Diverse youth voices and New Zealand public policy

Abstract

This small, exploratory study, conducted in Auckland, New Zealand, followed on from an earlier review and sought the opinions of young people from diverse communities as to how their voices might be located in public health policy. A focus group was undertaken with 6 youth involving participatory research methods of mind mapping and ranking. Participants created two key themes to direct their mind mapping activity: “a beautiful world to speak in” and “a difficult world to speak in.” Each theme was broken down into 3 sub-themes reflecting participants’ perceptions of having or not having their voices heard. On the one hand, participants appreciated the open environment for communication in the New Zealand context. Yet, concurrently, societal power relationships which unfairly privilege one group over another were identified as limiting youth voice. The study informs the design of a larger participatory research project focused on youth leadership and public health policy in New Zealand and the Pacific Region.