Staff from K'aute Pasifika and Wintec. — Back row, left to right:  Ema Tokolahi – Wintec post-doctoral research fellow; Uilinitone Vaoesea – K’aute Pasifika Trust; William Tauelangi – K’aute Pasifika Trust; Patrea Andersen – Academic lead Wintec Centre for Health & Social Practice; Sarah Halliday – K’aute Pasifika Trust; and Silaumea Peterson – K’aute Pasifika Trust. Front row, left to right:  Greg Smith – Director Wintec Centre for Sport Science & Human Performance; Sharon Brownie – Director Wintec Centre for Health & Social Practice; Rachel Karalus – Chief Executive Officer K’aute Pasifika Trust; and Sau Lau – Young K’aute Pasifika Trust.  by K'aute Pasifika

Evaluation of partnership will ensure health graduates are fit to serve Pasifika community

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Wintec: The approval of K’aute Pasifika's new Pan Pacific Community Hub has created the momentum for the Waikato Institute of Technology (Wintec) to evaluate their already strong relationship with the Pasifika organisation.

The new Hub in central Hamilton will allow for an expansion of existing services. It will create a place that offers a whole of family, wrap-around service which operates across all the wellbeing domains.

K’aute Pasifika and Wintec have been partners since 2005, with Wintec providing classroom accommodation, computers, and IT support for K’aute’s training arm, and their students progressing into Wintec programmes via education pathways. Over this period, Wintec students have completed clinical placements at K’aute Pasifika across a range of health and wellbeing disciplines.

“If we're going to produce graduates that are really going to be able to serve people from Pasifika communities, there needs to be an authenticity of their learning experience,” says Professor Sharon Brownie, the project’s principle investigator, and head of Wintec’s Centre for Health and Social Practice.

The aim of the research is to ensure students learn industry-relevant skills in innovative ways, in educational settings that reflect both ‘the real world’ practice context and the diversity of the population they will work with.

The evaluative research process is currently under way. The multi-disciplinary research team includes academic staff from exercise physiology, physiotherapy, and nursing. The process consisted of comprehensive talanoa (semi-structured interviews) with 11 key staff across a range of services at K’aute Pasifika, followed by return consultations with the leadership team to discuss themes emerging during initial analysis.

K’aute Pasifika have been involved in the design of the research project from its initiation. This component of the research will map current service provision and gaps, and expand placement opportunities. From there the two organisations will develop a five-year expansion strategy.

“It's a research project that is very much ‘done with’, not ‘done to’,” explains Brownie.

The project’s two post-doctoral research fellows are in the early stages of thematic analysis; however, three major themes have started to emerge.

Firstly, relationships – particularly with the Pasifika concept of ‘va’ in mind, where the need to respect and maintain the sacred space, harmony and balance within relationships is important.

Secondly, hospitality and K’aute Pasifika’s willingness to partner in workforce development.

And, thirdly, the mechanics of the partnership. Questions around this include how can K’aute Pasifika's tutors engage with Wintec tutors to understand and influence the curriculum and prepare workbooks, as well as aid the cultural development of Wintec staff.

The team will use the results to enhance two aspects of the existing partnership. To ensure the alignment of a significant proportion of clinical placements with Pasifika organisations and services, and to enhance educational outcomes for Māori and Pasifika learners. Through K’aute Pasifika, students can experience wrap-around family health or chronic disease services and will work with a team of health professionals from different disciplines.

Pasifika clinical placements also foster a growing understanding of the nuances of Pasifika cultural identities.

'Central to Wintec’s mission is to ensure that we are producing nurses, midwives, physiotherapists, social workers and counsellors who are fit for purpose – who can answer the needs of our Pasifika community.

'We believe that the project will achieve what it set out to achieve in terms of strengthening the relationship, identifying further opportunities for authentic clinical experience, expanding interprofessional engagement for our students and strengthening the two-way relationship so our tutors understand more about K’aute Pasifika’s services,' says Brownie.

The project will allow Wintec and K’aute Pasifika to continue working together with the added confidence that their relationship is a shared mission to the benefit of both organisations, the graduates they produce and the communities they serve.

  • The project received community-based research funding from Trust Waikato which has helped resource two part-time post-doctoral fellows to join the research team. K’aute Pasifika holds funding to allow Wintec staff to attend cultural training at the Pasifika organisation – providing opportunity to expand the impact of the partnership across all Wintec health and social practice programs.

  • Professor Sharon Brownie has broad health and social service executive experience across the health, education, economic development and employment sectors. She has worked in Australia, New Zealand, East Africa, Fiji and the Middle East. Her leadership roles have included significant capacity building, workforce development, business growth and change management mandates. While in these roles, she has actively maintained practice in the fields of both nursing and midwifery. She is the Director of Wintec’s Centre for Health and Social Practice. Email Sharon Brownie.

  • Visit Wintec's website.

  • Visit K’aute Pasifika's website.