"Be feared, or live in fear": A descriptive model of institutional gang violence

Prison violence is a significant concern both in New Zealand and across the globe. While past theories and empirical research have highlighted several risk factors implicated in prison violence, we continue to have a limited understanding of what happens, and why it happens, during a prison violence event (PVE). Furthermore, we have even less of an understanding about the involvement of gangs in prison violence despite research suggesting that gang members are over-represented when it comes to involvement in such incidents. Previous research on gang violence in prison also focuses heavily on prisons in the United States of America which have different cultural, social, and judicial dimensions and may not generalise to the New Zealand prison population. This research project aimed to fill some of these gaps by taking an exploratory approach to induce new ideas following interviews with gang members who have first-hand experience with perpetrating prison violence. We used Grounded Theory to collect and analyse event descriptions to build a descriptive model of institutional gang violence which describes the distal and proximal features of the PVE process. The resulting model contributes to a better understanding of the function of PVEs involving gang members and the extent to which these events differ when carried out for or on behalf of the gang. It also highlights the role of past trauma and the prison ecology in the perpetuation of these events

The effect of a birthplace decision support tool on women’s decision-making and information gathering behaviours during pregnancy: mybirthplace study protocol

Background The Maternity Review for England highlighted the need for more accessible information to support decisions. This study assesses the effect of a decision support tool (DST) on women’s decision-making regarding birthplace. Methods A mixed method sequential exploratory design involving three phases and 169 women from a large UK maternity hospital. Phase one: A questionnaire survey pre and post-access to the DST examining knowledge level and stages of decision-making scale. Phase 2: Follow-up questionnaire at 28 weeks to enable the usefulness of Mybirthplace to be evaluated. Phase 3: Qualitative interviews with 10 purposely chosen women at 36 weeks gestation. Collection of data on actual birthplace. Discussion This study is the first to assess the effect of a DST in supporting women’s choice of place of birth

Conflict and co-management related to customary fishing in Aotearoa/NewZealand: A case study of the hap_Ngati Oneone

M_ori rights over fishing resources in Aotearoa/New Zealand are being dramatically affected by ongoing changes in legislation and socio-economic factors. Although rights over natural resources were guaranteed to M_ori, the country’s indigenous people, by Article 2 of the Treaty of Waitangi 1840, those rights have subsequently been eroded. Historically, fishing has been managed at the hap_ (subtribe) level and the rights and responsibilities of individuals were based on descent and kinship rules serving the common interest. The classification of fishing into “amateur,” “commercial,” and “non-commercial customary” use rights by the Crown has forced M_ori to re-structure their traditional social relationships related to fishing into the same categories. The Fisheries (Kaimoana Customary Fishing) Regulations 1998 have attempted to encode these communal customary rights into law. The hap_ of focus in this study, Ngati Oneone, of the iwi (tribe) Te Aitanga a Hauiti, now struggles to adapt their traditional communal property regime to fit within the new legal confines. The resulting social disruption has increased conflict both among iwi/hap_ and between iwi/hap_ and the Crown. Responsibility for sustainable management rests with the hap_, while the economic rights to those fishing grounds are held by other interests, thus compounding the difficulty of implementing the Kaimoana Regulations. This study examines the fisheries issues confronting Ngati Oneone and explores the concept of co-management as a means of managing the conflict that has emerged from the social disruption associated with rights redefinition under the Treaty of Waitangi (Fisheries Claims) Settlement Act 1992. Several recommendations are offered for future management.Keywords: Fisheries Economics, Economic Solutions to Customary, Aboriginal and Traditional Fishing Right

Study Protocol of a Randomized Controlled Trial of Home Modification to Prevent Home Fall Injuries in Houses with Māori Occupants

Worldwide, injuries due to falls in the home impose a substantial burden and merit considerable effort to find effective prevention measures. The current study is one of very few randomized controlled trials that assess the effectiveness of home modification for preventing falls. It is the first carried out with a minority or indigenous community and focused on reducing inequities. Just over 250 households in Aotearoa, New Zealand, with Māori occupants were recruited in two strata, 150 from the Wellington region and 100 from the Taranaki region. These were randomly allocated to equally sized treatment and control groups within the respective regions, the treatment group receiving a package of home modifications designed to prevent falls at the start of the study, and the control group receiving the package at the end of the study. Injury data came from the Accident Compensation Corporation, a state-owned no-fault injury insurer. This provided coverage of virtually all unintentional injuries requiring medical treatment. Matched injury claims were made available for analysis once all identifying fields had been removed. These data will be pooled with data for Māori households from the already-conducted Home Injury Prevention Intervention (HIPI) study, which tested an identical intervention on the general population. In the analysis, the primary outcome measure will be fall injury rates over time, comparing treatment and control households, adjusting for the stratum and prior falls in the household. A secondary measure will be the rates of specific injuries, which are most likely to be prevented by the package of modifications tested. We anticipate that the findings will provide robust evidence for effective injury prevention measures that can reduce an important contributor to health inequities for indigenous populations such as the Māori