Family experience leads to research on cardiovascular disease and wellbeing

A Samoan University of Auckland Masters student is looking to explore the relationship between cardiovascular disease and psychological wellbeing among Pasifika, particularly fathers.

Aniva Hunkin said everything happens for a reason, and an experience with her father requiring an angioplasty - a procedure to open blocked arteries - caused her to pivot to this topic.

She is looking for Pasifika families affected by cardiovascular disease (CVD) to take part.

She said in Pacific communities there's an inability to open up, and an expectation for men to be strong and not need help.

"Vulnerability is quite a foreign thing that you see in our Pacific communities," she said.

"Any representation of a Pacific male - you've got Maui, for example, in Moana; I think a lot of kids can also see this powerful figure in Maui.

"You've got Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson - he's just this embodiment of what it's meant to be like as a Pacific male - he's big, he's strong. And I think that's sort of the misconception that we have in our Pacific communities, is that men are supposed to just be this way."

Hunkin said she doesn't want to speak for Pacific men, but in her experience that is the persona she has known them to embody.

"Again, this is why I'm trying to carry out this research - I want to understand those barriers.

"I really want families to be involved in this research, and so I've opened it up. It's not just the men; it's the whole family. But what happens when the head of the family is vulnerable - when Maui isn't feeling like Maui, you know? Or, you know, what do we do? Then we gather together and we support."

Hunkin said she wants to understand how statistics can be improved - saying the numbers are alarming.

"I don't like always coming from a deficit lens," she said.

"I don't like always hearing, 'oh, you know, Pacific men are disproportionately affected... your mortality rates in Pacific communities are higher, and all those things'.

"The numbers always speak...and unfortunately, that's the kind of world we live in, right? It's a world of numbers.

"But I think the stories, and we're very oratorical in our cultures... I think it's nice to hear the stories that come through, and again, not just the stories of those that are affected - in this instance, the Pacific fathers that are diagnosed with CVD - but their children and their wives.

"And I think I'm just trying to gauge how the whole family is operating in this time and in this predicament."

Pasifika people who have been impacted by cardiovascular disease and are happy to take part can email fhun899@aucklanduni.ac.nz.