The New Zealand experience in peer support interventions among people with diabetes.

Background: Peer-to-peer support has the potential to assist people with diabetes, or at risk of diabetes.

Objective: To review the development of diabetes peer support initiatives in New Zealand.

Methods: A systematic review of diabetes peer support publications from New Zealand, supplemented by unpublished records from Diabetes New Zealand (DNZ, the national diabetes patient organization) and the two major regional initiatives in South Auckland and Waikato.

Tale of two churches: differential impact of a church-based diabetes control programme among Pacific Islands people in New Zealand.

Aims: To compare the impact on weight and exercise of a 2-year church-based diabetes risk reduction programme in four churches in South Auckland, New Zealand.

Methods: A prospective non-randomized controlled study of a modular lifestyle and diabetes awareness intervention programme applying community development principles. The study involved four complete church congregations, two Samoan and two Tongan, with 516 participants at commencement.

Reaching hard-to-reach, high-risk populations: piloting a health promotion and diabetes disease prevention programme on an urban marae in New Zealand.

Maori and other indigenous peoples experience a high prevalence of type 2 diabetes. A pivotal question is how primary and secondary preventative initiatives might be more effectively targeted to embrace those who are at highest risk of developing diabetes and its complications. This paper proposes that, in the case of Maori, as a high-risk population, conventional approaches are insufficient, and that increased consideration needs to be given to how the settings in which health education and services are offered may influence diabetes prevention and earlier diagnosis.

Community development through partnership: promoting health in an urban indigenous community in New Zealand.

Indigenous people who have been dispossessed of their lands and resources bear a disproportionate burden of health problems. Programmes aimed at improving their health status must operate within the context of colonisation history and the contemporary cultural renaissance whereby indigenous populations are asserting their rights to self-determination. Community development strategies incorporating empowerment as both means and end are consistent with the aspirations of the renaissance and reflect the principles of the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion.