scholarly journals An intersectional approach to sexual violence prevention?: Young people's experiences in New Zealand

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Laura Barnes

<p>Sexual consent programmes for secondary schools have received more recent attention within New Zealand, yet no in-depth research has examined what an inclusive programme may look like. This project assists in addressing this gap in literature, by exploring the challenges of developing programmes for diverse student populations, between 13-18 years old, which will be meaningful and impactful. This project was guided by an intersectional feminist framework and employed a qualitative approach to this work. Semi-structured face-to-face interviews were conducted with ten young people who had participated in sexual consent programmes while they were in secondary school. Interviews were conducted with five key informants. All had extensive knowledge of sexual violence and experience developing and/or delivering sexual consent programmes to young people. This study found that mandatory sexual health programmes within secondary schools often maintained risk focussed approach to sexual consent education, which had a detrimental impact on young women in this study, by denying their sexual agency and reinforcing victim blaming attitudes and stereotypical gender roles. These programmes oversimplified consent negotiations and failed to consider how this process becomes more complex through the influence of social and contextual factors. The findings also revealed variation between and within the diverse identity groups of young people. Multiple programmes were found to approach consent education through a dominantly Pakeha lens and were underpinned by the assumption of heterosexuality. There are strategies facilitators could implement, such as incorporating the use of gender fluid language and the inclusion of existing value frameworks into programmes to make the content more relevant to all young people. The findings of this project assists the ongoing development and delivery of consent programmes by drawing attention to considerations facilitators should be aware of when catering to diverse student populations.</p>

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Laura Barnes

<p>Sexual consent programmes for secondary schools have received more recent attention within New Zealand, yet no in-depth research has examined what an inclusive programme may look like. This project assists in addressing this gap in literature, by exploring the challenges of developing programmes for diverse student populations, between 13-18 years old, which will be meaningful and impactful. This project was guided by an intersectional feminist framework and employed a qualitative approach to this work. Semi-structured face-to-face interviews were conducted with ten young people who had participated in sexual consent programmes while they were in secondary school. Interviews were conducted with five key informants. All had extensive knowledge of sexual violence and experience developing and/or delivering sexual consent programmes to young people. This study found that mandatory sexual health programmes within secondary schools often maintained risk focussed approach to sexual consent education, which had a detrimental impact on young women in this study, by denying their sexual agency and reinforcing victim blaming attitudes and stereotypical gender roles. These programmes oversimplified consent negotiations and failed to consider how this process becomes more complex through the influence of social and contextual factors. The findings also revealed variation between and within the diverse identity groups of young people. Multiple programmes were found to approach consent education through a dominantly Pakeha lens and were underpinned by the assumption of heterosexuality. There are strategies facilitators could implement, such as incorporating the use of gender fluid language and the inclusion of existing value frameworks into programmes to make the content more relevant to all young people. The findings of this project assists the ongoing development and delivery of consent programmes by drawing attention to considerations facilitators should be aware of when catering to diverse student populations.</p>


Author(s):  
Ayanna Thompson ◽  
Laura Turchi

It is now a common pedagogical practice in secondary schools, colleges, and universities to incorporate performance into the Shakespearean classroom. While the ‘revolution in performance approaches to teaching Shakespeare’ has occurred, many practical questions still remain. At the heart of these practical dilemmas, we argue, is a conflicted response to the significance of our diverse student populations. According to theories for performance-based pedagogy, the student’s body plays a central role in his or her kinaesthetic processes and syntheses. Nonetheless, the current theories, methodologies, and practices of performance-based pedagogy sacrifice discussions of the student’s race, gender, ability, and sexuality in order to espouse a universalist rhetoric. While the rhetoric about the value of diversity is readily espoused, the practical implications for the ways to embody diversity in Shakespearean performance are avoided. In this essay, we discuss guidelines for intentional, explicit, and safe explorations of difference.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jane Koziol-McLain ◽  
Denise Wilson ◽  
Alain C Vandal ◽  
Moana Eruera ◽  
Shyamala Nada-Raja ◽  
...  

