Abstract
Co-design of research and health services by academic researchers, community-based health providers and communities has the potential to enhance equity of health outcomes. Working together in partnerships that support shared power and decision-making not only acknowledges the mana (importance) of all those involved but leads to more enduring solutions. This is particularly relevant for Aotearoa New Zealand where the Government’s commitment to Te Tiriti o Waitangi (as outlined in the New Zealand Public Health and Disability Act 2000 (Boulton et al., 2004)) provides an impetus for strengthening partnerships with Māori and reducing health inequities between Māori and non-Māori.
The term “co-design” is often used in a broad sense to describe an approach to working collectively. This can encompass many different methods and a variety of collective arrangements, processes and impacts. Increased use of co-design in Aotearoa New Zealand over recent years has seen a range in the quality of practice.
To help address a lack of guidance around co-design practice, and to further understand the potential benefits of co-design as a methodology, the Healthier Lives - He Oranga Hauora National Science Challenge commissioned a kaupapa Māori evaluation of five of our co-designed research projects. While Pacific evaluation frameworks were not used in this study, a number of Pacific community representatives and researchers who participated in it felt that the study design aligned well with Pacific aspirations.
Independent researcher Dr Debbie Goodwin undertook this evaluation, which assessed how the co-designed projects were conceptualised and implemented, and analysed the challenges, solutions and lessons learnt for future co-designed research. The study participants were academic and community-based members of the five research teams, including leaders and staff of the Māori and Pacific health providers who partnered in the research, as well as the community researchers employed by these organisations.
This short guide presents some of the key lessons distilled from the evaluation. The full report of the evaluation is available at https://hdl.handle.net/10523/22896, https://healthierlives.co.nz/resources/ or via https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Healthier_Lives