He Pikinga Waiora

The He Pikinga Waiora Implementation Framework was widely disseminated, and successfully used to guide the efforts of the National Bowel Screening Advisory Group and the 2016-18 Waitemata District Health Board Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Screening Pilot.  It was also adopted by several research projects working with Indigenous communities in Aotearoa and other countries.

The project team used the Framework to co-design two health interventions with community partners:

• • • Kimi Ora – a 10-week programme for people with prediabetes or type 2 diabetes and their whānau, run by Te Kōhao Health
    • Poutiri Health Challenge – a 12-week lifestyle intervention to address pre-diabetes and related conditions for men and their whanau, run by the Poutiri Charitable Trust.

Both interventions achieved very high retention rates and significant improvements in clinical health indicators, and both have been funded by healthcare providers to continue beyond the research phase.

The high level of community engagement through the co-design process was a crucial factor in the success of both interventions.

As well as improving health, the research led to greater understanding of how to harness community involvement so that interventions and treatment programmes are more readily adopted and sustainable beyond the research phase.