The fa’asamoa, person-centered theory and cross-cultural practice

In the context of working in the South Pacific, and specifically, in and with Pacific communities in Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand, this article explores the fa’asamoa, Samoan world view or rules that govern Samoan behavior, using the Fonofale model of health care and practice. The authors reflect on these with reference to the fa’asamoa way of maintaining the va or relationship and to Rogers’ necessary and sufficient conditions for personality change and, more broadly, the therapeutic relationship. The article explores these two world views in the context of a society in which many diasporic Pacific communities struggle and thus contributes to contemporary thinking about person-centered cross-cultural practice.