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HTRHN Rural Health Scholarships Recipients 2025

Congratulations to Shrina Patel and Keita Fuller on being awarded the HT Rural Health Scholarships for 2025, each receiving $5,000 to support their research projects in rural health and wellbeing. Their work will provide valuable insights to improve outcomes for rural communities in Aotearoa.

We also celebrate Eamon Walsh, a 2024 scholarship recipient, whose research on spinal epidural abscess has now been completed and published in the Journal of Clinical Neuroscience.

 

Shrina Patel: Exploring Health Literacy Challenges and Solutions: Perspectives from Rural Healthcare Professionals in Aotearoa 

Health literacy is a key factor in effective healthcare, yet rural communities in Aotearoa face unique challenges. This research seeks to understand rural healthcare professionals’ barriers to improving health literacy and identify practical solutions to enhance patient outcomes.

Grounded in Sørensen et al.’s (2021) framework, the study focuses on how healthcare design, funding structures, and communication practices impact health literacy in rural settings. By engaging doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and allied health workers, the study will explore questions such as: How does low health literacy affect patient outcomes? And what resources could improve health literacy in rural areas?

Using a mixed-methods approach, the research will combine quantitative data on the prevalence of health literacy issues with qualitative insights into the challenges and strategies healthcare professionals employ. This approach will provide a holistic understanding of the issue.

The goal is to identify effective strategies for improving health literacy, reducing healthcare provider burdens, and ultimately enhancing patient care in rural Aotearoa. Findings from this study will inform policies and practices to better address health literacy in rural healthcare settings.

 

 

Keita Fuller: Exploring Mātauranga in rural sports and the potential for participation in enhancing the wellbeing of competitors, whānau and community in Aotearoa

Mātauranga refers to cultural bodies of knowledge or ways of knowing that often articulate values, including our sense of place, identity and relationships. Recent research suggests that mātauranga transmission may occur for many Māori through participation in contemporary sports, such as Rugby (Hapeta et al., 2019b, 2019c; Muriwai et al., 2022). Relatedly, growing evidence suggests that culturally patterned engagements in sport can be good for our wellbeing as Māori (Ferguson et al., 2019; Palmer et al., 2022).

This research explores how mātauranga may be transferred through participation in what is typically known as the ‘American Western’ sport of rodeo, which has been appropriated and rearticulated in Aotearoa, with the potential to enhance community ties and wellbeing for Māori. Respectively, in Aotearoa, rodeo is a sport that is largely populated by Māori, with an estimated 60% of competitors who whakapapa Māori, and has seen continuous growth in participation and community popularity, as evidenced by increased competitor memberships and record crowd attendance (NZRCA, 2024).

This research is the first of its kind to explore rodeo as a site for the transmission of Māori cultural knowledge, values and practices and to understand what contributes to participants’ wellbeing in such communal settings. Grounded in Te Ao Māori concepts of wellbeing, and building upon holistic understandings of relational wellness, this research will contribute to the growing body of literature regarding Māori wellbeing and sport, new understandings of traditional knowledge and application in rodeo, and how practices can enhance the wellbeing of Māori, whānau and community in Aotearoa.

An explorative approach to understanding Māori culture and knowledge in a contemporary sport has been employed. Through a case-based and collective approach that has been developed in accordance with tikanga Māori and kaupapa Māori theoretical principles (Yin, 2014; Baskarada, 2014; Swanborn, 2010), wānanga-informed focus group and enhanced semi-structured interviews were conducted with members of the rodeo community. This approach has documented novel te ao Māori inspired conversations and regenerative knowledge in a contemporary sporting setting.

Additional aims include highlighting how cultural knowledge transference between primary industries and sport may be helpful to both whānau and rural communities that have formed around rodeo, and contribute to the field of clinical psychology by developing an understanding of how such activities can be validated as healthy options in health systems that prioritise individualised medical models of wellbeing, and the ability to work with Māori who engage with other Māori through contemporary mediums, such as rodeo. Findings and recommendations will be presented to the New Zealand Rodeo Cowboys Association to assist their continual efforts to enhance the wellbeing of the rodeo communities in Aotearoa.

 

Eamon Walsh: Investigating Social Deprivation and Spinal Epidural Abscess Mortality

Eamon Walsh’s research examines the relationship between social deprivation and one-year mortality in patients diagnosed with spinal epidural abscess (SEA). SEA is a serious but often difficult-to-diagnose spinal infection that can lead to severe complications, including paralysis and death. His study explores whether socioeconomic factors, such as income and access to healthcare, influence survival rates for patients with this condition.

By analyzing data from over a decade of hospital admissions, the research identifies key risk factors associated with SEA mortality, including age, neutrophil count, and congestive heart failure. Interestingly, the study found no direct link between social deprivation, rurality, or Māori ethnicity and one-year mortality, challenging common assumptions about healthcare access and outcomes.

This research contributes to a deeper understanding of SEA and highlights the need for improved diagnostic and management strategies to reduce the risk of poor outcomes, particularly for high-risk patients. The findings will help shape future healthcare policies and treatment approaches for SEA patients in Aotearoa.

To read the full publication, click here: Spinal epidural abscess: Does social deprivation influence 1-year mortality?