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Microaggressions and Maori

Year:
2015
Duration:
12 months
Approved budget:
$20,600.00
Researchers:
Miss Jordan Pearse
Health issue:
Cardiovascular/cerebrovascular
Proposal type:
Māori Health Masters Scholarship
Lay summary
The research objectives of this project center on understanding a possible mechanism by which Maori experience higher levels of hypertension. The mechanism investigated in this study is termed 'microaggressions'. These are described as daily and commonplace, verbal, behavioural and environmental offences that communicate hostile and negative racial insults toward people of colour (Sue, et al, 2007). The principal methodologies will include prescreening for experiences of microaggressions, followed by measuring participant cardiovascular responses across baseline, reading, speech, and mental arithmetic tasks. This study will add to the small existing knowledge base, as well as providing us with a mechanism that may help to explain the disparities in hypertension between Maori and Pakeha in Aotearoa-New Zealand.