Nursing Report: Applying Treaty of Waitangi to Diet Plans for Patients

This nursing report explores the application of the Treaty of Waitangi principles in developing person-centred diet plans. It highlights the importance of partnership, participation, and protection in providing culturally sensitive healthcare to Maori patients. The report discusses how nutritionists can use the Treaty principles to build therapeutic relationships, increase patient adherence to diet plans, and ensure equitable treatment. The report references studies that support the effectiveness of person-centred care in improving patient outcomes, emphasizing the significance of effective communication, cultural competency, and strong leadership in implementing these practices. The report concludes by advocating for the integration of cultural values and patient preferences in dietary interventions to enhance overall healthcare delivery.

Running head: NURSING
Nursing
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1
NURSING
Treaty of Waitangi was signed on 6th of February 1840 by the representatives of the
British Crown and Maori in New Zealand. The aim of the Treaty is to enable the British
settlers and the Mori people to live together under complete harmony in New Zealand under
the jurisdiction of the common laws and agreement. Te Three principles of Treaty include
partnership, participation and protection. Partnership involves working together with the
iwi, hapū,whānau and Māori communities in order to develop strategies for overall health
promotion of the Maori population and at the same time develop special disability services.
Participation deals with involvement of the Maori at all levels of health promotion along with
decision-making, planning, effective development and delivery of the health service.
Protection deals with role of the government in ensuring health equality for the Maori by
framing culturally sensitive healthcare plans based on their spiritual values and goals
(Ministry of Health New Zealand, 2019).
Thus nutritionist I will use the Treaty of Waitangi in framing of the person-centred
diet plan for my patients. Sladdin et al. (2017) conducted a study in order to evaluate the
effectiveness of the person-centred diet plan for the management of diabetes. The qualitative
study highlighted that the application of the person-centred diet plan helps in the
establishment of positive dietician-patient relationships or therapeutic relationship. The
generation of the therapeutic relationships help in redistribution of the power to the patient
and at the same time helps in the development of trust. This helps to increase the adherence
of the anti-diabetic diet plan and thereby helping to improve overall outcome of care.
In order to first step for the generation of the person-centred diet plan will include
indulging in effective partnership with patients. I will indulge in effective partnership with
the patient or the service users by the use of the effective communication skills or
interpersonal communication. Use of proper verbal and non-verbal communication skills help
to indulge in therapeutic relationship with the service users. Active listening and maintenance

2
NURSING
of proper body language under the non-verbal communication skills will help the service
users to feel secure and empowered and thus helping to develop trust (Kornhaber et al.,
2016). The developing of partnership will help to develop increased level of service users’
participation of the diet plan. This active participation will help to frame the diet plan in
accordance to their cultural, spiritual and religious beliefs and thereby helping to increase the
dietary adherence (Rollins & Dobak, 2018). By protection I will ensure that I will treat each
and every client of mine equally and will not discriminate them on the basis of their ethnic or
religious background. In order to ensure protection and equality of work, I will work on my
cultural competency skills. This can be done by increasing dignity and respect towards each
and every cultural preference.
Moore et al. (2017) are of the opinion that strong leadership along with the use of the
adaptive strategies are important traits that help in over-coming the existing practice and
routines in the diet plan and thereby increasing the provision for person-centred diet plan.

3
NURSING
References
Kornhaber, R., Walsh, K., Duff, J., & Walker, K. (2016). Enhancing adult therapeutic
interpersonal relationships in the acute health care setting: an integrative
review. Journal of multidisciplinary healthcare, 9, 537.
Ministry of Health New Zealand. (2019). Treaty of Waitangi principles. Access date: 6th April
2019. Retrieved from: https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/populations/maori-
health/he-korowai-oranga/strengthening-he-korowai-oranga/treaty-waitangi-principles
Moore, L., Britten, N., Lydahl, D., Naldemirci, Ö., Elam, M., & Wolf, A. (2017). Barriers
and facilitators to the implementation of person‐centred care in different healthcare
contexts. Scandinavian journal of caring sciences, 31(4), 662-673.
Rollins, C., & Dobak, S. (2018). Creating a great patient experience: Improving care with
food and nutrition services. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and
Dietetics, 118(5), 805-808.
Sladdin, I., Ball, L., Bull, C., & Chaboyer, W. (2017). Patient‐centred care to improve dietetic
practice: an integrative review. Journal of human nutrition and dietetics, 30(4), 453-
470.