Healthy People, Healthy Communities, Healthy Societies: Critical Approaches to Health and Well-Being

Background

The University of Auckland is committed to a number of research strategies, one of which is “the health and well-being of people and populations”. Within this area social sciences and the humanities have important roles to play in addressing the health consequences of stigma, discrimination, inequality, and stress; in understanding the role of social networks, social support and place in shaping health; in analyzing the role of power and politics in structuring population health; and the crucial role of bringing a consideration of social, historical and economic context to the development and implementation of interventions to improve population health and well-being (Shelton et al. 2017).Scholars within diverse disciplines in the Faculty of Arts have research interests in health. For some researchers health and medicine are prime foci of interest, others have had more incidental involvement in particular projects. The aim of the Healthy people, healthy communities, healthy societies: critical approaches to health and well-being hub is to develop new research synergies within and beyond the faculty.

Vision Mātauranga

There are three ways in which this research initiative is informed by and contributes to Vision Mätauranga. Most obviously, Hauora/Oranga: Improving Health and Social Well being is a key theme of the Vision. This is based on recognizing the distinctive challenges to Mäori health and social wellbeing that continue to arise within Mäori communities and that such challenges require innovative solutions. While some of these challenges are shared by diverse communities within all such groups (e.g. Pasifika, Refugee communities) the role of particular histories, socio-economic conditions and cultural understandings and practices need to be identified, understood and incorporated in our analyses and our proposed solutions. Arts-based research has a crucial role in this. The research network is also informed by Tikanga Mäori and practices of talanoa where participants come together in respectful and reciprocal relationships. A key part of this network is relationship building – building mutual aid and interchange beyond the next project or the next strategic goal.Finally, we aim for the research network to have at its heart the integration of graduate students and their research. In fostering graduate students from diverse communities in research, supporting them within networks of relationships and learning from their innovation and creativity we hope to improve outcomes and futures for our youngest researchers and ultimately the diverse communities they come from.

References cited:
Shelton, R. C., Hatzenbuehler, M. L., Bayer, R., & Metsch, L. R. (2018). Future Perfect? The Future of
the Social Sciences in Public Health. Frontiers in public health, 5, 357. doi:10.3389/fpubh.2017.00357