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New Approach to Mental Health of Pasifika Youth Offenders

Published: Tue 31 Oct 2017 08:28 AM
Researcher Takes New Approach to Assessing Mental Health of Pasifika Youth Offenders
The mental health of Pasifika youth offenders is about to be uniquely examined from a Pasifika worldview, looking at associations with culture, family and spirituality, as well as links between mental health and reoffending.
Auckland University of Technology (AUT) lecturer Dr Julia Ioane has been awarded a $250,000 Pacific Emerging Researcher First Grant by the Health Research Council of New Zealand (HRC), to help close the large knowledge gap around mental health of Pasifika youth offenders.
Dr Ioane’s grant is one of 26 Pacific health research career development awards announced in the HRC’s latest funding round.
Dr Ioane says it’s widely known that youth offenders have higher rates of mental health disorders than the general youth population, but with the increasing rate of Pasifika youth offending in Aotearoa, it is arguably no longer appropriate to continue to assess and provide treatment based on Western World models.
She says it’s timely that mental health assessments and interventions begin to incorporate and embed fundamental values of Pasifika when working with young people and their families – this being the difference between her study and others in this field.
Over the past five years, an average of 10 per cent of children and young people charged in court were Pasifika.
Dr Ioane plans to recruit 100 youth offenders of Samoan and Tongan descent, to examine the prevalence and severity of mental health problems and substance use disorders amongst them.
She’ll use the Fonofale model that includes family, culture, spirituality and physical health to help guide her assessments. Her methods will also incorporate principles of talanoa methodology (story sharing by answering some open-ended questions) – a process she says is often compromised when Western methodologies are used to assess Pasifika communities.
Her research will also determine the extent to which poor mental health among Pasifika youth offenders is associated with repeat offending. Dr Ioane says this sort of research must be prioritised, because youth offending affects all New Zealanders.
“If we address what leads to these behaviours by researching the target population and drawing on their worldview to guide government, practitioners, researchers and communities, we can better understand what can improve life-course outcomes for all.”
The HRC’s manager of Pacific Research Investment, Tolotea Lanumata, says the HRC is happy to support new thinking on challenging issues. “This research contributes to advancing Pacific knowledge in this important area of youth mental health.”
Dr Ioane was previously granted a HRC Pacific postdoctoral fellowship in 2009. Lanumata says it’s heartening to see a previous recipient on her way to establishing a career as a leading Pasifika researcher in the health and wellbeing of high-risk Pasifika populations.
The HRC received 46 applications for the 2018 Pacific health research career development awards – an increase from 29 last year, demonstrating a growing interest in, and need for, health research addressing the needs of Pacific people.
See below for the full list of recipients – lay summaries will be available on the HRC website on Tuesday 31st October: Visit www.hrc.govt.nz/funding-opportunities/recipientsand filter for ‘Pacific Health Research’ and ‘2018’.
2018 HRC Pacific health research career development awards
Pacific Emerging Researcher First Grant
Dr Julia Ioane, Auckland University of Technology
Assessing mental health among high-risk Pasifika youth in Aotearoa
36 months, $250,000
Dr Dianne Sika-Paotonu, Victoria University of Wellington
Towards a new penicillin for rheumatic fever
24 months, $249,391
Sir Thomas Davis Te Patu Kite Rangi Ariki Fellowship
Dr John Sluyter, University of Auckland
Evaluation of a new screening tool for atrial fibrillation in Pacific people
30 months, $286,955
Pacific Health Research Postdoctoral Fellowship
Ms Victoria Woolner, Victoria University of Wellington
Pasifika medicinal plants: Elucidating the science behind the tradition
36 months, $345,156
Pacific Clinical Research Training Fellowship
Dr James Slater, University of Auckland
CHOCS and TOFU projects: Ophthalmic changes in diabetes
24 months, $172,482
Pacific Health Research PhD Scholarship
Mrs Georgina McPherson, Auckland University of Technology
Pacific women navigating colposcopy services
24 months, $49,957
Mr Troy Ruhe, University of Otago
The effectiveness of circuit based exercise in Cook Islands communities
36 months, $133,550
Mrs Veisinia Pulu-Lakai, Massey University
Co-designing a community-based intervention programme for prediabetes
36 months, $125,790
Mr Samuela Ofanoa, University of Auckland
Fractures and falls among older adults in New Zealand
36 months, $125,100
Pacific Health Research Masters Scholarship
Ms Sarah Kapeli, University of Auckland
The effect of discrimination on health outcomes for Pacific people
11 months, $28,699
Miss Latasi Koro, University of Auckland
Hearing health in Samoan and Tokelauan Populations
12 months, $31,000
Pacific Knowledge Translation Grant
Miss Siobhan Tu'akoi, University of Auckland
Supporting Cook Islands communities to access scientific evidence
6 months, $5,000
Dr Dianne Sika-Paotonu, Victoria University of Wellington
Rheumatic Fever
6 months, $5,000
Miss Fofoa Pio, University of Auckland
The health literacy of Samoan mothers and managing their children’s health
6 months, $5,000
Ms Synthia Dash, University of Auckland
Deliberate self-harm among Pacific
6 months, $5,000
Ms Afu Taufa, University of Auckland
Social impacts of heavy kava use
6 months, $5,000
Pacific Health Research Summer Studentship
Ms Louise Jansen, University of Otago
Acceptability of the treadmill six-minute walk test in Pacific peoples
3 months, $5,000
Ms Megan Haines, University of Auckland
Effects of housing quality and stability on the health of Pacific children in New Zealand
3 months, $5,000
Mr David Nair, University of Otago
Development of a 3D printed thoracoscopic oesophageal atresia simulator
3 months, $5,000
Miss Jadan Hekau, University of Auckland
The role of Pacific fathers in a contemporary setting
3 months, $5,000
Ms ‘Eseta Vaipuna, University of Otago
The home environment of Tongan children
3 months, $5,000
Ms Kotalo Leau, University of Auckland
Persistent poverty in Pasifika families
3 months, $5,000
Mr Tevita Vaipuna, University of Otago
Tongan children's nutrition – native vs New Zealand migrants
3 months, $5,000
Ms Sophia Dean, University of Otago
Tongan children's physical activity – native vs New Zealand migrants
3 months, $5,000
Miss Theresa Fitzpatrick, University of Otago
Heart samples collected by Heart Otago – the link to Pacific populations
3 months, $5,000
Ms Leina Tucker-Masters, University of Auckland
Co-design of a pilot mental wellbeing initiative for Pacific tertiary students
3 months, $5,000
ENDS

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