Denise Blake
Biographic Data
| ID | 826940 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Denise Blake |
| GIVEN NAMES | Denise |
| FAMILY NAME | Blake |
| SIGNATURE | BLAKE D |
| AFFILIATIONS | Victoria University of Wellington |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-7087-5107 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 29 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 8 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 29 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1970 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Māori youth suicide: Coroners’ experiences of engaging with bereaved families in Aotearoa New Zealand
Suicide is the third leading cause of death among young people globally, and Indigenous populations experience higher suicide rates than non-Indigenous populations. In many jurisdictions, suspected suicides are investigated through coronial services established by governments as part of colonisation, and these services often fail to foster positive engagement with Indigenous families. This research took place in Aotearoa New Zealand and was guide…
Who’s responsible? A media framing analysis of climate change and meat reduction in Aotearoa New Zealand
Addressing climate change requires urgent and impactful action. This includes reducing consumption of red meat for people living in high-income countries. This article seeks to understand the role that media play in the construction of arguments about meat reduction. A framing analysis of 58 news media stories from Aotearoa New Zealand (herein Aotearoa) examines how arguments about meat reduction are made persuasive. It was found that within Aote…
‘I don’t consider cancer when I’m grabbing the beer’: Discursive strategies used by midlife New Zealanders to undermine alcohol-cancer risks
Compared with other age groups, adults at midlife consume alcohol at relatively high levels. Alcohol has been linked to a number of long-term health risks, including cancer, although awareness of cancer risk is low. The current study aimed to examine how adults at midlife talk about, understand and consider alcohol-related cancer risks within their life contexts. Individual interviews were undertaken with 37 adults (41–64 years; 28 female, 9 male…
A Risky Business? Climate Change and Meat Reduction in Aotearoa New Zealand. A Media Framing Analysis
The reduction of red meat in high-income countries is an impactful climate action and necessary to balance the projected growth of meat consumption in middle-income countries. Aotearoa New Zealand (herein Aotearoa) is a high-income country with elevated per capita greenhouse gas emissions. This research presents a media framing analysis of 58 news media stories on meat reduction as a climate action. It illuminates how arguments are constructed rh…
Māori households assembling precarious leisure
Many members of the precariat in Aotearoa/New Zealand (NZ) struggle to access resources for leisure.This article draws on four interview waves with five precariat Mori (Indigenous peoples of Aotearoa/NZ) households (N = 32 interviews) using mapping and photo-elicitation interviews to explore participant leisure engagements.We document how precarious leisure for some Mori is assembled agentively by participants out of key elements associated with …
Alcohol-related health risks, cancer and government drinking guidelines: Views of adults at midlife in Aotearoa New Zealand
Alcohol consumption increases longer-term health risks, including cancer. Many adults at midlife in Aotearoa New Zealand drink frequently but may not be aware of such risks. This study examined midlife adults' awareness of alcohol and health risks and their knowledge of government low-risk drinking guidelines. A convenience sample of 502 adults (aged 40-65 years; 70% female) completed an online questionnaire. Almost all respondents reported they …
Adoptee Activism: I am not your 'Child for all Purposes'
In this article, we, three adoptee scholars, share collectively our experiences of adoption while engaging in activism that contests adoption practices. We apply autoethnographic and reflexive strategies to unpack our shared conversation in order to foreground the plight of adoptees and offer insight into adoption and the importance of the current law reform in Aotearoa New Zealand. We draw on a model of adoptee consciousness to frame the complex…
Vietnamese migrants’ engagement in disaster risk reduction: The relevance of social capital
Researchers commonly employ the concept of social capital to examine how people engage with disaster risk reduction. This approach has generated useful knowledge to improve the effectiveness of disaster risk reduction for the general population. However, disaster risk reduction knowledge and practices designed for the general population might not speak to Vietnamese migrants because they do not reflect Vietnamese cultural practices and norms. Thi…
Losing everything: Experiences of a flood for people who inject drugs in Aotearoa New Zealand
Everyday Experiences of In-Work Poverty and Policy Responses in the Assemblage of Situations of Precarity in Aotearoa New Zealand
