Abstract: This chapter focuses type 2 diabetes as it relates to one rural Maori community within New Zealand. It provides an in-depth discussion relating to diabetes including the burden of diabetes in New Zealand and evidence for prevention which is played out in an increasing obesogenic environment. The process and findings of a research project to 'map out' the food environment within the Southern Lakes District are reported. Purposive sampling was used to survey 124 food outlets in the area, and findings confirmed the existence of an obesogenic environment for Maori. Such an environment is characterised by an abundance of cheap, energy dense foods, and pricing gradients that favour consumption of such foods.

Abstract: The author points to the oppression of colonisation living on in the daily lives of colonised people, and goes on to say that it is vital for nurses to understand the effects of that oppression, as well as the restrictive impacts, and dislocation from one's land and culture to-day. Nurses come from both the descendants of colonisers and the colonised. This thesis is a journey and a quest for insights into the impacts and significances of colonisation by looking at historical and socio-political contexts that have bearing on the health of colonised people who remain mostly powerless and marginalised. It is prompted in response to a cultural safety model which advocates that nurses should become familiar with their own background and history in order to be culturally safe in practice. This reflective autobiographical account is a personal effort and provides the foundation for an exploration of issues during nursing practice encounters, from a colonised ethnic minority perspective. The method was informed by Moustakas research approach and Johnstone's Reflective Topical Autobiographical process. The selection of specific events are deliberate, to make visible some of the many barriers that exist within our health structures as pertinent issues for non-dominant cultures that remain on the margin of our society. Maori issues provide a contrast and became a catalyst for the author while working for kaupapa Maori services. The intention of this thesis is to generate new knowledge about what it means to be a nurse from an ethnic minority working in a kaupapa Maori mental health service, and to encourage other nurses to explore these issues further. Some recommendations are made for nurses in the last chapter.