Learning Journal #24: Reciprocity

Today in class we talked about reciprocity with in Tonga.  To me reciprocity works two ways, where someone is giving back for what they've received.  I think it'll be a challenge to show reciprocity in Tonga because there could be misconceptions of it.  For example, when Nick mentioned in class that when he tried to sweep the house, his host mom told him to stop and give her the broom so she could do it.  I think one of the reasons why his host mom took away the broom was because she didn't want to be a "bad host" or have others in the community view her as a "bad host" to the foreigners.  In Tongan class, Sione mentioned that Tongans value the land and relationships.  I think that's so true!  Keeping good relations with other people is such an important value in the culture.  Whenever someone came over to my house (in Hawaii), they were treated as "guests."  That meant that my sister or I would have to be the one to serve them drinks or whatever food we had.  We had to make sure the house was clean and that the guest would sit on something comfortable.  That was the respectful thing to do, was to serve them by not letting them stand up to get food or a drink.  This is different in America as here people think it's respectful to take your dishes back to the sink and wash them, and things like that.   

However, like what Nick said, I think there are different ways we could show our appreciation to our host family in Tonga without offending them.  An easy thing I can do is to clean up after myself so my host family won't feel they would have to clean up as much.  I could also do house chores after observing what are the daily chores they do, without them asking me.  I think even spending time with them, even with the children, will be a way of reciprocating my appreciation to them.  I think if I show that I want to help and want to learn more about them, that it'll be easier for me to integrate into the home.         

Learning Journal #23

A recently passed bill in Utah has stated that abstinence only education will be taught in the schools.  Sex education in the state of Utah will ban any instruction on sexual intercourse, contraceptive use, and any sexual activity outside of marriage.  Many are against it because it may lead to an increase in sexual activity and teen pregnancy.  A survey was done on parent and student communication on sexual behavior topics and about 10% of students actually had conversations with their parents.  What about the other 90%?  It's no secret that the rates of teen pregnancy and sexual activity among teens have been increasing in our nation.  The U.S. has the highest amount of teen pregnancies among all industrialized countries.

How does this have to do with my field study?  I will be taking a course in the field with Dr. Page, Health 403R: Adolescent and school health.  Adolescent health also includes sexual health and behaviors.  I wondered where adolescents go to get information about sexual health, since the culture prohibits talking about it in the home.  I wonder if they get information from their friends and whatever has been told to them.  I wonder what kind of information is available for them at clinics.  Last year when I was there, a public health campaign had started, raising awareness to the people about STDs and HIV.  Posters were posted throughout town and on billboards for people to get tested.  I wondered if youth was a target population for the campaign, and if there were other campaigns targeted for youth.  I also wondered if the Ministry of Health has statistics on sexual behaviors among adolescents.  I never had that "talk" with my parents, but I did learn about it in school.  I had a health class, and of course a science class.  In the Tongan culture, those kinds of topics aren't discussed, especially between parents and children.  I think it's a way of respect for one another and our bodies.  I'm not sure how I would go about finding information about sexual health or communication between parents and students without offending anyone there, but I do think it's an interesting topic to think about.    

Learning Journal 22

Today we talked about the IRB and the importance of protecting the people we will be studying.  I will be working with "children" which is anyone under 18 years old and considered a vulnerable population.  I don't think there are huge risks involved for many reasons.  First, I think the whole concept of "parental consent" and being a "minor" may be foreign to people in Tonga.  Tongans value education and so if students ask their parents for permission and if they say it's something for school, most parents would go ahead and allow it.  I don't think I'll have problems getting parental consent, but I still think it's important for me to explain to the students why we have consent forms and things like that.

Two more months from today, we will be on our way to Tonga.  I think it's starting to really hit me now!    I'm nervous and excited!  I'm kind of nervous that my project won't get approved in time and I will be in Tonga waiting.  I'm also nervous that I won't be prepared or will be lost when I get there.  Thinking about the many things that could possibly happen or go wrong, I also thought about things I could do now to prepare for those times.  Some of the things I could do now include working hard on the IRB proposal, getting as much feedback as possible and making those changes, and working closely with my mentor to get guidance and advice on my project.  I'm really excited to go and be among the people, especially the youth!    

