Barriers and incentives to Māori participation in the profession of psychology: A report for the New Zealand Psychologists' Board

Abstract

It is well known that Māori are over-represented within the client group of psychologists. Despite ongoing attempts to recruit and retain more Māori within the discipline of psychology, the numbers of Māori psychologists continues to remain low, raising serious concerns about the ability of the profession to effectively meet the needs of its clientele. The salient barrier to increasing Māori participation in psychology is the environments in which Māori students of psychology and Māori psychologists are required to participate. Areas covered include current Māori participation in psychology, barriers to Māori participation such as psychology's reliance on western paradigms, lack of Māori participation in psychology training programmes, lack of support for Māori psychology students, and a lack of commitment to Māori development in psychology.