Kirsten Lovelock

Intercountry adoption as a migratory practice : A comparative analysis of intercountry adoption and immigration policy and practice in the United States, Canada and New Zealand in the post W.W. II period

The United States immigration and intercountry adoption policies and practice are compared with those of Canada and New Zealand. In the post World War II period, both the United States and Canada have been significant as receiving countries for intercountry adoptees, while New Zealand has proportionately been one of the least significant receiving countries in the West. Intercountry adoptions were addressed in legislation and incorporated into immigration criteria and procedures in the immediate post war period in response to the displaced children of Europe. The early immigration legislation for the migration of children for adoption tended to be reactive and temporary. By the 1970s, there was an increased demand for intercountry adoption, and permanent provisions were established in immigration legislation and criteria. Despite the endorsement of this practice through immigration policy, no national policy corollary that addressed the welfare of these children emerged in the United States or Canada. In contrast, in New Zealand, immigration policy and criteria has been shaped by a national policy on intercountry adoption as a practice since the 1960s. This article traces the development of immigration policy and intercountry adoption policy and practice in all three countries. It is argued that ultimately, with respect to policy priorities and practice, all three countries have prioritized national needs and well being over the ‘needs and welfare’ of child migrants for adoption.

Too much and too little? Prevalence and extent of antibiotic use in a New Zealand region

OBJECTIVES Although antibiotic use in the community is a significant contributor to resistance, little is known about social patterns of use. This study aimed to explore the use of antibiotics by age, gender, ethnicity, socio-economic status and rurality. METHODS Data were obtained on all medicines dispensed to ambulatory patients in one isolated town for a year, and data on antibiotics are presented in this paper. Demographic details were obtained from pharmacy records or by matching to a national patient dataset. RESULTS During the study year, 51% of the population received a prescription for one or more antibiotics, and on average people in the region received 10.15 defined daily doses (DDDs). Prevalence of use was higher for females (ratio, 1.18), and for young people (under 25) and the elderly (75 and over), and the amount in DDDs/person/year broadly followed this pattern. Māori (indigenous New Zealanders) were less likely to receive a prescription (48% of the population) than non-Māori (55%) and received smaller quantities on average. Rural Māori, including rural Māori children, received few prescriptions and low quantities of antibiotics compared with other population groups. CONCLUSIONS The level of antibiotic use in the general population is high, despite campaigns to try to reduce unnecessary use. The prevalence of acute rheumatic fever is high amongst rural Māori, and consequently treatment guidelines recommend prophylactic use of antibiotics for sore throat in this population. This makes the comparatively very low level of use of antibiotics amongst rural Māori children very concerning.

Could Immigrants Care Less about the Environment? A Comparison of the Environmental Values of Immigrant and Native-Born New Zealanders

The potential negative environmental impact of immigration has been raised in a number of receiving countries. In New Zealand there has been a debate questioning whether or not immigrants share the same environmental values as native-born residents. This article reports on a study of the environmental values of immigrants and native-born residents of New Zealand (n = 427). The research employed a survey instrument known as the New Environmental Paradigm to examine the environmental worldviews of the subjects. The informing literature for the study is drawn from postmaterialist and social exclusion theory, and the study also considers the role of acculturation in modifying environmental attitudes. The main finding of the study is that there was no significant difference in the environmental worldviews of immigrants and native-born New Zealanders. Both groups held mildly ecocentric views. The level of immigrants’ acculturation was found to be unrelated to their environmental attitudes.

The injured and diseased farmer: Occupational health, embodiment and technologies of harm and care

Occupational health in agriculture is a significant public health issue in industrialised agricultural nations. This article reports on 26 in-depth interviews with farmers throughout New Zealand. Farmers are exposed to a range of technologies which place them at risk of injury and disease and/or prevent injury and disease. In this article these technologies are respectively conceptualised as technologies of harm and technologies of care. Despite being vulnerable to high rates of injury, fatality and occupationally related diseases the uptake of technologies of care amongst farmers in New Zealand is poor. The analysis draws on body theory to explore the meaning attached to injury and disease and to examine the socio-cultural field of agriculture. It is argued that the key features of subjective embodiment and social, cultural and symbolic capital can undermine the uptake of technologies of care, ensuring poor occupational health outcomes on New Zealand farms.

Immigrants’ experiences of nature-based recreation in New Zealand

This study addresses recreational behaviours of immigrants and ethnic minorities, with a focus on nature-based recreation in national and regional parks. The study comprised a survey questionnaire that compared immigrants with New Zealand-born citizens. The study was motivated in part by research undertaken internationally that demonstrates different recreational behaviours for ethnic minorities and for those of recent migrant status. This paper reports on five aspects: frequency of use; nature of the recreation party; constraints to participation; important features of natural areas; and benefits of visiting natural areas. The data revealed statistically significant differences based on migrant status and ethnicity for a range of recreation-related variables. The migrant and ethnic minority cohort in this study had lower incomes than New Zealand-born respondents. This may suggest that marginality and ethnicity need to be considered together as explanatory variables for recreational behaviour.

