Disability Issues

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Current projects

Current Projects

How the lived experience of Autism in New Zealand can inform and improve public policy.
Increasing diagnoses of autism present policy issues for government agencies charged with supporting and providing services for those with autism and their families. Hilary Stace’s PhD research looks at how utilizing the lived experience of autism can contribute to improved public policy.

Funding:  Health Research Council.
HSRC Researcher:  Hilary Stace.

An exploratory study of young carers and those they care for.
This project was undertaken by Janet McDonald for her Master of Public Health and completed in June 2008. The study aimed to explore the experiences of young carers (young people who support a family member who is ill or disabled) and those they care for. It found caring in the families interviewed involved processes of change and adapation. A model was developed to illustrate the interactions between these changes and adaptations and to explain the reasons why children become carers within families.

Funding: Health Research Council.
Contact Janet McDonald.