Tamasailau Suaalii-Sauni

A qualitative investigation into key cultural factors that support abstinence or responsible drinking amongst some Pacific youth living in New Zealand

BackgroundAbstinence and responsible drinking are not typically associated with youth drinking culture. Amongst Pacific youth in New Zealand there are high numbers, compared to the general New Zealand population, who choose not to consume alcohol. The Pacific youth population is made up of several ethnic groups; their ethno-cultural values are largely Polynesian and heavily influenced by the socio-economic realities of living in New Zealand. This paper explores factors that support abstinence or responsible drinking amongst Pacific youth living in Auckland.MethodsA qualitative study comprised of a series of ethnically-, age-, and gender-matched semi-structured focus group discussions with 69 Pacific youth, aged 15-25 years from a university and selected high-schools. Participants were purposively sampled.ResultsKey cultural factors that contributed to whether Pacific youth participants were abstinent or responsible drinkers were: significant experiences within Pacific family environments (e.g. young person directly links their decision about alcohol consumption to a positive or negative role model); awareness of the belief that their actions as children of Pacific parents affects the reputation and standing of their Pacific family and community (e.g. church); awareness of traditional Pacific values of respect, reciprocity and cultural taboos (e.g. male–female socialising); commitment to no-alcohol teachings of church or religious faith; having peer support and experiences that force them to consider negative effects of excessive alcohol consumption; and personal awareness that being part of an (excessive) drinking culture may seriously affect health or impede career aspirations.ConclusionsThe narratives offered by Pacific young people highlighted three key communities of influence: family (immediate and extended, but especially siblings), peers and church. Young people negotiated through these communities of influence their decisions whether to drink alcohol, drink excessively or not at all. For each young person the way in which those three communities came together to support their decisions depended on the specificities of their lived contexts. Pacific young people live lives that share some things in common with other New Zealand youth and others which are more specific to a Pacific ethnic group, especially in relation to the traditional beliefs of their Pacific parents and community. In the development of alcohol harm reduction strategies seeking active Pacific young person and family compliance, it is these “other ethnic things” that requires careful and more qualitative consideration.

Prevalence of Chlamydia trachomatis infection in Samoan women aged 18 to 29 and assessment of possible risk factors: a community-based study.

BACKGROUND Knowledge about genital Chlamydia trachomatis (CT) infections in the Pacific is limited. In this study we investigated CT infection in Samoan women. METHODS We recruited women having unprotected sex aged 18 to 29 years from 41 Samoan villages. They completed a questionnaire and provided a urine sample for CT testing by PCR. Associations between CT infection and possible risk factors were explored using logistic regression. RESULTS Altogether, 239 women were recruited; 86 (36.0%; weighted estimate of prevalence: 41.9%; 95% CI: 33.4-50.5%) were positive for CT infection. A higher proportion of women aged 18 to 24 were positive (54/145; 37.2%) than those aged 25 to 29 (32/94; 34.0%; p=0.20). Being single (OR 1.92; 95% CI: 1.02-3.63) and having two or more lifetime sexual partners (OR 3.02; 95% CI: 1.19-7.67) were associated with CT infection; 27.6% of those with one lifetime partner were positive. Participants who had a previous pregnancy were less likely to be positive (OR 0.49; 95% CI: 0.27-0.87). Primiparous and multiparous women were less likely to be positive than nulliparous women (OR 0.54; 95% CI: 0.30-0.99 and OR 0.46; 95% CI: 0.24-0.89, respectively). CONCLUSIONS The prevalence of CT infection in these Samoan women is very high. Further studies, including investigating the prevalence of CT infection in men, and strategies for sustainable control are needed.

Care for the seafarers: A review of mental health in Austronesia

Continent‐based regional reviews of mental health may not fully describe the status of ethnocultural groups that are widely dispersed across multiple continents or traditional world regions. Our aim was to describe the Austronesians, an ethno‐linguistic group living primarily in islands and coastal areas in the Pacific and Indian Oceans and Southeast Asia.

Strengthening health research capacity from within Samoa.

