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Yes / To explore the perception of healthcare workers (HCWs) on diabetic foot ulcers (DFU) and foot care in Rotuma, Fiji. Using a qualitative study design, two focus group discussions (FGDs) were conducted among HCWs. A semistructured open-ended questionnaire was used to guide the discussion session. Each FGD was audiorecorded and was transcribed. The transcriptions were then manually analysed using thematic analysis. Rotuma hospital, Fiji. HCWs who were working in Rotuma hospital for at least a year and were involved in clinical foot care of type 2 diabetes mellitus patients were included. There were five main themes, namely, depth of knowledge, quality of care in practice, factors of influence on practice, lack of resources and capacity building. Participants had superficial knowledge that showed lack of in-depth scientific knowledge. A lack of staffing in the clinics affected the delivery of service. Additionally, patients defaulting clinics, late presentations with DFU and traditional medicine also affected the quality of healthcare service in clinics. There was also a need for a multidisciplinary team to prevent and manage DFU. HCWs mostly advised on glycaemic control and ignored offering foot care advice in clinics due mainly to the lack of sound knowledge on foot care. There was also a lack of resources, infrastructure, space and professional development opportunities, which negatively impacted how HCWs deliver foot care services to patients. HCWs lack significant in-depth knowledge on DFU and foot care. In addition, these are the availability of traditional medicine that delays presentations to hospital, further reducing the quality of services. HCWs need to keep their knowledge and skills updated through regular in-service training on foot care. Resources, infrastructure and supply chains need to be maintained by those in power to ensure HCWs deliver quality foot care services.

Yes / Health Care Workers (HCWs) are at higher risk of COVID-19 infection with their efforts while protecting the greater community and also exposed to hazards, such as psychological distress, fatigue, and stigma. This study aimed to explore the perception of frontline HCWs on barriers of managing COVID-19 in Fiji. Methods: A qualitative study method was approached to conduct this study among the HCWs who worked on the frontline during the COVID-19 pandemic based at ten purposively selected health facilities in the Suva subdivision in the Central Division of Fiji. The Colonial War Memorial Hospital (CWMH), the Fiji Centre for Communicable Diseases (Fiji CDC), Twomey hospital laboratory, and CWMH laboratory did the main control and most of the operations of other divisions were monitored from these settings. A semi-structured open-ended questionnaire was used to collect data using in-depth interviews. The participants' responses were audio-recorded and were later transcribed and analyzed using thematic analysis. Results: A total of twenty-nine HCWs took part in the in-depth interview and the responses were grouped into four themes, which include: workload, poor communication, lack of resources, and hindrance to education. It was also found through this study that some of the HCWs felt tired, frustrated, got rude to patients, and found it difficult to handle situations, which affected them mentally and physically stressed. Conclusion: Managing the COVID-19 cases has been attributed to the presence of many barriers, such as workload, tiredness, frustration, and sometimes difficult-to-handle situations, and the HCWs were indeed affected mentally and physically. Regular training for HCWs and more awareness programs would help the general public to follow the preventive measures, which reduces the cases and would help the HCWs manage COVID-19 well. / Research Development Fund Publication Prize Award winner, Aug 2022.

The thesis inquires into the role of the Christian Churches in the ethnic and communal conflicts of the Third World. Often times summoned to intervene, churches can instigate, ignore, or seek to reconcile the inter-communal tensions and strife which wreak havoc on the development of these societies. Church response to reconcile the rival claims of divergent ethnic communities is, however, not necessarily impelled purely by doctrinal directives. The institutional interests of the church as well as other priorities often qualify the role of the churches as peace-makers. Using empirical evidence from Fiji, Guyana, and Trinidad, the thesis focuses mainly on the conciliatory role of the churches in these conflicts. It seeks to ascertain whether the churches, over the years and in different cultural milieux, have evolved a body of experiential resources in resolving or assuaging these conflicts. In the end, the thesis attempts to answer the question whether there is or can be a Christian mode of ethnic conflict resolution.

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This study was undertaken to selectively investigate pre-service primary teacher education in one of the Pacific island countries, and in particular to explore whether it provides an adequate and enriching professional preparation to beginning teachers with a view to satisfying the demands of work in the field. In doing so, the issue was examined in detail in a teacher education institution located in Fiji, namely, Lautoka Teachers College (LTC). An integration of qualitative and quantitative approaches was employed to explore if beginning teachers from the College are provided with appropriate professional preparation as future teachers. Using LTC as a case study, basic data gathering methods utilized questionnaire surveys, interviews and documentary analyses. Survey-based data were gathered from the beginning teachers to find out their perceptions of the pre-service program that they had completed. Data were also gathered from their Head Teachers to ascertain views on the beginning teachers' professional preparation for the demands of work in their schools. In addition, an interview-based approach explored the perceptions of not only the College staff but also the Ministry of Education officials with regard to the preparation of teachers in meeting the demands of work and responsibilities in the field. Documentary-based research was also used to explore matters associated with teacher preparation at LTC and to integrate the findings with the data obtained in the surveys and interviews. The study indicated that the beginning teachers were not adequately prepared for the demands of work and responsibilities expected of them as perceived by the profession and other stakeholders. A number of factors were found to be contributing to the perceived inadequacy of the professional preparation of beginning teachers. Lack of physical facilities and quality of educational resources together with an outdated curriculum contributed to this situation. At the same time, lack of support from the principal stakeholder in terms of staff professional development and funding was also cited as impacting upon the quality of pre-service teacher education provided to the beginning teachers. An important emergent issue emanating from the study relates to colonial influence on Fiji's education in general, and teacher education at LTC in particular. Some of the problems LTC grappled with were attributable to certain features of the formalised educational system introduced during the colonial era. These aspects, such as the inheritance of the system of educational administration and centralised control, constrained the College in attempting to fulfil its professional role in an appropriate and responsive manner. The administrative system and related context, delivery and assessment elements established in education during the colonial period have been retained and not attuned to contemporary Fiji needs despite the changing times. In overview terms, the presence of these aspects appeared to have impacted negatively on College's effective conduct of its professional role and responsibilities. Further, this study provides specific insights into the pre-service primary teacher education in Fiji, in particular the importance of having relevant policies and programs to ensure the provision of an adequate and enriching professional preparation for teachers to meet the range of work commitments in the field. The study concluded that a number of factors influence the professional preparation of future teachers and these need to be considered with a view to ensuring that teachers are able to meet the demands of their profession. Based on these findings, the study recommends ways and means to improve the pre-service primary teacher education at LTC, which in turn could be expected to enhance the professional preparation of teachers and their competence within the context of teaching in Fiji primary schools. Additionally, some possible areas for future research have been suggested.