Learning Journal #21: source document analysis

I will be going to Tonga in two months and I will learn about the curriculum set up for health classes at Liahona high school.  I want to see what health topics are taught and emphasized in class and see what learning and teaching methods are used by students and teachers.
  
Title:The West Virginia Health Education Assessment Project
Author: Tompkins NO, Kamal KM, Chapman D
Source: EBSCO

Health education is supposed to provide students with the knowledge and skills to prevent health risk behaviors.  This journal article assessed health education in West Virginia.  They were able to recruit 242 schools which was 17,549 students from grades 6, 8, and also high school grade levels.  Students took assessments to see if they met the standards for health education.  This study conducted a statewide school health education assessment, in which they found that high school students failed to meet the standard on any health education area.      

 

This journal article is very important as it shows the importance of health education in high schools, as well as the importance of reaching those health standards.  I will be looking at the health education at Liahona high school, and wonder if they have nation-wide health education standards. 

Learning Journal #20: ethics

Today in class Nick read of someone's experience while studying an indigenous population.  After reading it, I felt a little angry towards the man because he was culturally incompetent.  He did not listen to what the natives were telling him, and yet he was a visitor/foreigner among the group.  He did not want to listen to any of them.  He wanted to find more information about that dance, his way.  It's so important for us to take a step back and realize that we are in a foreign country, with foreign people.  Their are cultural differences that we won't be aware of, and so we need to be sensitive to the things we do.  I liked when Malcolm mentioned that in some cultures, it is considered rude to not finish up your food, because in the Tongan culture, that is considered that way.  We have to be careful because we want to build rapport and relationships with the people.  As Americans, we think and act so independently, which is the opposite for Tongans.  I think when we are in Tonga for the first couple of weeks, we shouldn't start off by doing things our way and the way we want to do it, but rather have an open mind to how things are done in Tonga and work from there.     

We also talked about some of the problems we will face in Tonga.  Most Tongans have this perception that the "palangi" way of doing things is the "right" way.  In her presentation, the girl said that when she would ask them questions that start with what do you think, most people would turn the question around and say, well we think what you think.  I think this is so important for us to be careful of while in Tonga, to not impose our thoughts and way of doing things on the people, especially because our words and actions have great value to the people.  It's important for us to remember why we are there in Tonga, which is to learn more about them.  Not the other way around!  I think a great way of preserving the culture, like what Elise said, is to show interest in them, their lifestyle, and culture.  I think if they see how much value we put on them, they will see it and value it much more.  


The IRB is very important to complete to protect the Tongans and the people we will be studying.  My project is to study health education at Liahona high school.  I think some of the ethical issues and problems my project may have include:
-getting informed consent or parent permission to complete a survey
-confidentiality and privacy of student/teacher responses
-safety of the students and the high school, sensitivity of subject and cultural barriers
-appropriateness as the international survey includes behaviors such as smoking at the Church school

Learning Journal #19: Source Document Analysis

While researching for more articles about common health issues in Tonga, I came across a journal article which conducted an international survey by UNICEF, called the Healthy Behaviour and Lifestyle of Pacific Youth study.  This survey was given to students ranging from ages 11-17 residing in Tonga, Vanuatu, and Pohnpei.  About 43% of all primary and secondary schools in Tonga participated in this survey which was a total of 2808 students.  I thought that amount was a great turn out.  I wondered why the other half did not want to participate, and also wondered if they were government or private schools.  This survey was very interesting as it asked questions about a variety of health behaviors such as substance use, dietary habits, physical activity, peers, communication with family, and injury violence.  This survey measured prevalence and frequency of smoking, kava use, drunkenness, and use of other illegal drugs.  I really liked how this survey was tailored to be more appropriate to fit into Tonga as it asked questions about kava.  This survey was also offered in the Tongan language.