BACKGROUND We co-designed a smartphone app, Harmonised, with taitamariki (young people aged 13-17 years) to promote healthy intimate partner relationships. The app also provides a pathway for friends and family, or whānau (indigenous Māori extended family networks), to learn how to offer better support to taitamariki. OBJECTIVE The aim of our taitamariki- and Māori-centered study is to evaluate the implementation of the app in secondary schools. The study tests the effectiveness of the app in promoting taitamariki partner relationship self-efficacy (primary outcome). METHODS We co-designed a pragmatic, randomized, stepped wedge trial (retrospectively registered on September 12, 2019) for 8 Aotearoa, New Zealand, secondary schools (years 9 through 13). The schools were randomly assigned to implement the app in 1 of the 2 school terms. A well-established evaluation framework (RE-AIM [Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation, Maintenance]) guided the selection of mixed data collection methods. Our target sample size is 600 taitamariki enrolled across the 8 schools. Taitamariki will participate by completing 5 web-based surveys over a 15-month trial period. Taitamariki partner relationship self-efficacy (primary outcome) and well-being, general health, cybersafety management, and connectedness (secondary outcomes) will be assessed with each survey. The general effectiveness hypotheses will be tested by using a linear mixed model with nested participant, year-group, and school random effects. The primary analysis will also include testing effectiveness in the Māori subgroup. RESULTS The study was funded by the New Zealand Ministry of Business, Innovation, and Employment in October 2015 and approved by the Auckland University of Technology Ethics Committee on May 3, 2017 (application number: 17/71). CONCLUSIONS This study will generate robust evidence evaluating the impact of introducing a healthy relationship app in secondary schools on taitamariki partner relationship self-efficacy, well-being, general health, cybersafety management, and connectedness. This taitamariki- and indigenous Māori–centered research fills an important gap in developing and testing strengths-based mobile health interventions in secondary schools. CLINICALTRIAL Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry ACTRN12619001262190; https://www.anzctr.org.au/Trial/Registration/TrialReview.aspx?id=377584 INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT RR1-10.2196/24792


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Laurence Fay

<p>Increasing rates of young people’s anxiety and depression is a concern for New Zealand secondary schools and this results in issues for students such as decreased wellbeing and school attendance, health difficulties and social isolation. In 2013 the Ministry of Education introduced a pilot of the MY FRIENDS Youth Resilience programme into secondary schools for students in Year 9. This thesis reports on the experiences of teachers and students of the MY FRIENDS Youth programme in one secondary school context. This programme is based on cognitive behavioural therapy principles and has been developed to support young people build their understanding and skills in resilience to enhance their wellbeing. The programme has been implemented and evaluated with young people in a number of countries. Research has shown it to have beneficial effects in promoting emotional resilience and in reducing anxiety and depression in students. The findings of this school case study are explored, and the impact of the programme for the students and their school community is presented. A case study methodological approach was used that enabled the collection of rich data to explore the deep meaning from teachers and students. This involved an in-depth instrumental case study within one secondary school involving teachers, students, the counsellor, the principal and students’ parents. Observations, document analysis and interviews took place to build a comprehensive understanding of how teachers and students learned through the programme. Findings suggest the students see the MY FRIENDS Youth Resilience programme as a positive, useful programme that has enabled them to learn various strategies to deal with challenging scenarios in their life. The findings also address barriers to implementation and possible implications for the future. Several suggestions for the programme are discussed along with certain adaptations of the programme to make it more relevant to the New Zealand context.</p>


Author(s):  
Hiran Thabrew ◽  
Simona D'Silva ◽  
Margot Darragh ◽  
Mary Goldfinch ◽  
Jake Meads ◽  
...  

