TY  - SER
AU  - Thaggard, Sandra
AU  - Tautolo, El-Shadan
TI  - Bula vakavanua and the spiritual disruption of elder abuse : : a Fijian perspective
PY  - 2020///
PB  - Pacific Health Dialog, 
KW  - ELDER ABUSE
KW  - CULTURAL ISSUES
KW  - FIJIAN PEOPLE
KW  - PACIFIC PEOPLES
KW  - PASIFIKA
KW  - QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
KW  - NEW ZEALAND
N1  - Pacific Health Dialog, 2020, 21(6): 335-340
N2  - Introduction: This article used a cultural lens to explore issues of elder abuse from a Fijian perspective. Fijian tradition of respect for the older adult is a priority and any mistreatment is viewed as a spiritual disconnection and most injurious to God, the land and the people; their ancestral foundations and traditional customs.

Methods: The Fonofale model, as a pan-pacific approach was employed as a methodological paradigm to explore elements of abuse within a larger study of 50 Pacific Island elders from Pacific communities of Aotearoa, New Zealand. This article examines perceptions of abuse as seen from a Fijian perspective.

Findings: The findings argue that all forms of abuse; physical, psychological, financial or neglect are seen as a spiritual disconnection to the very foundation of what it is to be Fijian, referred to as bula vakavanua - the Fijian way of life.

Conclusion: Practitioners with the possibility of confronting situations of abuse may benefit from a cultural awareness programme, addressing the many different ways that abuse may be construed from within a culture other than the dominant one in society. (Authors' abstract). Record #7672
UR  - https://doi.org/10.26635/phd.2020.639
ER  -