The main theme of this thesis is the contradiction between discourse and practice in health promotion. Many health promoters continue to exert power-over the community through top-down programming whilst at the same time using an emancipatory discourse. The thesis has addressed this contradiction in three parts. The first part determines how the emancipatroty discourse has evolved and eplores the role of social movements in the development of contemporary health discourses and their influence on the legitimisation of empowerment. Central to this discourse is the empowerment of communities. To understand the role of this concept the thesis provides an interpretation of the different meanings of power and community, and the different levels of analysis of empowerment in the context of health promotion programming. The second part identifies the nature of health programming and the dominance of top-down, and to a much lesser extent, bottom-up approaches. The thesis argues that these two approaches are not, and do not have to be, mutually exclusive. To address this issue the thesis presents a new methodology is situated within a framework developed for the accomodation of empowerment goals within health promotion programmes. The study also identifies the organisational areas of influence on the processs of community empowerment and it is these which are used for the assessment of this concept. Both the framework and the methodology address the contradiction in health promotion by making community empowerment operational within a programme context. The third part of the thesis supports the rationale for the design of the methodology with field work in rural Fijian communities. The findings are presented as a composite case study to highlight the experiences of implementing the methodolgy and the main themes that emerged during the field work. the final chapter of the thesis brings together the central themes of the study and draws from these and 'emergent agenda' as a way forward for health promotion research and practice.

A contingent valuation study was done to investigate the value of Fijian reefs by households in the Metro Atlanta area. Individuals were surveyed and asked questions about their Willingness-to-Pay for coral reef conservation, personal views on the scope/magnitude of coral reef problems, and experience around ocean related activities as well as knowledge. Results from this data, find individuals would donate on average $0.18 taking into account sample and response bias. Less conservative estimates calculated contributions per person to equal $13.9 for the conservation of Fijian reefs. These results imply Atlanta, which is very distant from Fiji, has the potential to contribute to Fijian coral reef conservation programs. Although little empirical work exists on valuation measure for reefs of non-users and groups distant to reefs, this study suggests nonprofits and developing countries could benefit from the inclusion or previously excluded (due to distance to reefs) participants. The study discusses donor characteristics as well as possible market strategies these organizations could utilize to maximize revenue. Findings from this work highlight two important issues rarely discussed in the policy literature: 1-the use of non-market valuation methods to identify stakeholders and 2-the effects of distance on use and non-use value ultimately impacting conservation.

Remittances by international migrants have become an important source of finance for livelihood development amongst the households in Fiji. This is substantiated by the country’s rising migrant stock as a result of unstable political environment and the increasing economic opportunities for skilled manpower. It has been noted that the flow of remittances to Fiji excelled the amount of other capital inflows such as foreign aid and foreign direct investment and have surpassed commodity export earnings in the recent years. This has made remittances the second largest foreign exchange earner in Fiji after tourism. This thesis examines the developmental impact of workers’ remittances in Fiji, particularly its impact on economic growth, financial sector development, welfare development of the recipient households and an examination of the sustainability of remittance flows. Using an extended neoclassical framework, the empirical evidence finds a positive impact of remittances on economic growth and financial sector development. The welfare development hypothesis is tested using the Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES) data. This is analyzed first, by examining the expenditure patterns of the remittance-recipient households, the poverty and inequality effects followed by an assessment of human capital development impact of remittances. The empirical results show that households which receive remittances do not only expend their remittance income on basic consumption but have other substantive uses such as that on education of children, housing and expenditure on durables and nondurables. The poverty and inequality reducing effects of remittances, employ two counterfactual methodologies to estimate first, what the poverty and inequality indicators would be in a scenario where remittances are treated as an exogenous addition to household income. Second, it tests the effect in a scenario without migration and remittances, which treats remittances as a substitute for migrants’ foregone earnings. The results show strong poverty reducing effects of remittances irrespective of the methodology used while the effects on income distribution are not unambiguous. The results obtained for the human capital development analysis indicate the positive role of remittances in providing education opportunities for children in the recipient households. In noting these positive effects of remittances, it must however be acknowledged that the flow of remittances has to be sustainable overtime for households to benefit from human development. From a survey of Fijian-New Zealander migrant households, this study examines the remittance-sustainability debate. The results suggest that a combination of factors such as income of migrants, acquisition of higher education prior to migration and the intention to inherit assets from families in Fiji contribute to continued flow of remittances. These results do not support the hypothesis of remittance decay amongst Fijian migrants in New Zealand but reflect a strong altruistic motive of remittances sent to households in Fiji as insurance against economic shocks. This highlights the importance of development policy in facilitating the flows of migrant remittances for the socio-economic progress of Fiji.