Lived experiences of in-work poverty remain under-researched in countries such as Aotearoa New Zealand NZ. Community-orientated psychologists often argue that people experiencing such complex issues develop considerable expertise that is invaluable in efforts to reimagine effective responses. The core aim of this article is to explore participant experiences of government efforts to alleviate the negative impacts of in-work poverty on socioeconom…
Get ready: Disaster preparedness and response for people with chronic illnesses living in hazard-prone Petone, Aotearoa New Zealand
Purpose The purpose of this research is to understand how people living with chronic illness understand their healthcare needs, particularly as they can be disrupted by natural hazards events (e.g. earthquakes, flooding and landslides), which can result in chronic health conditions becoming acute. Research has shown that, because of such disruption, people with chronic illness face the greatest risk of adverse health outcomes during a disaster, p…
It's a sanity restorer’: Narcotics anonymous ( NA ) as recovery capital during Covid ‐19 in Aotearoa New Zealand
Narcotics Anonymous has flourished globally across 143 countries as a key community response to problematic substance use, despite disruptions, including the COVID‐19 pandemic. This research sought to understand how the Aotearoa New Zealand Narcotics Anonymous (NA) community engaged with NA meetings online during the 2020–2021 COVID‐19 pandemic. During in‐depth, semi‐structured interviews, 11 NA members shared their stories of addiction, abstinen…
Contesting the margins of coloniality: Māori adoptee identities in the context of Māori identity scholarship
Over the past two decades, understandings of Mori identity have been enriched through emphases on non-binary categorizations, processual 'becoming', and flexible 'routes' rather than rigid 'roots'.While this work is commendable for expanding the range of identity options for Mori, it has not accounted for the unique position of Mori adoptees.This article presents the findings of research focused on the identity-related experiences of Mori adopted…
Home drinking practices among middle‐class adults in midlife during the Covid ‐19 pandemic: Material ubiquity, automatic routines and embodied states
Poipoia te kākano, kia puawai: Resilience and resistance in the lives of Māori adoptees
Closed stranger adoption has not commonly been recognised as a tool of Indigenous oppression in Aotearoa New Zealand, yet it was a colonial practice that caused great harm to Māori. This article narrates some of the ways in which adoptees who identify as Māori demonstrate resilience and resistance to the pernicious effects of closed stranger adoption. Using a mana (strengths-based values) enhancing approach, meaning we champion respect and unders…
The Paradoxes of Closed Stranger Adoption in Aotearoa New Zealand
Transracial adoptees continually navigate the paradoxes of adoption, which arise in bio-normative and racialized contexts. “Being-adopted-and-Māori” was explored with 15 Māori adult adoptees. Hermeneutic phenomenological analysis revealed experiences of adoptive and racial “differentness,” centered around four key paradoxes: “as if born to”; the lived experience of transracial adoption; post-reunion biological kinship; and whaka-papa. Examining t…
Mataura flood 2020, Aotearoa New Zealand: A case study highlighting resilience through community spirit
“I need to have a plan in place”: Accessing medications and health treatments during a disaster for people with long-term health conditions
Sex workers’ experiences following the Canterbury earthquakes: Recovery and rebuild
Assisted dying in the Aotearoa New Zealand media: A critical discourse analysis
Death by assisted dying has long received media attention and remains a current socio-political health topic today. For many, understanding assisted dying is derived from media representations that position health, illness and dying in particular ways. These various stories shift and shape how we understand ourselves. With a Foucauldian lens, we explore what the media made possible for people to think, feel and do in relation to this phenomenon. …
A ‘forgotten’ whakapapa: Historical narratives of Māori and closed adoption
The era of closed stranger adoption is a significant part of Aotearoa New Zealand’s social and colonial history; some 80,000 children were legally adopted between the years 1955–1985. Māori children constituted a considerable proportion of these legal adoptions, although little attention has been given to their experiences. The relative silence surrounding this phenomenon exists alongside narratives of colonisation and a professed abhorrence by M…
Relational ethics meets principled practice in community research engagements to understand and address homelessness
Growing homelessness in Aotearoa New Zealand stems primarily from rising inequalities and poverty. Drawing from scholarship on relational ethics, principled practice and Māori cultural concepts, this paper offers our reflections on nearly two decades of collective work to document and address homelessness. Central to the approach outlined are enduring community partnerships, the cultivation of reciprocal relations, and time spent with homeless pe…
