Eclarinal & Gavino 2012. Filipino Older Adult Caring
Eclarinal & Gavino 2012. Filipino Older Adult Caring
Eclarinal & Gavino 2012. Filipino Older Adult Caring
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University of Santo Tomas Graduate School, Manila, Philippines, and National Cancer Center,
Brunei-Jerudong Park Medical Center, Brunei Darussalam.
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University of Santo Tomas Graduate School, Philippines and St. Paul University, Manila, Philippines.
ABSTRACT
Caring is the central context of nursing. It encompasses age, religion, race, and
traditions. There may be uniqueness as to how a certain culture accords care for their
respective older adult. However, certain care practices for the older adult can be considered
for replication in other cultures, with the aim of enhancing the quality of care of the older
adult, and developing nursing leadership that will address the various care needs of this
population. This paper presents the Filipino way of providing care for older adult inside
an older adult home. Using the ethnonursing approach, the researchers lived in with these
older adult and their carers. Findings from this study can provide nurses and other care
providers insights on developing standard care practices that address the needs of the
older adult for quality healthcare services towards quality health outcomes.
Keywords: Older adult care, care meanings, culture care, ethnonursing, nursing home.
SOURCE: http://digital_collect.lib.buu.ac.th/ojs/index.php/huso/article/view/2751/189
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INTRODUCTION
The older adult population consists of clients
with physical, social, and spiritual needs in the
nursing perspective. Caring for them is challenging
since provision of these must be within a suitable
cultural framework. The Philippines had an older
adult population of 4.6 million in 2002 that is
expected to reach 9.2 million in 2016 (Philippine
Country Report for the Madrid International Plan of
Action on Ageing, 2007). This figure is a reminder
of the ensuing challenges of providing culturally
accepted care not only in the home but also in
other settings such in an institution for the older
adult called the older adult home.
Older adult in the family have always been
looked up with gratefulness and each child in the
family has this self-imposed feeling of gratitude as
the sense of utang na loobor debt of gratitude
is deeply ingrained in each family member (Kuan,
1993). When Filipino older adult become frail and
unable to do self-care, their families are the main
care providers taking turns in giving their parents
and older adult relatives the most appropriate care
they deserve. In certain instances when an older
adult does not have a family to turn to they are
sometimes placed under the hospices of an older
adult home where trained personnel provide care to
them. Hence, when these older adults are provided
by carers who are not their family members, will
their caring reflect similar culturally-bound caring
behaviors they do for their own family members? What
meanings do they attach on the caring they provide
to these older adults? How do these older adults
perceive the care they obtain from these carers?
As of to-date, there is no qualitative research
in the Philippines on the meanings of caring on
older adult care inside an institution from the
perspectives of the carers and the older adult clients
themselves. The authors hoped to find relevant
themes of caring necessary in enhancing present older
adult care standards and explore the perspectives
of caring on older adult from the points of view
of both the older adult and their carers. It likewise
aimed to document various caring practices Filipino
carers on their older adult clients.
METHODS
A qualitative, ethnonursing approach (Fain,
2004) was utilized for data collection and analysis
of the perspectives on caring among older adult
clients and their carers. Ethnonursing comes from
the ethnography research tradition in which the
researchers immerse themselves in the way of life
of a group of people in order to describe and
understand their culture from the vantage point of
those who lived the experience.
Ethical issues
The study obtained ethical and institutional
approval from the university and the adult home.
Respondents consented for the taped interviews.
Confidentiality, privacy, and anonymity issues were
considered to protect the respondents.
Sampling
Older adult clients who participated (n=9
females; n=1 male) were chosen based on their
consent, coherence on multiple interactions, and
non-diagnosis of cognitive impairment at the time
of the study. All were Roman Catholics with the
average age of 80.
On the other hand, carers (n=10; 9 female,
1 male) were chosen based on consent and their
years of work experience (at least 1 year) in the
older adult home. All of the carers were Roman
Catholics with the average age of 35 and had been
trained in caregiving.
Data collection
Information was collected using an ethnonursing
approach (Fain, 2004). Supplementing the researchers
real life experiences in the older adult home were
field notes, and interview guides for both the
older adult and carer participants. Utilizing the
ethnonursing approach, fieldwork was divided into
prefield work, fieldwork phases 1, 2, and 3, and
post-fieldwork. The data collection was done for 6
months in the year 2009. Interviews and fieldwork
were discontinued once themes were identified and
information saturation was achieved.
Data analysis
The study utilized Leinengers ethnonursing
data analysis framework. Under this framework,
field notes and interview responses were collected,
RESULTS
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Descriptors
Themes
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Themes
Caring for older adult involves
performing caring activities in
safe way.
Themes
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DISCUSSION
The interplay of all the cultural factors has
defined the values being placed by the society on
the older adult, and eventually, on how they will
be taken cared of. Culture as way of life provides
a worldview, which is fundamental in defining
and creating a persons reality, determining their
meaning, and purpose in life, and providing
guidelines for living (Matzo and Sherman, 2004).
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CONCLUSIONS
In view of the foregoing, the study concludes
that carers for the older adult have been influenced
by the Filipino culture of respect and regard for
older adult, in the way they render care to their
clients. Evidence of which would be they call their
clients Lola or Lolo(Filipino terms for grandmother
and grandfather, respectively), they respond to their
clients with po and opo (respectful terms to
address older adult clients), they show affection to
the clients by physical touch, and they repay the
goodness that the clients provide for them, and their
families. Caring for Filipino older adult is intertwined
with the obligation to care, and willingness to
share. The obligation to care for the older adult
is stipulated in the contract that the carers have
with their older adult clients. The willingness to
share is the human caring relationship that binds
the older adult clients and their carers. For Filipino
carers, caring is not just because of the contract,
but more of the relationship that has already been
built between them. Respect for older adult has
been enduring in the interactions between older
adult and the carers. Patience, love, and emotional
attachment are evident in the caring relationship.
Carers brought with them the Filipino culture of
being family oriented, that they treat their clients
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The authors wish to thank with sincerity the
participants for sharing their experiences, the older
adult home institution, and University of Santo
Tomas Graduate School.
REFERENCES
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