IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v19y2021i1p426-d715467.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Adapting Traditional Healing Values and Beliefs into Therapeutic Cultural Environments for Health and Well-Being

Author

Listed:
  • Bruno Marques

    (Wellington School of Architecture, Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington 6012, New Zealand
    School of Geography, University of Otago, Dunedin 9016, New Zealand)

  • Claire Freeman

    (School of Geography, University of Otago, Dunedin 9016, New Zealand)

  • Lyn Carter

    (Te Tumu School of Māori, Pacific Island and Indigenous Studies, University of Otago, Dunedin 9016, New Zealand)

Abstract

Although research has long established that interaction with the natural environment is associated with better overall health and well-being outcomes, the Western model mainly focuses on treating symptoms. In Aotearoa/New Zealand, the Indigenous Māori have long demonstrated significantly more negative health outcomes than non-Māori. Little research has examined the causes compared to Western populations or the role of the natural environment in health outcomes for Māori. An exploration of rongoā Māori (traditional healing system) was conducted to ascertain the importance of landscape in the process of healing. Eight rongoā healers or practitioners took part in semi-structured narrative interviews from June to November 2020. Transcribed interviews were analysed using an interpretative phenomenological analysis and Kaupapa Māori techniques. The findings show how rongoā is underpinned by a complex set of cultural values and beliefs, drawing from the connection to wairua (spirit), tinana (body), tikanga and whakaora (customs and healing), rākau (plants), whenua (landscape) and whānau (family). Incorporating such constructs into the landscape can foster our understanding of health and well-being and its implications for conceptualising therapeutic environments and a culturally appropriate model of care for Māori and non-Māori communities.