The role of “not for profits” (NFPs) in disaster preparedness in Aotearoa New Zealand
Purpose The purpose of this research is to highlight the role of not-for-profit (NFP) organisations in enhancing disaster preparedness. The authors set out to understand their perspectives and practices in regard to disaster preparedness activities to support people who live precarious lives, especially those who live as single parents who are the least prepared for disasters. Design/methodology/approach The research draws on in-depth, semi-struc…
Accessing primary healthcare during Covid‐19: Health messaging during lockdown
Accessing healthcare during a disaster matters for the well‐being of people and communities. This article explores healthcare messaging about General Practitioner (GP) services for non‐COVID‐19 health concerns during the Level 4 lockdown in Te Papaioea (Palmerston North), Aotearoa New Zealand. Messaging from Government, media and local GP clinics were analysed to understand how people were advised to seek care for non‐COVID‐19 health concerns. We…
Sex Workers’ Rights in Aotearoa New Zealand
The New Zealand Prostitutes’ Collective (NZPC) is an organisation founded on the rights, welfare, health, and safety of sex workers in Aotearoa New Zealand and globally. The collective is committed to ensuring the agency of sex workers in all aspects of life. After years of lobbying by the NZPC to overturn an archaic law founded on double standards, whereby sex workers and third parties were prosecuted for acts such as soliciting and brothel keep…
Relational ethics meets principled practice in community research engagements to understand and address homelessness
Growing homelessness in Aotearoa New Zealand stems primarily from rising inequalities and poverty. Drawing from scholarship on relational ethics, principled practice and Māori cultural concepts, this paper offers our reflections on nearly two decades of collective work to document and address homelessness. Central to the approach outlined are enduring community partnerships, the cultivation of reciprocal relations, and time spent with homeless pe…
No‐man's Land: Adoption Storied Through the Aotearoa/New Zealand Adoption Act 1955
The Aotearoa/New Zealand Adoption Act 1955 legislated and governed adoption practices from 1955 to 1985. Through an exploration of the historical, cultural and social assumptions underlying the Adoption Act 1955, this article questions how the social power relations complicit with adoption legislation and policy produce and reproduce subject positions for adoptees. In‐depth narrative interviews were conducted with 12 adoptees from throughout Aote…
Contesting the margins of coloniality: Māori adoptee identities in the context of Māori identity scholarship
Over the past two decades, understandings of Mori identity have been enriched through emphases on non-binary categorizations, processual 'becoming', and flexible 'routes' rather than rigid 'roots'.While this work is commendable for expanding the range of identity options for Mori, it has not accounted for the unique position of Mori adoptees.This article presents the findings of research focused on the identity-related experiences of Mori adopted…
The Paradoxes of Closed Stranger Adoption in Aotearoa New Zealand
Transracial adoptees continually navigate the paradoxes of adoption, which arise in bio-normative and racialized contexts. “Being-adopted-and-Māori” was explored with 15 Māori adult adoptees. Hermeneutic phenomenological analysis revealed experiences of adoptive and racial “differentness,” centered around four key paradoxes: “as if born to”; the lived experience of transracial adoption; post-reunion biological kinship; and whaka-papa. Examining t…
A ‘forgotten’ whakapapa: Historical narratives of Māori and closed adoption
The era of closed stranger adoption is a significant part of Aotearoa New Zealand’s social and colonial history; some 80,000 children were legally adopted between the years 1955–1985. Māori children constituted a considerable proportion of these legal adoptions, although little attention has been given to their experiences. The relative silence surrounding this phenomenon exists alongside narratives of colonisation and a professed abhorrence by M…
Effect of Replacing Correct Items during Paired-Associate Recall
The replacing of items correctly recalled during paired-associate learning gave no advantage to Ss over Ss who received completely new items on each trial. Superficially, this result appeared to support all-or-none theory, but item analyses show item difficulty to be a confounding factor. The failure of the drop-out paradigms to provide critical tests of all-or-none predictions is discussed
No‐man's Land: Adoption Storied Through the Aotearoa/New Zealand Adoption Act 1955
The Aotearoa/New Zealand Adoption Act 1955 legislated and governed adoption practices from 1955 to 1985. Through an exploration of the historical, cultural and social assumptions underlying the Adoption Act 1955, this article questions how the social power relations complicit with adoption legislation and policy produce and reproduce subject positions for adoptees. In‐depth narrative interviews were conducted with 12 adoptees from throughout Aote…
