Whanau Ora; He Whakaaro A Whanau: Maori Family Views of Family Wellbeing

This article presents the findings from two studies that investigated the concept of whanau ora (family wellbeing): One examined the nature of resilience for Maori whanau and how resilience relates to whanau ora; while the second investigated the impact of the Working for Families policy on Maori families' perceptions of whanau ora. In each study, Maori were asked to define whanau ora for their family. The responses to the "whanau ora" definition question in each of the studies were separated out to derive a unique dataset of 46 whanau definitions of whanau ora. A secondary analysis of responses was undertaken specifically for this article and these were compared to the whanau ora outcome definition outlined in the Report of the Taskforce on Whanau-Centred Initiatives (Taskforce on Whanau-Centred Initiatives, 2010). The degree of concordance between the definitions of whanau ora expressed by Maori families and those espoused by the government's Taskforce is outlined. The article discusses the variability in understandings around whanau ora and the implications of our analysis for social service delivery and social policy development.