Maori healers' views on wellbeing: The importance of mind, body, spirit, family and land

• Published in: Social science & medicine (1982) Vol. 70; no. 11; pp. 1756 - 1764
• Main Authors: Mark, Glenis Tabetha, Lyons, Antonia C.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kidlington Elsevier Ltd 01-06-2010; Elsevier; Pergamon Press Inc
• Series: Social Science & Medicine
• Subjects: Alternative medicine; Aotearoa/New Zealand; Attitude of Health Personnel; Biological and medical sciences; Biomedical research; body; Cultural Characteristics; Family; Female; Healers; Health; Health Services, Indigenous; Holism; Holistic; Holistic Health; Holistic medicine; Humans; Indigenous; Indigenous Populations; Integrative medicine; Interviews as Topic; Knowledge; Male; Maori; Medical sciences; Medicine, Traditional; Mind; Mind body relationship; Mind, body, spirit; Mind-Body Relations, Metaphysical; Miscellaneous; Māori healing; New Zealand; New Zealand Wellbeing; Oceanic Ancestry Group - psychology; Ownership; Population Groups; Public health. Hygiene; Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine; Religiosity; spirit Holistic Maori healing Spirituality Indigenous Aotearoa; Spiritual Therapies - psychology; Spirituality; Well Being; Wellbeing; New Zealand; Oceania; Spirituality; Indigenous; Wellbeing; Mind, body, spirit; Aotearoa/New Zealand; Māori healing; Holistic; Human; Family study; spirit; Well being; Healer; Ethnic group; Treatment; Maori healing; Healing agent; Mind; Family environment; Social medicine; Autochthonous; Cicatrization; Body; Public health
• ISSN: 0277-9536; 1873-5347
• DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2010.02.001

From an indigenous and holistic perspective, the current dominant biomedical model of health and illness has a limited view of people and their wellbeing. The present study aimed to explore Māori spiritual healers' views on healing and healing practices, and the implications of these for conceptualisations of holism, health and wellbeing. Six indigenous Māori in Aotearoa/New Zealand took part in in-depth, semi-structured interviews with a Māori researcher from March to September 2007. Transcribed interviews were analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis techniques. We found that Māori cultural perspectives influenced views of the mind, body, spirit and healers also identified two additional aspects as significant and fundamental to a person's health, namely whānau/whakapapa [family and genealogy] and whenua [land]. We propose a model called Te Whetu [The Star], with 5 interconnected aspects; namely, mind, body spirit, family, and land. Results are discussed in terms of the contribution of Māori knowledge to our understandings of health and wellbeing, and their implications for conceptualising holism, as well as health policy and care for Māori and other indigenous populations.