RESUMO
To discover Maori men's perceptions and experiences of health seeking for prostate health problems. A qualitative research design was sued with semi-structured interviews being the primary data source. From January 2000 to February 2002 a total of 357 Maori men were recruited into the Wellington Region Community Prostate Study, Wellington School of Medicine and Health Sciences, New Zealand. 20 men were interviewed in total, including 16 who were symptomatic of prostate disease and four who were non-symptomatic. A number of barriers were described for not seeking prostate health care, and the majority of these were related to the health system not dealing appropriately with cultural issues. Additionally, a lack of prostate knowledge, due to unavailability of appropriate information and societal pressure of being male, were implicated. Solutions offered by participants were also largely culturally related, for example, whanau (family), te reo Maori (Maori language), rongoa (traditional Maori medicine) and more Maori health professionals. Results re-affirm the need for attention to be paid to the establishment of culturally safe health care and access to appropriate prostate health information. Findings could have implications beyond prostate disease and New Zealand, to countries with indigenous populations who share similar health experiences to Maori.