Although the survey was completed in 2000 (from October to November), I think the results found from this survey can correlate to statistics today.  The results included:
            -Increase smoking among boys starting from age 15
            -Drunkenness was reported more often by boys at age 15
            -Drunkenness was reported less often by girls in general
            -Kava consumption on a weekly basis or more often was reported more among boys and increased most between ages 16 and 17
            -Regular use of illegal substances increased among boys
            -Association with weaker relationships with family members and lower happiness with life
            -Tonga had highest proportion of 15 year olds who smoked on a daily basis compared with the other two countries participating in the survey

I thought this was so interesting because I think it’s safe to conclude that there is a high risk of smoking and drinking alcohol among teenagers in Tonga.  I can start my field study by looking to see if the health class at Liahona offers counseling or information about smoking and alcohol use.  With also talking to my mentor, he suggested that I could conduct international surveys there in Tonga (at the high school if possible), and compare the results from the results found in this study.  I think that would be great and so useful for the teachers and health officials in Tonga.  Interestingly, while visiting Tonga, I did notice how many young people smoked and was kind of shocked to see how many.  I think smoking and alcohol use increased over time in Tonga as more and more people left overseas and adopted those health behaviors, and also as people come to visit Tonga and do such things.  I think it will be very interesting to see what interventions or programs are available to teenagers in Tonga to address those two public health issues.     

Title: Comparison of tobacco, alcohol and illegal drug usage among school students in three Pacific Island societies.

Authors: Smith BJ; Phongsavan P; Bauman AE; Havea D; Chey T

Source: http://web.ebscohost.com.erl.lib.byu.edu/ehost/detail?sid=1bbcd8d7-dfea-441a-9025-7298d3f7b236%40sessionmgr104&vid=1&hid=113&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#db=cmedm&AN=17055190

Learning Journal #18 : Methods Practice

I decided for the methods practice assignment to practice participatory observation of nonverbal communication.  So I decided to observe my Sunday school class because there are a lot of Polynesians (mostly Tongans) in the class and I will be working with Tongans in Tonga.  I thought this would be helpful for me.  Participatory observation includes a place, activity and people.

Place:

This Sunday school class is a Tongan class, which means most of the lesson is taught in Tongan.  The classroom is pretty small, but has just enough space to fit everyone who comes.  There is a chalkboard on the front wall of the room, table and folded chairs.  The room is upstairs, and so it is kind of a walk from the chapel and cultural hall.  The room is located near the bathrooms and the library, and so although it is a walk from sacrament, it is in good distance to those two rooms.  There is only one door in and out.  Everyone had their chairs are faced towards the chalkboard, and so their backs are against the door.  That's nice because people aren't embarrassed to walk in late, as everyone faced the teacher.   

People:

 This Sunday, about 12 people showed up in class, which also included visitors in the ward.  We had the same amount of males and females.  Everyone was either half or full Tongan and could understand the language for the most part.  People came from Hawaii, Texas, California, and Utah.  Our teacher grew up in Vava'u, Tonga and so she knew the language very well.  So there was still diversity within our classroom. 

Activity:

The class always started with a hymn and opening prayer and then continued onto the lesson. The teacher taught in both English and Tongan.  She used the chalkboard to write main points, kept eye contact with the students, and also used hand gestures while explaining things.  Some people participated, while others did not.  I noticed that those who did participate seemed confident as they sat straight up and had eye contact with the teacher.  They also had the scriptures open and were following along with the lesson.  They were engaged in the discussion, and even in other people's comments.  Some who did participate used gestures and hand movements to communicate.  They also used probes such as the nodding probe to show they understood what was taught.  There were a few who did not participate verbally in the lesson.  They still kept eye contact with the teacher, and once in a while would grab their phone and do something on it, and then return back to the lesson.  They either sat back in their chair kind of slouched, or bent over.  When other people were talking they didn't look at them or give any eye contact, but rather they just looked down.  Also when the teacher would ask questions, they would be the first ones to look down or look away. 

Through participatory observation, we can see what kind of person they are.  We can see which ones are the more outgoing, talkative kind, and which ones are the more shy and reserved ones.  This will be very useful in the field as communication is a huge key in my project and the way I will be communicating to them will affect my outcome.