Hauora: Relational Wellbeing of Māori Community Support Workers
Date
Authors
Nicholson, Amber
Hurd, Fiona
Ravenswood, Katherine
Supervisor
Item type
Journal Article
Degree name
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Cambridge University Press
Abstract
There has been growing global interest in wellbeing over recent decades, yet what constitutes wellbeing depends on cultural and philosophical traditions, as well as worldview and knowledge systems. Our article offers an Indigenous Māori view on hauora – relational wellbeing – which emanates from the spiritual essence and ethic of hau, and traverses ecological, social, and economic spheres. We use the case study of Māori community support workers (CSWs), who, in our study, found that their hauora was affected by discrimination, racism, and a lack of cultural awareness and support from employers. Our participants, centred mostly within corporate community support providers, found that Western models of care and support did not allow for the expression of tikanga Māori, which limited their options for providing culturally appropriate care. Also prevalent was the lack of recognition by employers and funders of the importance of culture and culturally appropriate care. The implications of acknowledging hauora within Aotearoa New Zealand’s wellbeing frameworks are then examined, showing that Māori notions of wellbeing have the potential to deliver better outcomes not only for Māori but for all New Zealanders. In this article, we provide some recommendations and reflections on how organisations can prioritise and embed the cultural wellbeing of Māori CSWs, their whānau and their clients in the workplace.Description
Keywords
4409 Social Work, 44 Human Society, Generic health relevance, 1402 Applied Economics, 1503 Business and Management, 1605 Policy and Administration, 3505 Human resources and industrial relations, 3801 Applied economics, 4410 Sociology
Source
Economic and Labour Relations Review, ISSN: 1035-3046 (Print); 1838-2673 (Online), Cambridge University Press, 36(1), 28-45. doi: 10.1017/elr.2024.61
Rights statement
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution and reproduction, provided the original article is properly cited.