New Zealander to share experience in Pacific quality assurance

Pefi Kingi, a New Zealander of Niuean heritage from Auckland, will present her decades of work on developing a quality assurance framework for Pacific cultural practices in healthcare at the second Cross-Cultural Health Care Conference in Honolulu, Hawai‘i next month. Pefi’s trip is supported by a Fulbright-Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga Travel Award, designed for New Zealand academics, artists or professionals to present their work in areas of indigenous development to audiences in the United States of America.

The Cross-Cultural Health Care Conference aims to provide an overview of critical issues facing healthcare professionals who work with diverse indigenous patient populations, and to examine how cultural factors can be incorporated into the training of healthcare professionals and how culture can potentially influence treatment. Pefi’s presentation will contribute to an evidence base of case studies of cross-cultural healthcare training and treatment interventions.

She will discuss the ‘Mitaki’ framework she has developed through her own work to provide best cultural practices in the provision of services to Pacific communities, including public and mental health services, social community services and education. The framework draws its name from the Niuean language question “Mitaki nakai?”, meaning “Is it good?”, and provides a platform for healthcare practitioners or other service providers to review, assess and monitor their work in order to provide the best possible service to Pacific clientele. Pefi looks forward to sharing her experience in quality assurance, although she acknowledges that while such practices are still developing and evolving in Pacific communities, the bottom line may actually be “Mitake fefe?” or “Is it good enough?”.

In addition to her work in service provision and Pacific community development, Pefi is passionate about retention of indigenous languages, culture and performing arts. While in Hawai‘i she will visit a number of Native Hawai‘ian health and education organisations including Hālau Lōkahi Public Charter School, a family-oriented indigenous school with a holistic approach to achieving personal sovereignty through the principles of lōkahi – harmony of body, mind and spirit.

ENDS

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