Prevalence of Mental Disorders Among Māori in Te Rau Hinengaro: The New Zealand Mental Health Survey

Abstract

Mental disorders overall and specific disorder groups (anxiety, mood and substance) are common among Māori and measures of severity indicate that disorders have considerable health impact. Findings provide a platform for informing public health policy and health sector responses to meeting mental health needs of Māori.

Ethnic Classification in the New Zealand Health Care System

“…These limitations include differences in terminology, data collection procedures, perceptions of group identity, and changing demographics of population subgroups. A further and more fundamental challenge to biomedical research is to resist reifying the dogmas of "race" while advancing further in the genetic and molecular correlates of disease (Durie, 2006(Durie, , 1138.…”

“…This is based on the belief that Maori have a different paradigm of health beliefs and practices from other groups (Cunningham, 2000, 62-69;Durie, 2006Durie, , 1138. The belief that cosmological or spiritual forces may cause illness and psychological distress is contrasted with the Western biomedical model (Durie, 1999, 5-12).…”

“…The belief that cosmological or spiritual forces may cause illness and psychological distress is contrasted with the Western biomedical model (Durie, 1999, 5-12). The purported differences in world and health views are not only deemed irreconcilable but also not amenable to exegesis, since, for the proponents of these ideas, "indigenous knowledge cannot be verified by scientific criteria" (Durie, 2006(Durie, , 1138). Yet a comparative study conducted to investigate lay perceptions of Maori and non-Maori participants using major depressive disorder as a paradigm observed no evidence of different views between the two groups (Marie, Forsyth, and Miles, 2004, 225-52).…”

Considerations for Culturally Responsive Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy for Māori With Depression

“…Depression was found to be a common disorder in New Zealand, and Māori experienced higher rates of depression than other ethnic groups (Baxter, Kingi, Tapsell, Durie, & McGee, 2006).…”

Changing the acculturation conversation: indigenous cultural reclamation in Australiaand Aotearoa/New Zealand

“…At the collective level, it is the loss of cultural identity, language, the sacred ruwi (land), traditions, values, familial ties as well as communal cohesion. At the individual level, experiences of acculturative stress, identity confusion, racist incidents, poor health, decreased wellbeing, and over representation in the criminal justice system are all reported (see for example, Baxter, Kingi, Tapsell, Durie, & McGee, 2006;Berry, 1970;Bodkin-Andrews, Ha, Craven, & Yeung, 2010;Cawte, Biancki, & Kiloh, 1968;Dudgeon, Wright et al, 2014;Gracey, 2000;Kvernmo, 2006;O'dea, Patel, Kubisch, Hopper, & Traiandes, 1993;Parker & Milroy, 2014;Shannon, 2002;Snowball & Weatherburn, 2006). As Berry (1992;2013) proposes, acculturation, when occurring involuntarily and in an unsupportive environment, is unlikely to result in positive outcomes.…”