Affiliations:
1 Department of Paediatrics, Health New Zealand, Te Whatu Ora, Taranaki
New Zealand.
Background
Whānau Pakari (WP) was created in 2012 and has since drawn on it’s integrated research base to evolve the service to cater to our Taranaki whānau (families) to improve equity, acceptability and applicability.
Aim
To highlight learnings and resultant growth and change over the 12 years WP has been operating.
Methods
Research has guided service development to ensure appropriate and equitable support for the whānau referred, who are often over-represented statistically in terms of low socioeconomic status; autism, intellectual disability and ADHD, which pose barriers to accessing/utilising care. Research into barriers and facilitators to accessing the service highlighted the need for home-based only support for those struggling with transport or who are time-poor through high stress home environments.
Results
Initial research suggested the large age range created a learning gap, so WP developed the service to provide a workshop for rangatahi. Barriers to accessing weekly sessions resulted in offering more home-based Dietitian and Physical Activity Advisor visits to set whānau-focused goals. As a response to increasing numbers of neurodiverse children and adolescents we have increased staffing ratios and changed content to tailor to our changing needs of the whānau we support. Feedback from whānau around the element of fear and past trauma with healthcare creating barriers to attending weekly sessions has led us to create a friendly and relaxed “Meet the Team” session at the start of each term of weekly sessions to grow relationships and trust with staff prior to starting the term.
Key take-home messages/Discussion
WP is an ever-evolving service model for addressing weight-related issues for tamariki (children) and rangatahi (adolescents) within the Taranaki community. Future research has focussed on developing and integrating an online whānau-friendly, holistic assessment to further increase ease and acceptability of the service.
References: https://doi.org/10.1186/s40608-015-0068-y https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/oby.21967 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/ijpo.12693 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/oby.23225