色花堂

It鈥檚 not the plot of the latest superhero movie. They鈥檙e the children born to women who volunteered to take part in  (GUiNZ), the country鈥檚 largest longitudinal study of child development.

Research Director Dr  (T奴hoe) of the UniServices-run study, who is also an associate professor at Te Kupenga Hauora M膩ori, the M膩ori Health Department at Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of 色花堂, calls the pregnant women who signed up to the extensive 21-year study in 2009 鈥渁bsolute heroes鈥� who volunteered because they wanted to make a difference. And they and their children are.

鈥淕rowing Up in New Zealand is an important study for Aotearoa, with the M膩ori cohort alone representing the largest longitudinal study of M膩ori wellbeing this country has ever seen,鈥� says Paine. 鈥淭hat makes it an important opportunity for researchers, community advocates, policymakers, iwi, hap奴 and other stakeholders to gain evidence and insights that can help all of us take action against the longstanding and terrible inequities we see in child and youth wellbeing, particularly for M膩ori.鈥�

By age eight, the study found, M膩ori and Pacific children experienced poorer mental health. To connect the dots to where negative mental health outcomes begin, a piece of GUiNZ research is now examining whether different experiences, such as poverty in early life, lead to poor mental wellbeing later in life.

In addition to identifying problems, the study is also focused on identifying possible solutions, particularly those that come from the communities represented in the study.

One study found that. Other work found that for children who identified as M膩ori, .

Keeping wh膩nau in the study

Growing Up in New Zealand doesn鈥檛 just examine physical and mental wellbeing 鈥� it also examines factors such as social relationships, family economic situations and children鈥檚 living environments, including neighbourhood and school communities.

Gathering all that information through surveys and face-to-face interviews is a significant commitment for the wh膩nau involved. 

鈥淲e understand that life gets busier as children grow older, and that different families experience different stressors, so sometimes when we reach out to our participants to take part in a survey, it might not be a good time in their lives,鈥� says Paine. 鈥淒espite how dynamic life is, about 80 percent of families have participated every time, so that鈥檚 something to be celebrated.

鈥淭he issue is, if 20 percent of families aren鈥檛 participating, their experience isn鈥檛 being captured in Growing Up in New Zealand. What we鈥檝e seen is that the groups we are more likely to lose contact with over time are M膩ori or Pacific, so that negatively impacts the value of the study for M膩ori and Pacific communities."

Researchers often label some study participants as 鈥榟ard to reach鈥� or 鈥榙isengaged鈥�. That鈥檚 problematic, says Paine.

鈥淚t鈥檚 our responsibility as researchers to connect with those families, to support them to be part of the study and help them understand why their contributions are important.鈥�

 GUiNZ has put measures in place to ensure M膩ori and Pacific families feel supported and valued as participants. During the, M膩ori interviewers engaged with M膩ori wh膩nau while Pacific interviewers engaged with Pacific families.

鈥淲e can already see in our analysis that it made a significant difference,鈥� says Paine. 鈥淒espite the terrible context of the Delta and Omicron outbreaks, which were going on at the same time as our 12-year interviews, our preliminary data suggests that having interview teams that understand the realities for M膩ori and Pacific communities and helpful and appreciated."

Another new measure was that for families committed to speaking te reo M膩ori at home, questionnaires were provided in te reo and interviews conducted by fluent speakers.

Paine is working to extend the study鈥檚 commitment to M膩ori and Pacific people even further across the organisation.

鈥淲e need more M膩ori and Pacific researchers within our study team and broader network of GUiNZ data users to ensure that the work we do is meaningful for our families and communities and reflects our own priorities,鈥� says Paine. 鈥淭his will generate better publications, better policy briefs and better recommendations for M膩ori and Pacific communities.鈥�

Democratising data and outputs

Another goal for Paine is to ensure the data and outputs from the study are easily accessible, not only to people with advanced biostatistical skills, but also to community organisations, parents and even children and youth themselves.

鈥淵oung people are leading Aotearoa in national discussions about climate change and the voting age, and I want to bring that energy into Growing Up in New Zealand,鈥� says Paine. 鈥淲hen we share research and recommendations, we need to make sure we鈥檙e not just writing academic articles or policy briefs for government officials. There鈥檚 a whole community of tamariki and rangatahi wellbeing activists that could use the data we have to shape the conversations they want to lead."

To make that easier, Project 膧mua 鈥� 膩mua means 鈥榝uture鈥� 鈥� is looking for ways to ensure that M膩ori data is made available for M膩ori communities to engage with. A data visualisation prototype has already been built. 

鈥淭o achieve equity for M膩ori in Aotearoa, M膩ori need to lead 鈥� to bring our research questions, policy priorities, networks and innovative solutions to the decision-making table,鈥� says Paine. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 what鈥檚 going to make a difference for wh膩nau M膩ori.鈥�

Note: While this article focuses on M膩ori, Growing Up in New Zealand represents the major ethnic and cultural communities of Aotearoa and similar principles to those expressed here apply to addressing the inequities experienced by Pacific, migrant and other disadvantaged communities.