Suggested Citation

  • Bruno Marques & Claire Freeman & Lyn Carter, 2021. "Adapting Traditional Healing Values and Beliefs into Therapeutic Cultural Environments for Health and Well-Being," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(1), pages 1-19, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2021:i:1:p:426-:d:715467
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/1/426/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/1/426/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jarrod Haar & Maree Roche & David Brougham, 2019. "Indigenous Insights into Ethical Leadership: A Study of Māori Leaders," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 160(3), pages 621-640, December.
    2. Mark, Glenis Tabetha & Lyons, Antonia C., 2010. "Maori healers' views on wellbeing: The importance of mind, body, spirit, family and land," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 70(11), pages 1756-1764, June.
    3. Bruno Marques & Claire Freeman & Lynette Carter & Maibritt Pedersen Zari, 2020. "Sense of Place and Belonging in Developing Culturally Appropriate Therapeutic Environments: A Review," Societies, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-18, November.
    4. Chellie Spiller & Edwina Pio & Lijijana Erakovic & Manuka Henare, 2011. "Wise Up: Creating Organizational Wisdom Through an Ethic of Kaitiakitanga," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 104(2), pages 223-235, December.
    5. Bruno Marques & Claire Freeman & Lyn Carter & Maibritt Pedersen Zari, 2021. "Conceptualising Therapeutic Environments through Culture, Indigenous Knowledge and Landscape for Health and Well-Being," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-22, August.
    6. Durie, M. H., 1985. "A Maori perspective of health," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 20(5), pages 483-486, January.
    7. Williams, Allison, 1998. "Therapeutic landscapes in holistic medicine," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 46(9), pages 1193-1203, May.
    8. Jonathan Kingsley & Mardie Townsend & Claire Henderson-Wilson & Bruce Bolam, 2013. "Developing an Exploratory Framework Linking Australian Aboriginal Peoples’ Connection to Country and Concepts of Wellbeing," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-21, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Bruno Marques & Claire Freeman & Lyn Carter & Maibritt Pedersen Zari, 2021. "Conceptualising Therapeutic Environments through Culture, Indigenous Knowledge and Landscape for Health and Well-Being," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-22, August.
    2. Allison Williams & Peter Kitchen, 2012. "Sense of Place and Health in Hamilton, Ontario: A Case Study," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 108(2), pages 257-276, September.
    3. Jonathan Kingsley & Aisling Bailey & Nooshin Torabi & Pauline Zardo & Suzanne Mavoa & Tonia Gray & Danielle Tracey & Philip Pettitt & Nicholas Zajac & Emily Foenander, 2019. "A Systematic Review Protocol Investigating Community Gardening Impact Measures," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(18), pages 1-12, September.
    4. Völker, Sebastian & Kistemann, Thomas, 2013. "Reprint of: “I'm always entirely happy when I'm here!” Urban blue enhancing human health and well-being in Cologne and Düsseldorf, Germany," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 141-152.
    5. Anett Skorpen Tarberg & Bodil J. Landstad & Torstein Hole & Morten Thronæs & Marit Kvangarsnes, 2020. "Nurses’ experiences of compassionate care in the palliative pathway," Journal of Clinical Nursing, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 29(23-24), pages 4818-4826, December.
    6. Bruno Marques & Claire Freeman & Lynette Carter & Maibritt Pedersen Zari, 2020. "Sense of Place and Belonging in Developing Culturally Appropriate Therapeutic Environments: A Review," Societies, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-18, November.
    7. Buzinde, Christine N. & Yarnal, Careen, 2012. "Therapeutic landscapes and postcolonial theory: A theoretical approach to medical tourism," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 74(5), pages 783-787.
    8. Andrews, Gavin J. & Shaw, David, 2010. ""So we started talking about a beach in Barbados": Visualization practices and needle phobia," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 71(10), pages 1804-1810, November.
    9. Hannes Zacher & Liane Pearce & David Rooney & Bernard McKenna, 2014. "Leaders’ Personal Wisdom and Leader–Member Exchange Quality: The Role of Individualized Consideration," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 121(2), pages 171-187, May.
    10. Fu, Mengzhu & Exeter, Daniel J. & Anderson, Anneka, 2015. "“So, is that your ‘relative’ or mine?” A political-ecological critique of census-based area deprivation indices," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 27-36.
    11. Hoyez, Anne-Cécile, 2007. "The 'world of yoga': The production and reproduction of therapeutic landscapes," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 65(1), pages 112-124, July.
    12. Susan L. Prescott & Alan C. Logan & Glenn Albrecht & Dianne E. Campbell & Julian Crane & Ashlee Cunsolo & John W. Holloway & Anita L. Kozyrskyj & Christopher A. Lowry & John Penders & Nicole Redvers &, 2018. "The Canmore Declaration: Statement of Principles for Planetary Health," Challenges, MDPI, vol. 9(2), pages 1-18, July.
    13. Anna Staniewska, 2022. "Gardens of Historic Mental Health Hospitals and Their Potential Use for Green Therapy Purposes," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-23, September.
    14. Rachel Wolfgramm & Sian Flynn-Coleman & Denise Conroy, 2015. "Dynamic Interactions of Agency in Leadership (DIAL): An Integrative Framework for Analysing Agency in Sustainability Leadership," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 126(4), pages 649-662, February.
    15. Roel Jr. D. Apas, 2021. "FIRE Leadership: A Case Study of the Blaan Tribe in Municipality of Kiblawan, Davao del Sur," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 5(09), pages 312-322, September.
    16. Katherine N. Irvine & Sara L. Warber & Patrick Devine-Wright & Kevin J. Gaston, 2013. "Understanding Urban Green Space as a Health Resource: A Qualitative Comparison of Visit Motivation and Derived Effects among Park Users in Sheffield, UK," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 10(1), pages 1-26, January.
    17. Thom, Rowan Ropata Macgregor & Grimes, Arthur, 2022. "Land loss and the intergenerational transmission of wellbeing: The experience of iwi in Aotearoa New Zealand," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 296(C).
    18. Kylie Mason & Kirstin Lindberg & Carolin Haenfling & Allan Schori & Helene Marsters & Deborah Read & Barry Borman, 2021. "Social Vulnerability Indicators for Flooding in Aotearoa New Zealand," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(8), pages 1-31, April.
    19. Andrews, Gavin J. & Chen, Sandra & Myers, Samantha, 2014. "The ‘taking place’ of health and wellbeing: Towards non-representational theory," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 210-222.
    20. Cartwright, Tina, 2007. "'Getting on with life': The experiences of older people using complementary health care," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 64(8), pages 1692-1703, April.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2021:i:1:p:426-:d:715467. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.