Film on last life choices sparks dialogue

The end of life circumstances for ordinary New Zealanders are captured in a new half hour film on family responses to death and palliative care.

The moving film, ‘Farewell, Haere Atu Ra’ features actors portraying Māori and non-Māori telling the real life stories of people who cared for their older relatives or friends at the end of life. The film is a collaboration between the University of Auckland's School of Nursing’s Te Ārai: Palliative Care and End of Life Research Group and Associate Professors Shuchi Kothari and Sarina Pearson in the University’s Department of Media, Film and Television.

“It’s an innovative way to get health research findings out beyond the traditional routes of academic conferences and journal articles,” says Dr Lisa Williams who coordinated the project. “People connect with stories, they bring information to life in a way like no other.”

The research group trialled the film over the summer with healthcare professionals, interviewing them about their response to it. “One thing we discovered is that the film prompted them to reflect on issues facing families and how their actions affect families’ wellbeing,” Dr Williams said.

“I think one nurse summed it up well. She said: ‘To be honest nothing beats telling stories. It makes it real. You can hypothesize about things and discuss things but actually putting a face to it and real emotions and real experiences – nothing carries more meaning than that for people.’”

According to co-investigator Dr Tess Moeke-Maxwell, the Māori-specific feedback the team received indicated that “for Māori it was refreshing to view and share stories about what really happens to kaumātua at end of life and to identify the strengths of whānau carers as well as those things that support, or act as barriers, to good end of life care for kaumātua”.

The Te Ārai research team will be using ‘Farewell, Haere Atu Ra’ to help spread the word about the results from their Health Research Council grant as part of informing a broader audience. The three-year $2.1 million Te Paketanga study, led by Professor Merryn Gott, involved in-depth interviews about the end of life experiences of people’s older relatives who had died recently, with both Māori and non-Māori participants.

The interviews shed light on the care the older relatives received from formal health services as well as on the whānau/family members’ grief and bereavement.

“Details have been changed, but the eight vignettes are accurate accounts given by the interviewees and are in turn, moving, humorous, sad, shocking and heart-warming,” says Dr Williams. “They offer a poignant account of the last days and weeks of older New Zealanders.”

The film is available for public use and as a training or teaching tool. Contact Lisa at la.williams@auckland.ac.nz

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