Abstract
Data and literature pertaining to mental health services in Samoa are scarce. A review of Samoa’s mental health policy released by the Ministry of Health in 2006 indicated a small team of nurses, a medical officer, and a psychiatrist spearheading the mental health treatment for the entire country. Despite the shortage of mental health professionals, lack of adequate facilities, and funding limitations, the communal approach toward the care of patients between nurses, families, and communities permeates the values of Fa’aSamoa (Samoan-indigenous ways of knowing, being, and doing). This chapter explores Samoan cultural practices that are rooted in humility, peace, and harmony to offer insight on the Samoan psyche. Moreover, a discussion of experiences in the Samoan diaspora highlights the importance of grounding further development for psychology in Fa’aSamoa. This idea is contrary to the Eurocentric notion of individualism. The authors contend that the Samoan population should be conceptualized through a collectivistic lens that includes aganu’u (Samoan appropriate response to various situations), aiga (family), and religion, which are the salient components of Fa’aSamoa.
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Notes
- 1.
Literally translated niu means baby coconut. It is used in text as a “symbolic representation” of new encounters in knowledge formation.
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Faaleava, F., Alefaio, S. (2022). Psychology in Samoa and Throughout the Diaspora. In: Rich, G.J., Ramkumar, N.A. (eds) Psychology in Oceania and the Caribbean. International and Cultural Psychology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-87763-7_5
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