When searching for Pacific health information you might need to try a combination of keywords. Useful broad terms might include some of the following: Pacific, Pasifika, Pasefika, Oceanic, Oceania, Melanesia, Micronesia, Polynesia. It is often also useful to search specific islands, for example, Fiji, Kiribati, Samoa, Tonga. For a list of islands see the Wikipedia page on Polynesia.
Some of the following databases could be useful -
Health databases
New Zealand, Pacific, Australasia
Thesis guide locate UC and other theses
Research repositories
Most books on traditional health and medicine and ethnobotany are listed by individual countries though some are listed under Oceania or Polynesia. To find them, do a Subject begins with search on these topics and scroll through the list of countries or regions:
These subject headings are also useful:
Consortium of Pacific Herbaria. Supporting databasing, digitization and data sharing of plant specimens.
Statistics can be found on a range of Government webpages including, Statistics New Zealand and the Ministry of Health.
Figure.nz is a useful source of NZ statistics cumulated from a range of sources. See also the separate subject guide for New Zealand statistical resources
For information on Covid19 for Pasifika communities, see the Government's Covid19 website.
This resource from USP also has information in multiple languages.
Books on Pacific health:
Also search the catalogue using health and the name of a country.
Bibliographies
Journals
Fonua: A Pasifika Model for Health Promotion by Sione Tu'itahi
Fonofale Model From Fuimaono Karl Pulotu-Endemann (see appendix to the report for the model)
Towards indigenous policy and practice: A Tuvaluan famework for wellbeing, Ola Lei. / by Tufoua Panapa et al. The Journal of the Polynesian Society 130(1), 2021
Te Vaka Atafaga: A Tokelau assessment model for supporting holistic mental health practice with Tokelau people in Aotearoa, New Zealand/ by Kupa Kupa. Pacific Health Dialog 15(1), 2009
Uputātua Therapeutic Approach. Seiuli, B. M. S. (2013). Counselling psychology from a Samoan perspective. New Zealand Journal of Psychology, 42(3), 50-58
Bibliographies
These two works provide a comprehensive introduction to the literature on Pasifika mental health:
To find individual articles from the bibliographies, copy the titles into Multisearch and follow the links. Contact me if you have difficulty accessing any.
Reports
Pacific Mental Health Models
See the box above for more Pacific health models.
Organisations and Government Departments
Other Resources
Government departments are a useful source of information and research relating to Pacific and Oceanic health and well being in New Zealand.
Health Promotion Agency (HPA)
The HPA is a Crown institution established under the Health and Disability Amendment Act. It runs a range of programmes to promote the health and wellbeing of the community. Issues they've looked at include mental health, smoking, alcohol use and gambling.
Health Research Council (HRC)
The HRC is an agency of the Government that manages the Government's funding of health research.
Ministry of Social Development see Pacific peoples for publications
Oranga Tamariki - Ministry for Children
Organisations and other sources of information
Pacific Research (University of Auckland)
New Zealand Family Violence Clearinghouse searchable database of resources relating to family violence
Health Promotion Forum of New Zealand Provides information and resources to those working in health promotion. Includes a section on Pacific health resources.
For friendly, specialist help with finding health information, contact Margaret Paterson the Health Sciences Subject Librarian.
