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Understanding the client-service engagement in social service provision: The Q-nique case study

Please note: As of 1 July 2025, the New Zealand Institute for Public Health and Forensic Science (PHF Science) is the new name for the Institute of Environmental Science and Research (ESR). Research and reports published prior to this date may reference the organisation’s former name.

Summary

The case study reported here is part of a larger study, Making Services Reachable (MSR), funded by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment [Contract C03X1301]. The full title of that study is: Using a service ecology approach to co-design and build improvements in service uptake and outcomes for families/whānau of ‘hard to reach’4 populations. The overall research question specified by the funder is: How do we enable families/whānau to succeed to ensure that all New Zealand children fulfil their potential? What are the critical causal influences on positive outcomes for family/whānau, and are there connections between them? How do these critical influences differ for ‘family’ and ‘whānau’? The undergirding principle of the research is that a determinant of wellbeing for families/whānau is their ability to engage effectively with service providers.

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