Description:

Navigating conversations around sexual health and wellbeing is difficult within our families due to traditional and Christian values and morals, family responsibility and cultural taboos. There is an ever-pressing need for a better understanding of cultural taboos and how this impacts Pasifika youth in Aotearoa, New Zealand. An audit into the current landscape of information suggests limited resources and academic literature are available, that are specific to Cook Islanders and provide meaningful, relatable and useful information around navigating the taboos of sexual health and wellbeing from the perspective of a young person.

Cultural values and norms are heavily centred around the idea of respecting relationships and talking about certain taboo topics would mean a breach of this respect. However, this raised the question as to what extent youth may go to maintain the silence and consequently, what this means for them as they go on to navigate issues in the future.

There is an opportunity to, therefore, explore how design might be used to navigate difficult and sensitive conversations for Cook Island youth in ways that acknowledge their different cultural barriers and understandings. There is also an opportunity to use design as a vehicle to help communicate messages that resonate with Cook Island youth.

Due to these challenges, the design outcome focused on creating a safe space for conversations that is culturally informed and engaging. This project found a middle ground between the cultural norms at home and the societal norms. The outcome was a culturally responsive and engaging conversational game that was intended to facilitate safe conversations surrounding sexual health and wellbeing for Cook Island adolescents. Underpinning Tivaevae as both an artistic practice and a research framework, this tool was informed by the common challenges faced by Cook Island and Pasifika youth around talking about their sexual health and wellbeing. Literature outlined a need for more culturally responsive approaches to working with Pasifika communities within the health setting. Through design, this outcome focused on the early stages of this issue and explored a better understanding of where youth are most comfortable receiving information about sexual health and wellbeing (for example, parents, grandparents, friends or the internet, etc).