Te Whakatara! – Tangihanga and bereavement COVID-19

Tess Moeke-Maxwell; Linda Waimarie Nikora; Kathleen Mason; Melissa Carey

doi:10.15663/tee.v4i.77

Tess Moeke-Maxwell Te Ārai Palliative Care and End of Life Research Group, School of Nursing, University of Auckland
Linda Waimarie Nikora Ngā Pae o te Maramatanga, Faculty of Arts, University of Auckland
Kathleen Mason Te Ārai Palliative Care and End of Life Research Group, School of Nursing, University of Auckland
Melissa Carey Te Ārai Palliative Care and End of Life Research Group, School of Nursing, University of Auckland.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.15663/tee.v4i.77

Abstract

New Zealand responded swiftly to the Covid-19 Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) to prevent the spread of sickness and prevent unnecessary deaths. The government initiated a four-level social distancing alert system with specified measures at each level to manage and minimise the risk of COVID-19. By late March 2020, Alert Level 4 required people to stay in their homes in their ‘bubbles’ or family units. Social contact was restricted other than for essential personal movement and travel was severely limited. The Ministry of Health (2020) produced tangihanga (funeral rituals) policy guidelines for Māori, requiring the immediate collection of the deceased’s body by a funeral director. Gatherings to do with death and post-death customs were severely restricted and all marae (indigenous gathering places, land, buildings) were closed and burials could only include the immediate family bubble. In this autoethnographic paper, we draw on one Māori family’s experience of the birth and death of a baby with an anticipated life-limiting illness, during the most restrictive lockdown phase, level 4. We describe the impact COVID-19 tangihanga policy restrictions had on the family. The guidelines prevented them from conducting timely customary internment rituals with support from kaumātua (older men and women) and whānau (family including extended family and friends) in accordance with their cultural preferences. To prepare for future pandemics we recommend mana whenua (local Māori who have authority over their lands and marae) have autonomy to plan and manage tangihanga to avoid unnecessary distress, particularly where there is a known palliative condition.

Author Biographies

Tess Moeke-Maxwell, Te Ārai Palliative Care and End of Life Research Group, School of Nursing, University of Auckland

Tess Moeke-Maxwell is a Research Fellow and founding member of the Te Ārai Palliative Care and End of Life Research Group, School of Nursing, University of Auckland, New Zealand. She leads Māori whānau-centred research with a focus on end-of-life care preferences and customs of Māori kaumātua and Whānau Manaaki (family caregivers). Tess is the Principle Investigator on the Pae Herenga study funded by the Health Research Council, NZ; her team will launch the Pā Te Aroha website on traditional care customs in 2020. Tess has provided advice on the development of Mauri Mate: A Māori Palliative Care Framework for the hospices of Aotearoa. She has contributed to Hospice New Zealand’s Governance Board to develop the Foundation of Spiritual Care Training Program. She is also a member of the Māori Advanced Care Planning group. In 2018 Tess was selected as one of 100 Māori health leaders as part of the Henry Rongomau Bennett Foundation Leadership Strategy. Selected for her contributions to indigenous end-of-life care research; the strategy identifies Māori leaders of today who influence and contribute to Māori health and wellbeing. It identifies Māori at the top of their health career pathways, to inspire the Māori health workforce and generate interest from others to look at careers in health(https://100Māorileaders.com/).

Linda Waimarie Nikora, Ngā Pae o te Maramatanga, Faculty of Arts, University of Auckland

Professor Linda Waimarie Nikora is Professor of Indigenous Studies at the University of Auckland; she is Co-Director of Ngā Pae o te Maramatanga, New Zealand’s Māori Centre of Research Excellence. Formerly she was the Director of the Māori & Psychology Research Unit in the School of Psychology at the University of Waikato in New Zealand. Her specialty interest is in the development of indigenous psychologies to serve the interests and aspirations of indigenous peoples. She has been involved in research about Māori flourishing; Tangi: Māori ways of mourning; traditional body modification; ethnic status as a stressor; Māori identity development; cultural safety and competence; Māori mental health and recovery; social and economic determinants of health; homelessness; relational health and social connectedness.

Kathleen Mason, Te Ārai Palliative Care and End of Life Research Group, School of Nursing, University of Auckland

Kathleen Mason is a Research Assistant and a member of Te Ārai Palliative Care and End of Life Research Group, School of Nursing, University of Auckland. Kathleen supports a number of research projects including the Pae Herenga study lead by the first author. In 2017, Kathleen completed a Bachelor of Health Science at Massey University, New Zealand.

Melissa Carey, Te Ārai Palliative Care and End of Life Research Group, School of Nursing, University of Auckland.

Dr Melissa Carey is Registered Nurse who descends from Ngāti Raukawa Iwi. Melissa has worked as a registered nurse for over 20 years practising within the acute clinical setting in regional and rural Australia. Since 2006, Melissa has been employed within the tertiary education sector where she has developed and delivered various nursing education programmes for undergraduate and postgraduate students. Completing a PhD in 2016 at Queensland University of Technology, Melissa is an emerging health researcher with experience in Ethnographic, Auto-ethnographic and Kaupapa Māori research methodologies. Her research areas include Indigenous knowledge and research, creativity and health education, cultural recovery and healing, cultural safety, cultural needs at end of life and healthy ageing for Māori. Melissa commenced a Postdoctoral Māori Career Development Fellowship funded by the Health Research Council New Zealand and the University of Auckland within the School of Nursing in 2020. Her research will develop a compassionate community toolkit model for healthy ageing and end-of-life care for Māori people in South Auckland.