Māori Becoming Peer Educators in Later Life: Impacts on Identity, Well-being, and Social Connectedness

Abstract

Objective The purpose is to examine ways that older Māori (New Zealand’s Indigenous peoples) enhanced their ability to be peer educators and how this role impacted on their sense of purpose and wellbeing in later life. Methods Kaupapa Māori and community-based participatory research principles guided the peer intervention involving 26 Māori kaumātua (elders 55-years-and-over) as peer educators (tuakana) for 121 other kaumātua (teina) facing transitions in later life. Each pair held up to three conversations; independent coders rated tuakana communication skills. We used mixed methods in a pre- and post-test, clustered staggered design. Participants completed baseline and post-intervention assessments of health and wellbeing consistent with Māori worldviews. Five focus groups involving 22 teina and one with 5 tuakana were held. Results Tuakana communication skills were rated as high by teina and independent coders. Qualitative analysis supported the importance of Māori communication processes for the role. Further, three measures increased significantly from the baseline to the final period for tuakana accounting for about 15% of the variance in these variables: sense of purpose (p = .07), self-rated health (p = .05), and health-related quality of life (p = .04). The qualitative analysis supported the benefits of the peer-educator role for older Māori including enhanced sense of identity, wellbeing, and social connectedness. Discussion Results demonstrated strong communication skills of kaumātua to be peer educators and the intervention’s positive impacts on them. The study contributes to peer intervention research that may help to improve experiences of Indigenous and other elders.

Enhancing Well-Being and Social Connectedness for Māori Elders Through a Peer Education (Tuakana-Teina) Programme: A Cross-Sectional Baseline Study

“…They are also guided to explore holistic needs around health and well-being and provide links to tangible resources to support these needs. A previous iteration and implementation of the model supports its effectiveness ( 22 , 23 ) with the current study determining whether the benefits can be translated to other communities as well.…”

“…in dealing with various life transitions to enhance overall hauora (health) and linking those kaumātua in need to health and social services. The initial implementation of the model demonstrated that kaumātua provided strong peer education skills and resources and that there were benefits to health-related quality of life, social support, and cultural connection for participants of this peer education model ( 22 , 23 ). The success of this initial implementation led to the expansion of the model to be delivered in five additional Māori health and social service providers as part of the Kaumātua Mana Motuhake Poi (KMMP) programme of research funded by the Ageing Well National Science Challenge in Aotearoa ( https://www.ageingwellchallenge.co.nz/ ) ( 20 ).…”

Identifying the Facilitators and Barriers in Disseminating and Adopting a Health Intervention Developed by a Community–Academic Partnership

“…Thematic analysis enabled exploration and interpretation of the various aspects of the topic and provided a rich and detailed breakdown of the data collected (Braun & Clarke, 2006;Simpson et al, 2020). Thematic analysis complements KM principles through its open approach (Simpson et al, 2020).…”

“…The case was presented to participants as an example of a successful health intervention that they then explored how it might be adopted in their communities. The case was the Kaumatua Mana Motuhake (KMM) project; a codesigned peer education intervention for older Māori (Oetzel et al, 2020;Simpson et al, 2020). The purpose of KMM was to enhance the capacity of kaumātua (older Māori) serving as peer educators and to enhance the hauora (well-being) and mana motuhake (self-actualization and autonomy) of the recipients who faced various life transitions (e.g., loss of spouse, change in health condition).…”

Ko ngā kaumātua ngā poupou o tō rātou ao: kaumātua and kuia, the pillars of our understanding

“…These findings indicate that Māori are experiencing positive ageing despite the prevalence of comorbidities and lower socioeconomic status (Hirini et al, 1999; Robson et al, 2015; Teh et al, 2014). There is also evidence to indicate that the role and status of older Māori within community have provided significant opportunities for kaumātua to make contributions to whānau and marae, and the wider community (Dyall et al, 2014), and that such contributions underpin resilience factors and well-being (Durie, 1997; Kerse et al, 2016; Simpson et al, 2020). Social connectedness and interdependency (Kukutai, 2006), connections to place and whānau (Butcher & Breheny, 2016), and cultural identity (Kukutai et al, 2017; Waldon, 2004) have also been shown to contribute to well-being.…”