Māori pain experiences and culturally valid pain assessment tools for Māori: A systematic narrative review

Abstract

Physiotherapists in Aotearoa New Zealand use various models and tools for assessing pain, many of which have been developed and validated in other ethnic populations outside Aotearoa New Zealand. In particular, assessing pain within the Māori population should be culturally appropriate and capture Māori realities associated with pain experience. The purpose of this systematic review was three-fold: to explore evidence of pain experiences among Māori, to identify any pain assessment questionnaires that capture Māori experiences of pain, and to propose a framework to evaluate the adherence to kaupapa Māori research guidelines. Due to the gap in the literature, only two studies were eligible. Based on these two studies, whānau, Māori holistic views of health, whakapapa, and spirituality were identified as key themes associated with Māori pain experiences. The quality of included studies was “medium-high” and “high”. The overall evaluation based on the Confidence in the Evidence from Reviews of Qualitative research demonstrated “high-moderate” confidence in the findings. Evaluation of adherence to a kaupapa Māori theory framework of the included studies found these to be limited. This review could not identify culturally valid tools to capture Māori experiences of pain, and established the need to develop tools encompassing themes associated with Māori experiences of pain.