Concepts of health, illness, caring, aging and problems of adjustment among elderly Filipinas residing in Hampton Road, Virginia.

This inductive, exploratory descriptive study of elderly immigrant Filipino women is conducted in Hampton Roads, Virginia. The epistemological basis of the study is phenomenological and hermeneutical. Data were collected from 124 informants. One hundred of the informants are elderly immigrant Filipinas between the ages of 51 and 91. The remaining 25 informants are predominantly Filipino physicians, nurses, dietitians, priests, educators, counselors, administrators and travel agents who interact with the elderly immigrant community on a professional basis. The majority of the elderly immigrant informants lived at least 50 years of their lives in the Philippines before immigrating to America. The informants represented a diverse population with a wide variation of ages, previous occupations, educations, languages, religions and geographical origins in the Philippines. Descriptions are presented concerning the economic, political, environmental, social and cultural aspects of the Philippines and Hampton Roads to provide context for the immigrant elders. Data related to the elders' values, beliefs, roles, role expectations, problems with adjustment, social network of support, concepts of aging, health, care/caring, and illness; use of herbal and over-the-counter drugs, dietary patterns and modifications, life styles and demographic attributes are presented. Themes which emerged from each area are presented and discussed. A model for assessment of elderly immigrants for health, illness, caring and ethnoNursing; and ethnocaring emerges from the data. Ethnohealth, ethnoNursing; and ethnocaring implications are presented. An extensive bibliography on Filipino immigrants and aged in America is included.