BACKGROUND Psychosocial problems such as depression, anxiety, and substance abuse are common and burdensome in young people. In New Zealand, screening for such problems is undertaken routinely only with year 9 students in low-decile schools and opportunistically in pediatric settings using a nonvalidated and time-consuming clinician-administered Home, Education, Eating, Activities, Drugs and Alcohol, Sexuality, Suicide and Depression, Safety (HEEADSSS) interview. The Youth version, Case-finding and Help Assessment Tool (YouthCHAT) is a relatively new, locally developed, electronic tablet–based composite screener for identifying similar psychosocial issues to HEEADSSS OBJECTIVE This study aimed to compare the performance and acceptability of YouthCHAT with face-to-face HEEADSSS assessment among 13-year-old high school students. METHODS A counterbalanced randomized trial of YouthCHAT screening either before or after face-to-face HEEADSSS assessment was undertaken with 129 13-year-old New Zealand high school students of predominantly Māori and Pacific Island ethnicity. Main outcome measures were comparability of YouthCHAT and HEEADSSS completion times, detection rates, and acceptability to students and school nurses. RESULTS YouthCHAT screening was more than twice as fast as HEEADSSS assessment (mean 8.57 min vs mean 17.22 min; mean difference 8 min 25 seconds [range 6 min 20 seconds to 11 min 10 seconds]; <italic>P</italic>&lt;.01) and detected more issues overall on comparable domains. For substance misuse and problems at home, both instruments were roughly comparable. YouthCHAT detected significantly more problems with eating or body image perception (70/110, 63.6% vs 25/110, 22.7%; <italic>P</italic>&lt;.01), sexual health (24/110, 21.8% vs 10/110, 9.1%; <italic>P</italic>=.01), safety (65/110, 59.1% vs 17/110, 15.5%; <italic>P</italic>&lt;.01), and physical inactivity (43/110, 39.1% vs 21/110, 19.1%; <italic>P</italic>&lt;.01). HEEADSSS had a greater rate of detection for a broader set of mental health issues (30/110, 27%) than YouthCHAT (11/110, 10%; <italic>P</italic>=.001), which only assessed clinically relevant anxiety and depression. Assessment order made no significant difference to the duration of assessment or to the rates of YouthCHAT-detected positive screens for anxiety and depression. There were no significant differences in student acceptability survey results between the two assessments. Nurses identified that students found YouthCHAT easy to answer and that it helped students answer face-to-face questions, especially those of a sensitive nature. Difficulties encountered with YouthCHAT included occasional Wi-Fi connectivity and student literacy issues. CONCLUSIONS This study provides preliminary evidence regarding the shorter administration time, detection rates, and acceptability of YouthCHAT as a school-based psychosocial screener for young people. Although further research is needed to confirm its effectiveness in other age and ethnic groups, YouthCHAT shows promise for aiding earlier identification and treatment of common psychosocial problems in young people, including possible use as part of an annual, school-based, holistic health check. CLINICALTRIAL Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Network Registry (ACTRN) ACTRN12616001243404p; https://www.anzctr.org.au/Trial/Registration/TrialReview.aspx?id=371422.


2016 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 85 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jill Elizabeth Smith

The greatest numbers of young people in New Zealand are from Pasifika peoples’ ethnic groups. In contrast, art teachers in secondary schools are predominantly European. Research conducted in 2015, which investigated how art teachers are responding to the increasing diversity of students, uncovered important insights. This article provides “snapshots” of how four European-New Zealand art teachers, who work in schools where Pasifika students comprise the largest ethnic group, are empowering them to express themselves within their cultural milieu. Articulated through the voices of the art teachers, the stories of these students are visualized through examples of their art works.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Laurence Fay

