Sāmoan-Niuean PhD student Asetoa Sam Pilisi Photo: Pasifika Medical Association
A researcher says cultural demands are one of the major factors leading to a decline in Pacific people's mental wellbeing.
Key findings from a survey of 1092 New Zealand-born Pasifika showed that cultural obligations often meant neglecting personal boundaries.
Study lead Asetoa Sam Pilisi hopes the study will create interventions that respect Pacific values while prioritising self-care.
He told Pacific Waves the data suggests Pasifika experience burnout more than their Pakeha counterparts.
Prevalence of burnout of NZ Pacific people 'alarming' - study
"We're naturally inclined to sacrifice personal needs; we're naturally inclined to go over and beyond for others," he said.
He said in and of themselves these are not bad things, but with ongoing commitments and little time to replenish resources - including money, time and health - they can be unsustainable.
"And as a result of that, we shoulder the stress on our bodies and our minds and our mental health and wellbeing."
Asetoa said at recent workshops to talanoa about burnout, people understood that obligations are important, "but people just talked about sustainable ways to approaching that".
"If we consider various responsibility loads that we have, some of us are incredibly busy, at work, home, church, in so many settings - how was it that we can lessen the load sometimes?
"Sometimes that does mean saying no, or if we reframe that, sometimes it's about saying yes to less things."
He said kaupapa or activities can be something people love doing and it gives them a purpose, "but there's only so much time in the day".
"So we have to shift accordingly sometimes these responsibilities, just to ensure we can give, but also we have enough time to refill, and then as we have time to refill, we can go back out again."
Asetoa said one key finding was that, with social norms around resiliency and "just getting on with things", sometimes burnout or mental health are belittled as not real or as "things that don't affect us".
But he said while serving and generosity and similar values are part of loving families and communities, burnout is real.
"It affects us, and we need to find ways to pause, reflect, and how can we perhaps amend, edit some of the ways in which we practice some of these values."