Whānau Ora; He Whakaaro Ā Whānau: Māori Family Views of Family Wellbeing

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