The Phenomenon of Aging: The Adaptation of Filipino Elderly

ABSTRACT

The main aim of this qualitative study was to delve and understand the lived experiences of Filipino elderly. This descriptive qualitative study was underpinned with the ‘Adaptation Theory’ in a phenomenological approach. Semi-structure interviews, observations, field notes, and qualitative documents were purposively collected from 12 Filipino elderly. Inclusion criteria were used in selecting the participants to show homogeneity. Data were analyzed and interpreted using Colaizzi method. In addition, the quality of reporting was authenticated by COREQ standards for qualitative studies. For the results, the lived experiences generated four emergent themes: the world of agism, the trauma of elderly abuse, the rise above the challenges, and the future of elderly entailed the active participation and involvement of people in building what can be done for the elderly to provide dignified life they deserve and to maximize their potentials as a person despite of the minimal time they have. The study concluded that understanding the experiences of the Filipino elderly will be an efficient way to assess the needs of this sector to live with respect and dignity. Lastly, this qualitative study would like to reiterate to people the essence of social responsibility in loving and taking care of the elderly sector.

KEYWORDS:

• Aged
• agism
• aging
• discrimination
• Philippines
• qualitative research
• social responsibility

Acknowledgments

The researchers would like to thank the twelve (12) participants for sharing their experiences. Secondly, to Ben Ryan Sauce and John Cabrito for helping the researchers in the data encoding. To Kathlyn Sanchez for continuously proofreading this manuscript. To the invited external examiners, who willingly shared their expertise to come up with the final results if this qualitative investigation. Lastly, to Emiliano Hudtohan and Nenita Cura for their valuable inputs and recommendations on how to improve the study.

Ethical approval and consent to participate

Ethical approval was granted by the Institutional Ethic Review Committee of Philippine Women’s University (PWU) Manila.

Consent for publication

Written informed consent was signed by the participants of the study prior to publication. There were no hesitations to publish their personal accounts.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest, financial or otherwise.

Human and animal rights

No animals were used in this study. All human research protocols were in accordance with the ethical standards of international and national human experimentation committee with the Helsinki Declaration (2013).

Additional information

Funding

The researchers did not receive any financial support for the research, authorship, and publication.