‘Ma te Whānau te Huarahi Motuhake: Whānau participatory action research groups” in MAI REVIEW, Special Issue: Community Research Engagement

Whānau must lead their own development and solutions to work towards individual and collective whānau wellbeing for the future. Whānau are experts of their everyday lived experiences and hold the knowledge of their stories (past and present), aspirations, issues and complex dynamics that exist between whānau members and their extended and external relationships. This paper offers information and insights about articipatory Action Research (PAR) and PAR groups as realistic options when considering methods for research with whānau. In order to achieve this, the paper will describe Participatory Action Research (PAR), whānau PAR groups, alignment with Kaupapa Māori Research, pre-testing application with whānau and feedback received from a whānau PAR group.