Māori Rural Nurses’ Stories and their Connections to Communities: A Thematic Analysis

The Rural Way: Rural Nurses’ Contribution to New Models of Health Care, Reducing Health Disparities – Stories from Practice

“…The Kaitohutohu office at Otago Polytechnic upholds the mana (integrity) of the partnership with the local Māori (indigenous population Aotearoa New Zealand) community, and is consulted during research development, looking at the proposed research from a Māori Kaupapa point of view. Māori are under-represented in the nursing profession, comprising only 8% of practising nurses [22] so the inclusion of Māori as part of this research is of the utmost importance to further our understanding and future engagement [23].…”

“…We were aware the research was likely to involve Māori as there is a higher number of registered nurses identifying as Māori in the rural practice setting (N = 59; 11.6%) of 6.5% of the overall workforce [24]. Statistics show that 14% of the New Zealand population identify as Māori, with over three quarters of this population living outside the Auckland region, making up a significant part of the rural communities [25] "Rural nursing is also clearly a valued setting for Māori registered nurses' employment…" themes from the rural nurses' stories could "… include reference to tikanga Māori (a Māori concept valuing Māori knowledge into practice), within the context of describing their work" [23] p. 68.…”

“…A description of the rural way incorporates values, attitudes or characteristics that are common in rural indigenous and non-indigenous rural people [23]. These features of rural people or communities were often seen as being different to urban environments, a product of geographic context and isolation from others, encompassing a way of being and a Māori way of being in the rural.…”

“…Rural healthcare professionals are usually in reciprocal relationships with the community they serve. They see the community itself as inherent to their practice, and for some nurses, to their sense of self and for Māori nurses this sense of self relates strongly with knowing their communities and whanua contributes to a sense of belonging, provides insight, and helps to establish therapeutic relationships [23]. Many of the rural nurses expressed that they were highly supported and valued by their community.…”

Publishing Rural Nurse Stories in a Book Has Impact

“…This discourse https://doi.org/10.14574/ojrnhc.v24i1.762 confirms that the context of place and the definition of rural (at the time of this research) in Aotearoa New Zealand situates and guides each rural nurses' practice. Another important feature of the discourse is the indigenous lens as identified by Brook and Hogarth (2021), uncovering a discourse specific to Māori.…”