Conceiving Reproduction: New Reproductive Technologies and the Redefinition of the Kinship Narrative in New Zealand Society

This paper focuses on technologies for assisting conception and considers how normative notions of conception and family formation have informed the rejection, incorporation and adaptation of technologies and their regulation in New Zealand. Drawing on a textual analysis of primary written materials and secondary sources generated between 1965 and 2004, the paper reveals how these technologies help various groups in New Zealand society make explicit their understandings of relatedness, identity and social and cultural belonging. Whilst biological/genetic connection and social connections inform understandings of kinship, reproduction, parenthood and social structure for many New Zealanders, the boundaries between the biological and social are often blurred and precedence of one over the other is very much context dependent. The incorporation of the new reproductive technologies has been an inherently politicised process, with barriers to access to these technologies emerging in relation to ethnic identity and race, sexuality, socioeconomic status, gender, and marital status.

The Big Catch: Negotiating the Transition from Commercial Fisher to Tourism Entrepreneur in Island Environments

Peripheral island communities face challenges emanating from changes to their traditional fishing industries. Stewart Island and Chatham Island in New Zealand provide examples of such communities, their economies and communities supported by the extractive industries of crayfishing and codfishing for many years. However, increasingly depleted fish stocks and changes to the regulatory regimes for fishing have transformed the industry, bringing a dramatic decline in the number of small fishing operators and accompanying socio-economic changes. This paper reports on the transition from a fishing economy to a tourism economy, with a focus on the lived experiences of commercial fishers turned tourism entrepreneurs. Commentators point to the importance of entrepreneurs in destination development; however, a number of barriers may impede the establishment and growth of tourism enterprises in remote islands. This paper explores personal and environmental factors relevant to those undertaking the transition from commercial fishing to tourism in peripheral island destinations, reporting the findings of qualitative research undertaken with tourism entrepreneurs on islands in New Zealand.

First responder well-being following the 2011 Canterbury earthquake

Purpose The role of first responders in mitigating the effects of earthquakes is vital. Unlike other disasters, earthquakes are not single events, and exposure to dangerous and trauma-inducing events may be ongoing. Understanding how first responders cope in the face of such conditions is important, for both their own well-being as well as the general public whom they serve. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach Using questionnaires, this study measured posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), psychological resilience, and reactive coping styles in a sample of first responders active during the 2011 Canterbury earthquake in New Zealand. Findings The prevalence of PTSD was similar to that reported in the literature. Psychological resilience, but not disaster exposure, was found to be associated with PTSD. Maladaptive coping strategies best predicted resiliency, but there were significant gender differences. Originality/value These findings can inform those managing first responder disaster workers through the consideration of preventive and treatment interventions.

Medicalisation or Under-treatment? Psychotropic Medication Use by Elderly People in New Zealand

Abstract The increased use of information technology in health care allows researchers to generate data on rates of medication use among population groups, raising questions as to whether these rates are too high or too low. This paper presents findings from a study of records of all prescription medication dispensed in one New Zealand region (Te Tāirawhiti) over a one year period. The study examined patterns of psychotropic medication use amongst older people, by age, gender, ethnicity and socio-economic position. It concludes that the chances of being defined as needing psychotropic medication, that is, of being ‘medicalised’, are not evenly spread through the elderly population. Gender, age and ethnicity impacted significantly on whether prescriptions were received. Our results suggest the need for a nuanced understanding of the medicalisation of unhappiness and deviant behaviour amongst the elderly which takes into account barriers to treatment for some social groups.

Eldercare work, migrant care workers, affective care and subjective proximity

Objectives. To document and explore the experience of migrant care workers providing health and social care to the elderly in institutional care settings and in the homes of the elderly in the community in New Zealand with a particular focus on the affective components of care work. Design. This qualitative study involved conducting face-to-face, open-ended, semi-structured interviews with 29 migrant care workers in the eldercare sector in the cities of Auckland and Wellington, New Zealand. Participants were recruited through various agencies focusing on aged care and engaged with migrant eldercare workers and snowballing through participant referral. Sample size was determined when saturation was reached. The interviews were audio recorded, transcribed verbatim, themes were identified and then analysed drawing on a body of theoretical work in the fields of emotional anthropology and moral geography and the international empirical literature addressing migrant eldercare workers. Results. As with the international research in this field we found that these workers were vulnerable to exploitation, the workforce is largely feminised and stereotypical understandings of racial groups and national characteristics informed recruitment and the workplace experience. Here attributing gradients of affect to particular migrant groups in the workforce was the main mechanism employed to establish worker worth and difference. Identifying with these gradients of affect enabled these eldercare workers to demonstrate that they met the moral and ethical requirements of permanent residency and ultimately citizenship. Eldercare workers in the home were vulnerable to ‘blurred emotional boundaries’ and care recipient demand for greater emotional commitment. The migrant eldercare workers in this study all shared vulnerable residential status and many feared they would never obtain permanent residency or citizenship. All had family who remained in the Philippines and towards whom they had an obligation to substitute care support. Conclusion. Central to understanding how this labour force issue is experienced by both caregivers and the elderly is the notion of subjective proximity and how emotional and moral trajectories serve to mediate the connection between the eldercare worker and workplace, the Filipino migrant eldercare relationship with employers, agencies and institutions; and, the transnational nature of this mobility and social and actual citizenship.