Browsing by Author "Redman-MacLaren M"

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    Meeting in the Middle: Using Lingua Franca in Cross-Language Qualitative Health Research in Papua New Guinea
    (SAGE Journals for the International Institute for Qualitative Methodology (IIQM) at the University of Alberta, Canada, 30/10/2019) Redman-MacLaren M; Mafile'o T; Tommbe R; MacLaren D
    With words as data, qualitative researchers rely upon language to understand the meaning participants make of the phenomena under study. Cross-language research requires communication about and between linguistic systems, with language a site of power. This article describes the use of the lingua franca of Tok Pisin in a study conducted to explore the implications of male circumcision for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) prevention for women in Papua New Guinea. Utilizing a transformational grounded theory methodology, researchers conducted an analysis of data from an HIV prevention study. Researchers then facilitated individual interviews and interpretive focus groups to explore preliminary categories identified during the analysis. Most focus groups and interviews were conducted in the local lingua franca Tok Pisin, which is neither the researchers’ nor most participants’ first language. Audio recordings were transcribed and analyzed. Researchers returned to research participants to discuss research findings and recommendations. Following critical reflection by the authors and further discussions with participants, it was evident that using Tok Pisin enriched the research process and findings. Using the lingua franca of Tok Pisin enabled interaction in a language closer to the lived experience of participants, devolved the power of the researcher, and was consistent with decolonizing methodologies. Participants reported the use of Tok Pisin, em i tasim (pilim) bun bilong mipela, “it touches our bones,” and enabled a flow of conversation with the researchers that engendered trust. It is critical researchers address hierarchies of language in order to enable cogeneration of quality research findings.
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    Review Report on Tokelau's Clinical Health Services and Patient Referrals Scheme
    (Massey University, 2019-11-21) Mafile'o T; Foliaki S; Koro T; Leslie H; Redman-MacLaren M; West C; Roskruge M
    Improving Tokelau’s clinical health services and the Tokelau Patient Referrals Scheme (TPRS) patient referral scheme is the key purpose of this independent review. The objectives were to: 1. Review the relevance and effectiveness of clinical health services on Tokelau. 2. Review the relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, impact and sustainability of the Tokelau patient referral scheme (TPRS). 3. Determine the funding required to deliver adequate levels of health service, and the potential budget impacts of the growing incidence of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs). 4. Identify the key changes needed to deliver and sustain improved results from health services delivered on Tokelau, and through its patient referral scheme. Covering the period July 2014 to June 2018, the review focused on services in Tokelau and services received by Tokelau’s referred patients in Tokelau, Apia and New Zealand.
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    We story: Decoloniality in practice and theory
    (SAGE Publications, 6/07/2022) Mafile'o T; Wedu Kokinai C; Redman-MacLaren M
    Western research and education draw heavily on evidence-based approaches underpinned by positivism. Reliance on this scientific approach informs what is to be counted, measured, and tested—what can be “known.” In our experience, evidence generated using this approach does not always bring the most useful outcomes in our diverse, naturalistic settings. In fact, often the proffered solution can distance and dehumanize the very people expected to be beneficiaries. In this article, we, as researchers and educators from different cultural and professional backgrounds in the “post-colonial” South Pacific, pose an alternative to this Western approach. We engage in a story saturated process akin to collaborative auto-ethnography. We first undertake a process of owning our stories, critically reflecting upon ourselves and how we approach evidence. In the context of values-driven, dialogical relationships, we experiment with intersectionality, interdisciplinarity, and experiences of time and space to critically explore our practice and experience of decoloniality and transformation. Then, through sharing our stories, we critically reflect upon creative, culturally relevant practices. These stories include using poetry in social work education and health research, cake art, and social work storytelling. We acknowledge cultural story forms, collaboration, and performance in a higher education setting. These experiences lead to creating new stories. We share examples of change; we “talk up” to and challenge rationalist, evidence-based approaches in our respective professional spaces. We examine relationality and Indigenous epistemology underpinning our use of story. We present the power of story as a process of transformation toward decoloniality of theory and practice.