Thesis (PhD - Social Work) - Massey University, 2005. This study explores Tongan social work practice and examines how social and community work is constructed from a Tongan worldview. Twenty-eight Tongan social workers in Aotearoa New Zealand participated in individual interviews and focus group meetings, which explored the Tongan values, knowledge, skills and processes foundational to their practice. The participants' narratives contribute to an understanding of Tongan conceptions of wellbeing, personal and social change, and to an identification of key components of a Tongan theoretical framework for social and community work practice. This exploratory study contributes to the growing literature articulating indigenous and non-western frameworks for social and community work practice. The thesis argues that if social and community work is to be transformative, it must itself be transformed and its very foundations reshaped by Tongan and other indigenous, non-western voices.--AUTHOR'S ABSTRACT

nz