Carers of elderly whānau their invisible voices

Abstract

The kaupapa of my research is about Māori whānau carers and the related notion of caring. I moved away from the care recipients’ health issues, accessing government and agency services and the negative impact of caring on the carer. Instead, I focus on exploring the deeper layers of my carers’ narratives to allow their invisible voices to reveal new insights about their caregiving experiences to provide their unique perspective to add to the scholarship of care. Aim: My research aimed to address the question: What is the value of care to the carer? To achieve this goal, I introduced the paradigm of Māori cosmology, the relationship to whakapapa and the connection to Māori carers. I explored the theory that the supernatural heavens and creation stories represent the origin of care. Another impact that I consider is the legacy of colonisation and my carers’ realities in the current century. Methodology: Qualitative research is an interpretive tool, making it a perfect fit for conducting kanohi ki te kanohi (face-to-face) interviews and applying the flexible theory of a kaupapa Māori philosophy (for Māori, by Māori, about Māori). Using a ‘double lens’ approach, I merged the positive energies of te ao Māori and te ao Pākehā by developing, in tandem, the dominant paradigms in Māori and Pākehā of te ao mārama (ontology), whakapapa (epistemology) and kaupapa rangahau (methodology). I introduced two parallel systems in my methodological approach. From te ao Māori, I created a kaupapa Māori pūrākau methodology called ātārangi ki te ātarangi (shadow to shadow) Maori indigenous research. The te ao Pākehā model included relativist ontology to capture the multiple realities developed from social interactions together with a constructivist epistemology perspective to understand meaning and answers from the holistic truths of ‘being’. I chose thematic analysis to develop codes and themes to write up my research. Findings: The answer to the research question was inductively inspired by a participant who coined the groundbreaking phrase care means love. It provided the critical foundations for my research. Hidden in the invisible voices of the carers was the disclosure that the practical 24-hour-a-day, seven-days-a-week trials and tribulations of care were not the focus of the care experience. As part of the holistic care phenomenon, it was through love, honour, respect, admiration, mana and humour that they delighted in recounting their stories. When filtered through care means love, their care narratives contained the core kaupapa of tikanga-aroha and tikanga-love.