The Māori Cultural Embeddedness Scale (MaCES): Initial evidence of structural validity.

Abstract

Objectives: The purpose of this article is to introduce a self-report measure of cultural embeddedness for Ma ¯ori (Ma ¯ori Cultural Embeddedness Scale [MaCES]), which builds on theoretical and qualitative research on the concept. Method: A total of 548 adults who self-identified as Ma ¯ori responded to 49 items that were designed to measure aspects of Ma ¯ori Cultural Values, Beliefs, and Practices. The data were analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis, and invariance was tested through multigroup confirmatory factor analysis. Results: A total of six items were pruned from the measure for having low loadings on the latent factor, having ambiguous wording, and/or measuring contentious concepts. The remaining 43 items fit the data well when organized by three primary factors (i.e., Values, Beliefs, and Practices), further split into secondary subfactors. We also found that this nuanced subfactor model was invariant to sole/mixed identification as Ma ¯ori, as well as growing up in urban or rural settings. We found evidence of structural validity for the MaCES, but ongoing validation, including convergent and divergent comparisons to other scales, is required in future work. Conclusions: The MaCES is a theoretically derived and statistically sound measure that offers significant research potential for exploring the various ways that embeddedness in Ma ¯ori culture informs differential outcomes. Public Significance StatementCultural identity is central to how a person feels about their lived experiences inside their cultural group. We argue that a critical part of a person's identity is their cultural embeddedness, which is formed through the internalization and embodiment of cultural values, beliefs, and practices. In this study, we describe our development of a self-report measure that enables Ma ¯ori, the Indigenous people of Aotearoa New Zealand, to characterize their cultural embeddedness along these three dimensions.

Introducing ‘Ngaruroro’, a New Model for Understanding Māori Wellbeing

“…This idea is not new and is consistent with well-established ideas of 'culture as a cure', where connection to ancestral language, knowledge, practices, and ways of being is linked to wellbeing [33][34][35][36]38,40,41]. This view has been researched extensively in the Aotearoa context and has sparked conversations and new lines of research into what it means to be culturally embedded [35][36][37].…”

“…The research endeavour described in this article is part of a new era of Māori scholarship that seeks to model and psychometrically measure Māori cultural capacities, concepts, connections, and identities related to wellbeing [35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42]. This surge of Māori quantitative research reflects a growing appetite for measurement tools that are grounded in both te ao Māori and quantitative scientific paradigms.…”

Protect the Children, Body and Soul

“…The significance of cultural embeddedness is affirmed by the Maori Cultural Embeddedness Scale (MaCES) introduced by Fox et al [26]. The scale's structural validity in assessing the depth of an individual's cultural integration underlines the positive correlation between cultural connectedness and health outcomes.…”