Opioid Substitution Treatment Planning in a Disaster Context: Perspectives from Emergency Management and Health Professionals in Aotearoa/New Zealand
Opioid Substitution Treatment (OST) is a harm reduction strategy enabling opiate consumers to avoid withdrawal symptoms and maintain health and wellbeing. Some research shows that within a disaster context service disruptions and infrastructure damage affect OST services, including problems with accessibility, dosing, and scripts. Currently little is known about planning for OST in the reduction and response phases of a disaster. This study aimed…
Sex Workers’ Rights in Aotearoa New Zealand
The New Zealand Prostitutes’ Collective (NZPC) is an organisation founded on the rights, welfare, health, and safety of sex workers in Aotearoa New Zealand and globally. The collective is committed to ensuring the agency of sex workers in all aspects of life. After years of lobbying by the NZPC to overturn an archaic law founded on double standards, whereby sex workers and third parties were prosecuted for acts such as soliciting and brothel keep…
Stigma and disaster risk reduction among vulnerable groups: Considering people receiving opioid substitution treatment
The role of “not for profits” (NFPs) in disaster preparedness in Aotearoa New Zealand
Purpose The purpose of this research is to highlight the role of not-for-profit (NFP) organisations in enhancing disaster preparedness. The authors set out to understand their perspectives and practices in regard to disaster preparedness activities to support people who live precarious lives, especially those who live as single parents who are the least prepared for disasters. Design/methodology/approach The research draws on in-depth, semi-struc…
Accessing primary healthcare during Covid‐19: Health messaging during lockdown
Accessing healthcare during a disaster matters for the well‐being of people and communities. This article explores healthcare messaging about General Practitioner (GP) services for non‐COVID‐19 health concerns during the Level 4 lockdown in Te Papaioea (Palmerston North), Aotearoa New Zealand. Messaging from Government, media and local GP clinics were analysed to understand how people were advised to seek care for non‐COVID‐19 health concerns. We…
Mataura flood 2020, Aotearoa New Zealand: A case study highlighting resilience through community spirit
“I need to have a plan in place”: Accessing medications and health treatments during a disaster for people with long-term health conditions
Sex workers’ experiences following the Canterbury earthquakes: Recovery and rebuild
Assisted dying in the Aotearoa New Zealand media: A critical discourse analysis
Death by assisted dying has long received media attention and remains a current socio-political health topic today. For many, understanding assisted dying is derived from media representations that position health, illness and dying in particular ways. These various stories shift and shape how we understand ourselves. With a Foucauldian lens, we explore what the media made possible for people to think, feel and do in relation to this phenomenon. …
A ‘forgotten’ whakapapa: Historical narratives of Māori and closed adoption
The era of closed stranger adoption is a significant part of Aotearoa New Zealand’s social and colonial history; some 80,000 children were legally adopted between the years 1955–1985. Māori children constituted a considerable proportion of these legal adoptions, although little attention has been given to their experiences. The relative silence surrounding this phenomenon exists alongside narratives of colonisation and a professed abhorrence by M…
Relational ethics meets principled practice in community research engagements to understand and address homelessness
Growing homelessness in Aotearoa New Zealand stems primarily from rising inequalities and poverty. Drawing from scholarship on relational ethics, principled practice and Māori cultural concepts, this paper offers our reflections on nearly two decades of collective work to document and address homelessness. Central to the approach outlined are enduring community partnerships, the cultivation of reciprocal relations, and time spent with homeless pe…
Home drinking practices among middle‐class adults in midlife during the Covid ‐19 pandemic: Material ubiquity, automatic routines and embodied states
Poipoia te kākano, kia puawai: Resilience and resistance in the lives of Māori adoptees
Closed stranger adoption has not commonly been recognised as a tool of Indigenous oppression in Aotearoa New Zealand, yet it was a colonial practice that caused great harm to Māori. This article narrates some of the ways in which adoptees who identify as Māori demonstrate resilience and resistance to the pernicious effects of closed stranger adoption. Using a mana (strengths-based values) enhancing approach, meaning we champion respect and unders…
The Paradoxes of Closed Stranger Adoption in Aotearoa New Zealand
