlers, it also creates opportunities for participants to experience and connect with the natural environment. This research draws on interviews with waka ama paddlers in Aotearoa New Zealand to illustrate how the well-being of the environment connects to the spiritual, cultural, and physical health of people. Results highlight the multifaceted benefits of participating in waka ama. As well as the physical benefits for paddlers, waka ama also has a strong tikanga, which encourages language revitalization with the use of te reo Māori through karakia, waiata, and the general terms used associated with waka. It also creates opportunities for participants to experience and connect with the natural environment and improve their health. The knowledge gained from participants provide evidence of effective ways to improve health and well-being within communities with a particular focus on waiora, the spiritual connection between hauora and the environment.

Download Full-text

Indigenous perspectives on concepts and determinants of flourishing in a health and well-being context: a scoping review protocol

BMJ Open ◽

10.1136/bmjopen-2020-045893 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (2) ◽

pp. e045893

Author(s):

Vicky Nelson ◽

Sarah Derrett ◽

Emma Wyeth

Keyword(s):

New Zealand ◽

Indigenous People ◽

Scoping Review ◽

Research Team ◽

Indigenous Health ◽

Well Being ◽

Empirical Literature ◽

Cochrane Library ◽

Scoping Reviews ◽

Health And Well Being

IntroductionIndigenous people, including Māori in New Zealand, face many inequities in health and the determinants of health. Historically, the analysis and reporting of Indigenous health in the literature has usually taken a western medical view, often with a descriptive and deficit-oriented approach—ignoring the holistic nature of Indigenous health. This project takes a nondeficit approach and is interested in the factors that support the health and well-being of Indigenous people, including Māori. Flourishing is a recent and increasingly used term within the well-being literature; however, concepts, theories and determinants related to Indigenous flourishing are largely unknown. This scoping review aims to identify, describe and synthesise the nature and extent of the current empirical literature related to concepts, theories and determinants of Indigenous flourishing, in health and well-being contexts.Methods and analysisScoping review methods and guidelines included in the framework developed by Arksey and O’Malley, and the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for scoping reviews, will be followed for best practice and reporting of this scoping review. The literature for this review will be identified by searching the following databases: Medline (OVID), EMBASE (Ovid), Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), Scopus, MAI journal, the Cochrane Library and Google Scholar. The research team has formulated a systematic search strategy, which will be restricted to articles published between January 1970 and May 2020 and published in the English language. Two reviewers will independently screen eligible studies for final study selection. A third reviewer will resolve any discrepancies that arise. Data from included studies will be extracted and included in thematic analysis, using a tool developed iteratively by the research team.Ethics and disseminationEthical approval was not required for this review. Dissemination of results will include publication in peer-reviewed journal articles, presentation of results at conferences and interactive discussions with a project expert advisory group. This scoping review also informs a larger project, examining the long-term health and flourishing of Māori, the Indigenous people of New Zealand and their whānau (families).

Download Full-text