This article reflects on the challenges of strengthening health research capacity from within Samoa. It examines the status of health research and related curricula in Samoa and discusses the outcomes of a new postgraduate applied social and health research methods course taught in Samoa for the first time from 5 January to 12 February 2010 by the Department of Preventive and Social Medicine, University of Otago in collaboration with the Centre for Samoan Studies, National University of Samoa. The article argues that collaborative health research courses such as this methods paper can fill a curriculum gap in New Zealand and Samoa and contribute directly toward strengthening Samoa health research capacity in ways that benefit both Samoa and New Zealand. This initiative can be a flagship for strategies operating from within Samoa that can build real win-win type partnerships. These can be ably led by Samoans for the ultimate development of an affordable and sustainable quality health and education infrastructure for Samoa.

Legal Pluralism and Politics in Samoa: The Faamatai, Monotaga and the Samoa Electoral Act 1963

This chapter seeks to discuss the claim that Samoa has a dual legal system. It explores how an understanding of the interplay between (1) the faamatai (Samoa’s chiefly system), (2) Samoa’s parliamentary system, (3) the faasamoa (Samoa’s customary system), and (4) the faakerisiano (Samoa’s Christian system) can help us better understand this claim. It argues the importance of being able to read cultural nuance into case law, political acts and everyday practices of custom. Samoa’s recent H.R.P.P landslide election victory means that Samoa effectively has a one-party state where law-making will be dominated by H.R.P.P persuasions over the next 5 years. Without the checks and balances offered by an opposition party, Samoa’s voting public must find other ways to hold parliament and the government accountable to its prized rule of law—a rule of law assumed to be capable of giving due regard to the nuances of custom and culture i.e. to Samoa’s faasamoa, aganuu, agaifanua, and tu ma aga, as hoped for by the Constitution. In Samoa, all parliamentarians must by state law hold a matai or chiefly title. This puts the faamatai squarely within the decision-making whirlpool of Samoa’s Westminster parliamentary style democracy. Knowing, among other things, how to navigate the codes of conduct required of a matai as opposed to a parliamentarian requires deliberate examination of what these codes are in theory and in practice. This opens the gates to an analysis of the historical and ideological foundations of both systems or codes—where they meet and where they do not. Much is known about the philosophical bases of the jurisprudential traditions of the common law and Westminster politics. Very little deliberate scholarly examination is, however, available on the indigenous jurisprudence of small island states, like Samoa. Moreover, the significance of the discourse of God—of both God Ieova and God Tagaloa—to Samoa’s contemporary legal and governing discourses, is germane to a study of legal pluralism in Samoa. A lack of scholarly attention to the place of theology in understandings of law, culture and custom in the indigenous Pacific ensures that any examinations of legal pluralism in small island states like Samoa will, more often than not, miss the point. Therefore, knowing how to read cultural nuance in Samoan law and politics, understanding how the ‘blending’ of the faamatai and parliamentary democracy works (or not), and understanding the co-existence of God Ieova and God Tagaloa in state and custom laws, are elements emphasised in this chapter in its exploration of legal pluralism and party politics in Samoa.

Critiquing Pasifika education at university

Talofa lava, Malo e lelei, Kia orana, Fakalofa lahi atu, Nisa bula vinaka, Taloha ni... Warm greetings to you all. When I agreed to accept the invitation to do this keynote address, I did so for two main reasons. First, because Linitā had asked me to do it and I always find it difficult to say no to Linitā. 1 As many of you know, champions like Linitā must be supported where possible. My second reason was because I am always keen to share with people of like minds, to engage in an open and meaningful conversation about what it is that we are doing in universities as Pasifika educators and scholars, and to focus in on what Pasifika education might be exactly and where it could go. In attempting to prepare for this talanoa session, if I may call it that, I went back to the invitation letter and conference correspondence sent to me by Linitā and the organising committee to make sure I address what is expected of me. 2 In reading these I realised that there is an emphasis on teaching. I am neither by formal training nor by natural inclination (I am told) a teacher. I have been a student of law and sociology and have attempted to try my hand at what the university calls ‘lecturing’ (which for some is distinguished from‘teaching’). I have some field experience as a social researcher in Pacific health and a keen interest in Pacific research methodologies. 3 If anything, I guess I would lean more towards the enterprise of research than that of teaching. The two are, however, not mutually exclusive.