Mana Tū

The trial demonstrated significant improvements in five of six ‘domains of change’ that are closely related to effective chronic disease management: nutrition; self-management; physical; health literacy; cultural safety; and smoking. Only the last of these showed no change.

One of the biggest changes was an increase in the amount of fruit and vegetables consumed daily by Mana Tū participants.  They also increased their level of physical activity by 10% on average. By far the biggest increase was in their sense of cultural safety and readiness to engage with health and social services, which rose by 84%.

Over two thirds of the intervention group had some reduction in HbA1c over the twelve-month period but the difference between the intervention and control groups was not statistically significant. There was little change in blood pressure, low density lipoprotein (LDL) or high density lipoprotein (HDL) and no difference between the intervention and control groups. The observed change in HbA1c was comparable to changes found in systematic reviews of chronic disease management programmes.

The evaluation found that the Mana Tū programme had a positive impact on the lives of participants. Importantly, there was a clear improvement over time in their confidence to achieve goals and in feeling empowered to do the work needed to achieve future goals.

Many communities around New Zealand would benefit from wider roll out of a case management programme addressing the social determinants of health.