Cook Island youth views toward positive mental wellbeing and suicide prevention

A comparative study investigating the views of Cook Island-born and New Zealand-born youth (16-24 years) will be undertaken. It will examine perceptions around positive mental health wellbeing and how this may discourage suicidal behaviours for these groups. It will be an expansion of the applicant's current Master's research which examines New Zealand-born Cook Islands youth views, thus allowing comparatives to made for this proposed doctoral research. It is anticipated that this research may contribute to the long term goal of improving mental health and wellbeing and decreasing suicidal behaviours amongst young Cook Islands people using a strengths based approach. The aims are to: a) Define mental health and wellbeing for Cook Island-born youth; b) Identify risk and protective factors for Cook Island-born youth and comparing this to recent New Zealand-born Cook Islands youth data; and c) Develop a positive mental health and wellbeing model for Cook Islands youth.