<p>Increasing rates of young people’s anxiety and depression is a concern for New Zealand secondary schools and this results in issues for students such as decreased wellbeing and school attendance, health difficulties and social isolation. In 2013 the Ministry of Education introduced a pilot of the MY FRIENDS Youth Resilience programme into secondary schools for students in Year 9. This thesis reports on the experiences of teachers and students of the MY FRIENDS Youth programme in one secondary school context. This programme is based on cognitive behavioural therapy principles and has been developed to support young people build their understanding and skills in resilience to enhance their wellbeing. The programme has been implemented and evaluated with young people in a number of countries. Research has shown it to have beneficial effects in promoting emotional resilience and in reducing anxiety and depression in students. The findings of this school case study are explored, and the impact of the programme for the students and their school community is presented. A case study methodological approach was used that enabled the collection of rich data to explore the deep meaning from teachers and students. This involved an in-depth instrumental case study within one secondary school involving teachers, students, the counsellor, the principal and students’ parents. Observations, document analysis and interviews took place to build a comprehensive understanding of how teachers and students learned through the programme. Findings suggest the students see the MY FRIENDS Youth Resilience programme as a positive, useful programme that has enabled them to learn various strategies to deal with challenging scenarios in their life. The findings also address barriers to implementation and possible implications for the future. Several suggestions for the programme are discussed along with certain adaptations of the programme to make it more relevant to the New Zealand context.</p>


10.2196/13911 ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (12) ◽  
pp. e13911 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hiran Thabrew ◽  
Simona D'Silva ◽  
Margot Darragh ◽  
Mary Goldfinch ◽  
Jake Meads ◽  
...  

Background Psychosocial problems such as depression, anxiety, and substance abuse are common and burdensome in young people. In New Zealand, screening for such problems is undertaken routinely only with year 9 students in low-decile schools and opportunistically in pediatric settings using a nonvalidated and time-consuming clinician-administered Home, Education, Eating, Activities, Drugs and Alcohol, Sexuality, Suicide and Depression, Safety (HEEADSSS) interview. The Youth version, Case-finding and Help Assessment Tool (YouthCHAT) is a relatively new, locally developed, electronic tablet–based composite screener for identifying similar psychosocial issues to HEEADSSS Objective This study aimed to compare the performance and acceptability of YouthCHAT with face-to-face HEEADSSS assessment among 13-year-old high school students. Methods A counterbalanced randomized trial of YouthCHAT screening either before or after face-to-face HEEADSSS assessment was undertaken with 129 13-year-old New Zealand high school students of predominantly Māori and Pacific Island ethnicity. Main outcome measures were comparability of YouthCHAT and HEEADSSS completion times, detection rates, and acceptability to students and school nurses. Results YouthCHAT screening was more than twice as fast as HEEADSSS assessment (mean 8.57 min vs mean 17.22 min; mean difference 8 min 25 seconds [range 6 min 20 seconds to 11 min 10 seconds]; P<.01) and detected more issues overall on comparable domains. For substance misuse and problems at home, both instruments were roughly comparable. YouthCHAT detected significantly more problems with eating or body image perception (70/110, 63.6% vs 25/110, 22.7%; P<.01), sexual health (24/110, 21.8% vs 10/110, 9.1%; P=.01), safety (65/110, 59.1% vs 17/110, 15.5%; P<.01), and physical inactivity (43/110, 39.1% vs 21/110, 19.1%; P<.01). HEEADSSS had a greater rate of detection for a broader set of mental health issues (30/110, 27%) than YouthCHAT (11/110, 10%; P=.001), which only assessed clinically relevant anxiety and depression. Assessment order made no significant difference to the duration of assessment or to the rates of YouthCHAT-detected positive screens for anxiety and depression. There were no significant differences in student acceptability survey results between the two assessments. Nurses identified that students found YouthCHAT easy to answer and that it helped students answer face-to-face questions, especially those of a sensitive nature. Difficulties encountered with YouthCHAT included occasional Wi-Fi connectivity and student literacy issues. Conclusions This study provides preliminary evidence regarding the shorter administration time, detection rates, and acceptability of YouthCHAT as a school-based psychosocial screener for young people. Although further research is needed to confirm its effectiveness in other age and ethnic groups, YouthCHAT shows promise for aiding earlier identification and treatment of common psychosocial problems in young people, including possible use as part of an annual, school-based, holistic health check. Trial Registration Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Network Registry (ACTRN) ACTRN12616001243404p; https://www.anzctr.org.au/Trial/Registration/TrialReview.aspx?id=371422.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Samantha Maree Keene

