End-of-Life Care and Māori Whānau Resilience

This article focuses on the cultural resources that made Māori carers resilient when providing care to an ill family member at the end of life. Caring often took place against a backdrop of poverty, personal factors, racism and a lack of health literacy affecting access to resources. The action values of aroha and manaakitanga, compassionate giving, caring, receiving and sharing established a resilient foundation upon which whānau engaged in the illness-to-death trajectory. It served to fortify the dying and their whānau and provided a sense of belonging and a meaningful way of engaging with illness, dying, death and bereavement.