Māori (Indigenous people of Aotearoa New Zealand) are overrepresented within the populations of Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICUs). Admission to the NICU is a stressful event for Māori whānau (family). Cultural, social, and health inequities that disproportionality affect Māori contribute further to this stress and it has become evident that the current system in place at Capital & Coast District Health Board (CCDHB) NICU (Wellington NICU) is failing to support whānau.

Neonatal health practitioners (NHPs) need more support and guidance in order to improve the experiences of Māori whānau in NICUs across Aotearoa. Hence, the aim of this practice project is to develop recommendations for the development and implementation of a Recommended Best Practice (RBP) to guide NHPs for successful engagement with Māori whānau in the NICU environment.

The practice change project is directed by Rosswurum and Larrabee’s (1999) model for evidence-based practice. The model contains six key stages that help guide health practitioners through a systematic process for change to evidence-based practice. These steps are assessing the need for change in practice, linking identified problems with interventions and outcomes, synthesizing the best available evidence, designing a practice change, implementing and evaluating the change to practice, and integrating and maintaining the change to practice.

Due to academic time constraints, only stages 1-4 of the model were completed as part of the practice project. Adaptions were made to the model to suit the development of the project which is presented across five chapters. The practice project includes consultations with CCDHB key stakeholders, an audit of CCDHB NICU referrals to Māori support services, a survey of the CCDHB NICU environment, and a literature review. The final recommendations for practice change are presented in chapter five.