<p>Sexual violence within university populations is a well-known problem, however relatively little is known about the experience of sexual violence among New Zealand university students. There is even less known about women‟s experiences of sexual violence occurring in university halls of residence. This thesis addresses this gap in knowledge and understanding. Influenced by feminist perspectives and adopting a qualitative framework, this research employed semi-structured face-to-face interviews with four victims/survivors of sexual violence in university halls, and six key informants who work with students living in student accommodation or at the wider university. This study found that sexual violence occurring in halls had devastating impacts for women, affecting their personal, emotional, social and academic worlds. Further, this study also found that women were unlikely to disclose through formal channels such as the Police, but disclosure to informal supports was common. As well as this, data suggested that responding to sexual violence in this context is complex, as the needs of both alleged victims and alleged perpetrators must be carefully balanced. This complexity has meant that current responses to sexual violence are in many ways reactive rather than proactive and need to be comprehensively developed to respond to the unique challenges provided within the university environment. The findings from this study support the development of robust sexual violence response processes and the widespread delivery of education about sexual violence among university students, as well as for those charged with managing students‟ welfare.</p>


10.2196/24792 ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. e24792
Author(s):  
Jane Koziol-McLain ◽  
Denise Wilson ◽  
Alain C Vandal ◽  
Moana Eruera ◽  
Shyamala Nada-Raja ◽  
...  

Background We co-designed a smartphone app, Harmonised, with taitamariki (young people aged 13-17 years) to promote healthy intimate partner relationships. The app also provides a pathway for friends and family, or whānau (indigenous Māori extended family networks), to learn how to offer better support to taitamariki. Objective The aim of our taitamariki- and Māori-centered study is to evaluate the implementation of the app in secondary schools. The study tests the effectiveness of the app in promoting taitamariki partner relationship self-efficacy (primary outcome). Methods We co-designed a pragmatic, randomized, stepped wedge trial (retrospectively registered on September 12, 2019) for 8 Aotearoa, New Zealand, secondary schools (years 9 through 13). The schools were randomly assigned to implement the app in 1 of the 2 school terms. A well-established evaluation framework (RE-AIM [Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation, Maintenance]) guided the selection of mixed data collection methods. Our target sample size is 600 taitamariki enrolled across the 8 schools. Taitamariki will participate by completing 5 web-based surveys over a 15-month trial period. Taitamariki partner relationship self-efficacy (primary outcome) and well-being, general health, cybersafety management, and connectedness (secondary outcomes) will be assessed with each survey. The general effectiveness hypotheses will be tested by using a linear mixed model with nested participant, year-group, and school random effects. The primary analysis will also include testing effectiveness in the Māori subgroup. Results The study was funded by the New Zealand Ministry of Business, Innovation, and Employment in October 2015 and approved by the Auckland University of Technology Ethics Committee on May 3, 2017 (application number: 17/71). Conclusions This study will generate robust evidence evaluating the impact of introducing a healthy relationship app in secondary schools on taitamariki partner relationship self-efficacy, well-being, general health, cybersafety management, and connectedness. This taitamariki- and indigenous Māori–centered research fills an important gap in developing and testing strengths-based mobile health interventions in secondary schools. Trial Registration Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry ACTRN12619001262190; https://www.anzctr.org.au/Trial/Registration/TrialReview.aspx?id=377584 International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID) RR1-10.2196/24792


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