Jd. Sellman et al., CULTURAL LINKAGE - TREATING MAORI WITH ALCOHOL AND DRUG PROBLEMS IN DEDICATED MAORI TREATMENT PROGRAMS, Substance use & misuse, 32(4), 1997, pp. 415-424
Maori are the indigenous people of New Zealand and suffer more health
problems, including alcohol and drug-related problems, per head of pop
ulation compared with the Pakeha (non-Maori) population. An initiative
to develop dedicated Maori alcohol and drug user treatment programs,
which offer ''cultural linkage'', is currently being undertaken. This
initiative is based on the premise that addressing cultural needs make
s alcohol and drug treatment more effective for Maori than mainstream
programs which do not specifically address these special needs issues.
As yet, there are no data from controlled studies which address this
proposition. Key problems related to the development of ''cultural lin
kage'' programs in New Zealand are identified and solutions suggested
along with future direction for research in this area.