For some time we have known that factors such as economic prosperity, community cohesion, and social justice bear on health. These societal influences are particularly pertinent to the health of indigenous groups, such as Maori, who are still responding to processes of colonization. In July 2003 the New Zealand Ministry of Health published a report entitled 'Decades of Disparity', which proposed (among other things) that neoliberal policies of the last two decades impacted negatively on mortality rates for Maori and Pacific peoples, when compared with Pakeha. In this article we explore media coverage of this report through analyses of media releases, radio, television and newspaper items. It is argued that as the story evolved media increasingly challenged the importance of societal determinants of health, preferring individual level explanations. As a result coverage failed to give due emphasis to structural health concerns for Maori, which necessitate social change.

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Objectives: To explore the cross-sectional association between alcohol outlet density and police events in Manukau City, New Zealand. Methods Conclusions:The results do not imply causality. However, they are broadly consistent with availability theory, and imply that local alcohol policy should account for the effects of additional outlets when new licences are granted. While the methodological approach described here is easily transferable to investigate the relationships elsewhere, we suggest some areas for improvement of future studies.

The effectiveness of a training package to teach listening and helping skills to three pairs of sexual harrassment contact person trainees was evaluated, using a multiple probe design. The training package comprised five components: behavioral specifications, rationales, situational examples, study guides, and role-play exercises, provided in a written instructional format based on guidelines developed by Fawcett and Fletcher. Evaluation involved pre- and posttraining measures of target behavior occurrence, relevant knowledge, and self-rated confidence level. Ratings of performance were also provided by potential consumers as a measure of social validity. Findings indicated that the package was effective in increasing listening and helping skills, knowledge, and confidence of trainees and that skills generalized to new simulated cases and were maintained over time.