WINTER OF CONTENT
A study hints that despite material want, Filipino elders have a clear track toward the pursuit of happiness
By GRACE ROXAS, CONTRIBUTING WRITER
In terms of viewing quality of life among the elderly, there's a global way and there's the Filipino way. And the Filipino way says that though money can buy a greater measure of content in the winter of life, its lack and the need for it is somewhat offset by and sublimated to less tangible concerns.
This much can be gleaned from the results of a 2005 study on the quality of life of Filipino older persons. Done by geriatrician Shelley Ann De La Vega of the University of the Philippines-National Institutes of Health, the study sought to validate a quality-of-life instrument developed by the World Health Organization within the Filipino setting and use this to gauge the quality of life of Filipino elders in Metro Manila.
"We have an ageing population. The number of senior citizens is increasing exponentially so that by 2010, it will double," warned De La Vega. "We also know that because of the increase in life expectancy, adding years to life is not the most important aspect in our health but the totality of health in body, mind, and spirit."
The quality-of-life instrument delved into four domains of well-being: physical, psychological, social, and environmental, and was found to be statistically and culturally valid as a quality-of-life measure for Filipino elders.
But what's most telling is how the determinants under these domains finally stacked up to provide a quality-of-life framework unique to the Filipino elderly experience and dove-tailing with most Filipino sociocultural and language theories in sight. The social domain, for one, emerged as a highly important milieu for older Filipinos, absorbing those quality-of-life factors, such as mobility and work capacity, usually associated with the physical domain.
"The importance of mobility is that they can attend important social functions within the family and community. And when we ask them what [they] are working for and why it is important to [them], they say it's because I can contribute to my family and give money to my apo," De La Vega said. She added that the ability to work provides a sense of accomplishment and self-worth to the elderly, regardless of whether there is income involved. Affluence and presence of work are cited as independent quality-of-life determinants, much like with other age groups and cultures perhaps, but the motivations might be somewhat more selfless.
True to form, the 120 older Filipinos surveyed-aged 60 and above from low-income to affluent communities in the metropolis-gave top score to their personal relationships as a source of satisfaction. And despite ranking financial capacity as least satisfactory, along with access to health care, the respondents' net quality of life was still moderate to good. The respondents also showed a proper understanding of the quality-of-life concept through its Filipino translation "kalidad ng buhay" and its related term "ganda ng buhay."
De La Vega cited the quality of resiliency as a factor for the relatively high quality of life. "I think we need to study the ability of elder persons to be resilient as we age as a culture and as a group of people. Some of them (respondents) were living near esteros and slum areas but they rated their environmental domain and the other aspects as moderately good."
She opines that the quality-of-life framework that applies to Filipino elders goes beyond the physical, environmental, social, and psychological domains and also includes the economic and spiritual milieu.
"I also think that spirituality lends some meaning as to why the domain structure is a bit different and why the quality-of-life scores were surprisingly high despite poverty," De La Vega said. "Being Christian and Catholic, most of the respondents tend to look at poverty as something positive. And when you're old, spirituality becomes very important."
Despite the study's professed limitations-most respondents were "young-old" or less than 70 years old and women outnumbered men three to one-De La Vega believes it reinforces the message that key to improving the lot of Filipino elders is financially enabling them to better care for their families and communities. "Although we hear these reports that quality of life is not always related to wealth, the poorer countries usually have lower rates of quality of life," she said.
The study recommends that measures be adopted to increase employment opportunities beyond retirement age as mandated in the Expanded Senior Citizens' Act of 2003; improve health-care access and health-insurance coverage; and encourage seniors' participation in family, community, and national organizations. M
|
