Edmond Fehoko from AUT University has been awarded a preventing and minimising gambling harm career development PhD award. The award supports research that seeks to prevent and minimise gambling-related harm in New Zealand’s Māori and/or Pacific populations.
Edmond will undertake research that will shed light on the experiences and perceptions of Tongan fathers and Tongan youth (males) on the health and social issues of gambling and gambling behaviours. The experiences documented will inform intervention strategies that will minimise gambling-related harm.
Edmond will also develop the faikava model as a research methodological framework. The framework is a combination of talanoa and phenomenology. Valuable insight into the gambling issues experienced by Pacific, more specifically Tongan, males will help identify strategies and interventions in minimising gambling-related harm.
The latest report from the Ministry of Health’s National Gambling Study shows that problem gambling and moderate-risk gambling continue to be more prevalent in Māori and Pacific people than among other New Zealanders.
Edmond will be supervised by Professor Peggy Fairbairn-Dunlop, a well-known Pacific academic and scholar.
The preventing and minimising gambling harm PhD award is funded by the Ministry of Health and administered by the HRC.