Transracial adoptees continually navigate the paradoxes of adoption, which arise in bio-normative and racialized contexts. “Being-adopted-and-Māori” was explored with 15 Māori adult adoptees. Hermeneutic phenomenological analysis revealed experiences of adoptive and racial “differentness,” centered around four key paradoxes: “as if born to”; the lived experience of transracial adoption; post-reunion biological kinship; and whaka-papa. Examining t…
Adoptee Activism: I am not your 'Child for all Purposes'
In this article, we, three adoptee scholars, share collectively our experiences of adoption while engaging in activism that contests adoption practices. We apply autoethnographic and reflexive strategies to unpack our shared conversation in order to foreground the plight of adoptees and offer insight into adoption and the importance of the current law reform in Aotearoa New Zealand. We draw on a model of adoptee consciousness to frame the complex…
Vietnamese migrants’ engagement in disaster risk reduction: The relevance of social capital
Researchers commonly employ the concept of social capital to examine how people engage with disaster risk reduction. This approach has generated useful knowledge to improve the effectiveness of disaster risk reduction for the general population. However, disaster risk reduction knowledge and practices designed for the general population might not speak to Vietnamese migrants because they do not reflect Vietnamese cultural practices and norms. Thi…
Losing everything: Experiences of a flood for people who inject drugs in Aotearoa New Zealand
Everyday Experiences of In-Work Poverty and Policy Responses in the Assemblage of Situations of Precarity in Aotearoa New Zealand
Lived experiences of in-work poverty remain under-researched in countries such as Aotearoa New Zealand NZ. Community-orientated psychologists often argue that people experiencing such complex issues develop considerable expertise that is invaluable in efforts to reimagine effective responses. The core aim of this article is to explore participant experiences of government efforts to alleviate the negative impacts of in-work poverty on socioeconom…
Get ready: Disaster preparedness and response for people with chronic illnesses living in hazard-prone Petone, Aotearoa New Zealand
Purpose The purpose of this research is to understand how people living with chronic illness understand their healthcare needs, particularly as they can be disrupted by natural hazards events (e.g. earthquakes, flooding and landslides), which can result in chronic health conditions becoming acute. Research has shown that, because of such disruption, people with chronic illness face the greatest risk of adverse health outcomes during a disaster, p…
It's a sanity restorer’: Narcotics anonymous ( NA ) as recovery capital during Covid ‐19 in Aotearoa New Zealand
Narcotics Anonymous has flourished globally across 143 countries as a key community response to problematic substance use, despite disruptions, including the COVID‐19 pandemic. This research sought to understand how the Aotearoa New Zealand Narcotics Anonymous (NA) community engaged with NA meetings online during the 2020–2021 COVID‐19 pandemic. During in‐depth, semi‐structured interviews, 11 NA members shared their stories of addiction, abstinen…
Contesting the margins of coloniality: Māori adoptee identities in the context of Māori identity scholarship
Over the past two decades, understandings of Mori identity have been enriched through emphases on non-binary categorizations, processual 'becoming', and flexible 'routes' rather than rigid 'roots'.While this work is commendable for expanding the range of identity options for Mori, it has not accounted for the unique position of Mori adoptees.This article presents the findings of research focused on the identity-related experiences of Mori adopted…
Who’s responsible? A media framing analysis of climate change and meat reduction in Aotearoa New Zealand
Addressing climate change requires urgent and impactful action. This includes reducing consumption of red meat for people living in high-income countries. This article seeks to understand the role that media play in the construction of arguments about meat reduction. A framing analysis of 58 news media stories from Aotearoa New Zealand (herein Aotearoa) examines how arguments about meat reduction are made persuasive. It was found that within Aote…
‘I don’t consider cancer when I’m grabbing the beer’: Discursive strategies used by midlife New Zealanders to undermine alcohol-cancer risks
Compared with other age groups, adults at midlife consume alcohol at relatively high levels. Alcohol has been linked to a number of long-term health risks, including cancer, although awareness of cancer risk is low. The current study aimed to examine how adults at midlife talk about, understand and consider alcohol-related cancer risks within their life contexts. Individual interviews were undertaken with 37 adults (41–64 years; 28 female, 9 male…
Political science (21 works) · Aotearoa (20 works) · Sociology (20 works) · Gender Studies (14 works) · Medicine (12 works) · Public relations (10 works) · Law (9 works) · Psychology (9 works) · Gender Studies (8 works) · Geography (8 works)