Communication disability in Fiji: Community self-help and help-seeking support

Abstract

Purpose: To understand how a Fijian community supports people with communication disability (PWCD) and whether their support is associated with participant demographics.

Method: Thematic analysis of 144 questionnaires that asked about participants’ actions to support a fictional child and adult with communication disability.

Result: Participant responses fell into two categories: what they would do directly (self-help) and people and places where they would seek assistance (help-seeking). Self-help behaviours included: making a change to their own communication style or mode; trying to change their own and others’ behaviour; teaching new skills; praying; changing the physical environment; seeking information independently; assessing or observing; and, using traditional medicine, western medicine, or traditional belief practices. Help-seeking behaviours included seeking help from: other community members; education professionals; a professional in another country; spiritual leaders; traditional belief practitioners; traditional medicine practitioners; western health care practitioners; or, an alternative provider (e.g. home, orphanage, nursing home). Younger participants and those of iTaukei Fijian ethnicity were more likely to seek help from other community members.

Conclusion: This Fijian community actively supports people with communication disability within available networks. Development of speech-language pathology services for people with communication disability living in similar communities should harness the informal knowledge within these networks.

Keywords:

• Communication disability
• Fiji
• professional issues
• ICF
• developing communities

Acknowledgements

Our utmost gratitude to the Fijian community for their involvement in this research: vinaka vakalevu and dhanyavad (thank you). Thanks also to Dr Paul Geraghty (University of the South Pacific) for his ongoing support; Mrs Doreen Caucau for her assistance with data collection; and, Ms Felicity McKellar for data entry support. Finally, thanks to Mrs Karen Wylie (Ghana/The University of Sydney) for generously sharing her PhD research method.

Declaration of interest

There are no real or potential conflicts of interest related to the manuscript.

Funding

This work was supported by an Australian Government Endeavour Post-graduate Research Scholarship, an Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship and an Australian Linguistic Society Gerhardt Laves scholarship awarded to Suzanne C. Hopf.