Hokowhitu : a sport-based programme to improve academic, career, and drug and alcohol awareness in adolescent Māori

Abstract

The purpose of this project was to design and evaluate a sport-based life skills intervention designed for indigenous New Zealand (Māori) youth who may be exposed to drug or alcohol abuse. An indigenous research approach known as Kaupapa Māori research was utilised. As an indigenous approach, Kaupapa Māori signifies the importance of research with Māori being initiated, determined, and validated by Māori and in particular, by those directly involved with the research initiative (Bishop, 1996; Tuhiwai-Smith, 1999). As a result of adhering to a Kaupapa Māori approach the participants determined additional areas of interest including academic self-esteem, intrinsic motivation for schoolwork and career awareness. Therefore, the initial project grew to include several other life skills areas identified by the participants. The life skills basis of the 'Hokowhitu' intervention was adapted from the Going for the Goal (GOAL) and Sports United to Promote Education and Recreation (SUPER) programmes developed by Professor Steve Danish (Danish, 1997; Danish Nellen, 1997; Danish, Meyer, Mash, Howard, Curl, Brunelle Owens, 1998). The GOAL and SUPER programmes taught life skills to adolescents including informed decision-making, health-enhancing activities (e.g., goal setting) and health-compromising activities (e.g., drug alcohol abuse). A New Zealand (NZ) version of the GOAL programme was successfully pilot-tested in 1997-1998 in NZ schools with non-Māori adolescents (Hodge Danish, 1999; Hodge, Cresswell, Sherburn, Dugdale, 1999). The evaluation of the Hokowhitu programme used both quantitative and qualitative analyses. The qualitative investigation received an enthusiastic response and supportive results for the Hokowhitu programme. Many of the research participants preferred the qualitative investigative approach because of the culturally recognised components (e.g., Te kanohi ki kanohi or face-to-face method used to ask questions). The quantitative investigation used; Mann-Whitney U, Wilcoxon, Chi Square and McNemar statistical tests (Harraway, 1995). The outcome of the overall programme evaluation showed that the Hokowhitu programme provided improvements in; (a) academic self-esteem, (b) increased intrinsic motivation for schoolwork, (c) increased career awareness, and (d) increased drug and alcohol awareness in adolescent Māori. Also, there was some statistical support for the Hokowhitu programme and evidence that life skills and Kaupapa Māori ideologies were able to be successfully integrated into a sport-based programme.