Sa'oloto Agaga: My Research

Today I broke my 100 survey goal! Hooray!!

I actually have 120, but 100 was my initial goal, so now everything over that is a bonus! For those of you who are not aware of the research I am doing here, I apologize as I know I haven't mentioned it much in this blog.

So...here is a readers digest version of my research:

I am here in American Samoa because they experienced an earthquake and tsunami in September of 2009 and my interest is in Posttraumatic Growth. While most of you have likely heard of Posstraumatic Stress Disorder, many have likely not heard the converse, the study of Posttraumatic Growth. It is really the study of how after some sort of traumatic event, the majority of people likely look back on that event as a turning point of some sort in life, a stimulus for growth in some area of their lives.

I have been handing out surveys at the puppet show/nutrition lessons put on three times a week by the foundation I am working with, and at a health fair sponsored by the foundation as well. At the health fair I raffled off a banana cake to motivate people to take the survey. Like with any culture people here are highly motivated by frosting!

(Note my nifty tsunami survey poster hung at my health fair survey table. picture above The wave at the bottom is the universal sign for tsunami)

I have been calling it a tsunami survey rather than a posttraumatic growth survey, so I don't have to do so much explaining. Besides I do not necessarily want the people to try to answer in a way they think is the "right" answer, and it is better if it is not so obvious what I am looking for.

I am interested in knowing if and how the people here view the tsunami in a positive light. My research is based on that of Dr's Lawrence G. Calhoun and Richard G. Tedeschi out of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Prior to coming here I wrote to them and asked for their permission to use the survey tool they use to study posttraumatic growth. They kindly granted it with the provision that I share my results, and I will gladly, if indeed I have any worth sharing. I have had to simplify their much larger survey down to 15 questions, and have had it translated into Samoan.

It is intended to measure five different factors of Posttraumatic Growth:

Factor I: Relating to Others, Factor II: New Possibilities, Factor III: Personal Strength, Factor IV: Spiritual Change, Factor V: Appreciation of Life. There are 2 questions designed to measure each factor.

I will be very interested to get home and begin to work with the data that I have collected. It is my observation that this culture is very relaxed and therefore quite resilient. They have all seen many hurricanes and huge storms and do not get very worked up, but the tsunami was different, and many lives were definitely changed!

A mere 7 minutes after they felt the first rumble of the earthquake, a 32', 500 mile per hour, wall of water hit. Adults were literally dragging young children, and old people up the mountain ahead of the water. I have heard stories of the up to 32' tall wave washing a large shark into a home, and also of it washing away a loved one.

I have some interviews scheduled in the next 2 weeks to hear and record some of the stories and thoughts of a couple of the local villagers, of a couple who live on a yacht in the harbor, and the story of that day from the couple who I am living with.

I am headed to Western Samoa on the 26th. That island was hit worse than here, and I am set to interview a sister missionary who had been on the island only two weeks when the tsunami hit. She says she and her husband were out in their van rescuing as many as they could hold. She tells me she has pictures and stories for me. I am looking forward to that.

As I read this I am thinking to myself...I almost sound like a legitimate researcher. Sometimes I feel like I really am, and at others I still feel like I am just asking a few specific questions about how people survive and perhaps even prosper after something so completely devastating happens in their lives. As this type of positive outlook on trauma is a subject I personally am curious about. So,I ask what makes a researcher? Perhaps being curious and doing it in a controlled way is being a "researcher"? Is there more to it than that? Hmmmmm something to "research" another day...

I am including my survey here for the curious. If you like, think of a traumatic event in your own life and then take it yourself. You may see ways in which that event indeed brought growth.

As you will see each statement or question is first in samoan, then in english:

(for those of you who speak a little spanish, each vowel sound in samoan is the same as spanish but the vowels do not combine to form new sounds. Every one is sounded out, so it is a completely phoenetic spelling. Beautiful to listen to, but not a "written language" so tougher to read and write!)

Faamolemole fa’alapotopoto mai vaega sili ona faamatalaina ai oe:

Please circle the responses that you feel best describe you:

1. Oa’u: Polenisia—Asia—Isi I am: Polynesian—Caucasian—Asian—Other

2. Tulaga o Tausaga: My age: 18 to 30 31 to 40 41 to 50 51 to 60 61 to 70 71 or over

3. Tulaga Fa’aipoipoga: Fa’aipoipo—To’atasi—Tatala faaipoipoga—Nofo fua—Isi

Marital Status: Married—Single—Divorced—Widowed—Other

4. Fa’afusaina lo’u tagata: Le lotu—Lotu laititi—Lotu feololo—Tagata lotu male malelosi

I consider myself: not religious—somewhat religious—average in religion—very religious

5. Ua ma’ea____tausaga o a’oa’oga. I have completed ____ many years of schooling.

6. Oa’u: Ali’i—Tama’I tai—Isi I am : Male—Female—Other

Faamolemole toe tepa ile mafui’e ma le tsunami ia Setema 2009

ma a’afiaga na o’o ilou olaga.

Please consider the earthquake and tsunami of September 2009,

and the affect it has had on your life.

Iloilo tulaga o l’ou le auai po’o auai I fa’amatalaga nei.

Then indicate the level that you disagree or agree with the following statements:

0 = mafua leai se auai / disagree strongly; 1 = le auai laititi / disagree somewhat;

2 = le auai / disagree slightly; 3 = auai feololo / agree slightly;

4 = auai feololo atu / agree somewhat; 5 = auai atoatoa / agree strongly

Ta’u mai le mafui’e ma le tsunami, Since the earthquake and tsunami,

7. O mea sa ou lagoniana le taua ilo’u olaga olo’o tumau pea.

The things that I feel are important in life have remained the same.