Postpartum illness in Fiji: a sociosomatic perspective

The purpose of this study is to explore the apparent social mediation of a postpartum somatic illness, na tadoka ni vasucu, occurring among ethnic Fijian women.

During their first two postpartum days, 85 consecutive newly delivered ethnic Fijian women were recruited for a prospective study on na tadoka ni vasucu at the Sigatoka District Hospital in Nadroga, Fiji. Subjects underwent translated structured interviews and responded to the Kellner Symptom Questionnaire and to visual analog scales to assess social supports and occurrence of mood symptoms or an episode of na tadoka ni vasucu in the postpartum period. Semistructured ethnographic interviews were also conducted with subjects who reported an episode of na tadoka ni vasucu. Data were collected in the initial postpartum days and again at 2 to 5 months postpartum; 82 women completed the study.

Na tadoka ni vasucu is a somatic syndrome occurring in 9% (N = 7) of this sample. Both quantitative and narrative data demonstrate that this syndrome is associated with perceived inferior social supports. Despite its relatively infrequent occurrence and benign clinical course, the disorder is a subject of serious social concern within the Fijian community.

Although na tadoka ni vasucu seems to be clinically trivial, because of its cultural salience it is nonetheless able to mobilize intensive social surveillance and care for the postpartum mother. The moral concern generated by this culturally marked disorder, as well as its association with perceived inferior social supports, suggest a dialectical relationship between somatic idiom and its social context.