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Wednesday 16 September 2020 12:44pm

Dr Lisa Te Morenga, an EDOR researcher based at Victoria University of Wellington, has been awarded a Health Research Council of New Zealand (HRC) Health Delivery Research Grant.

Dr Te Morenga and Principal Investigator Dr Tupa'ilevaililigi Ridvan Firestone will work with the Kokiri Marae Trust and the Tihei Rangatahi Programme on the project: Improving hauora-oranga services for rangatahi Māori. By tailoring established resources, integrating knowledge transfer, and promoting community capacity development, it is hoped that this 4-year study will improve the health services for rangatahi Māori and their whānau.

The Tihei Rangatahi Programme (TRP) is part of Kōkiri health and social services in the Wainuiomata and Lower Hutt region.

The study aims to:

  1. develop and implement an interactive hauora-oranga empowerment service programme as part of the TRP, to build rangatahi as key health advocates in their community;
  2. co-design a mental wellness programme with the service provider for rangatahi Māori, embedded as part of the TRP;
  3. implement the use of a mobile health (mHealth) tool for rangatahi, to augment the newly developed programmes; and
  4. evaluate the impact of the new programmes on outcomes linked to improved health indicators for service end-users and the service provider.

As part of aim 3, the research team will use the Ol@-Or@ app, which was developed in a Healthier Lives National Science Challenge-funded project, to augment the support provided to whānau. Healthcare workers will be trained in the use of the OL@-OR@ app, and on how to develop customised content for individuals, whānau or community groups that they work with, and how the tool can be used to connect and engage community members in health-related activities.

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