Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for Gerontology 161 Caregiving in the Filipino Culture The traditional Filipino is a close-knit family that is extended in nature and family relations are traced bilaterally through the lines of both the mother and the father. For this reason, relationships within Filipino families tend to be more egalitarian in nature compared to most other cultures and societies. This may have been due to the fact that before the Philippines was colonized by Spain (1565 to 1898) and the United States (1898 to 1946), the Filipino society was matrilineal in nature. More than anything else, Filipinos highly value the presence of their families and the family remains the basic unit of their society regardless …show more content…
As a retired Navy service member, my health insurance covers her as my secondary dependent and her medical needs are well met. My mother-in-law’s presence has enriched my family in many wonderful ways and my wife and I consider it our sacred duty and responsibility to take care of her until the end. In effect, we have taken on the responsibility of being her caregiver in old age, a role that is commonly expected within the Filipino culture. As practicing Catholics, our religion also calls for us to respect, revere and take care of our elderly to their last dying day, and so my wife and I have committed to take care of my mother-in-law not by putting her in a home for the aged even when this seems to be the norm in the West nowadays, but by having her stay as comfortably as possible in our home to the very end. Admittedly, this will become increasingly challenging as my mother-in-law’s ability to take care of her personal needs and other activities of daily living become more limited as the years go by. However, my wife and I have decided early on that when that time arrives, one of us will quit our day job and take on the full time responsibility of taking care of my mother-in-law. We are confident that with our savings, modest investments, and insurance coverage, we will be able to weather that period in the future when our family will have to temporarily rely on a single wage earner’s income. Since the task of caring for an elderly family member can become quite challenging, my wife and I have also considered eventually utilizing outside help from in-home, part-time caregivers provided by licensed homecare agencies. Considering that my mother-in-law agreed to immigrate to the U.S., adopt a new country and citizenship, and
A family is a group of people consisting of the parents and their children who live together and they are blood related. The family is always perceived as the basic social units whether they are living together in the same compound or at far distance but are closely related especially by blood. Therefore, the family unit has had a great influence on the growth and the character traits possessed by the children as they grow up and how they perceive the society they live in. the family also shapes the children to be able to relate well with other people that are not part of their family and with a good relationship it impacts to the peace achieved in country. This paper addresses the reasons as to why the family is considered the most important agent of socialization. It’s evident that families have changed over time and they have adopted different ways of living. This paper also tackles on the causes of the dramatic changes to the American family and what the changes are. Different people with different race, gender and preferences make the family unit and this makes the difference in marriages. This will also be discussed in this paper.
As a traditional, collectivistic cultural group, the Latino population is believed to adhere deeply to the value of familismo. (Arditti, 2006; Calzada, 2014). Familism is an emphasis on the importance of the family unit over values of autonomy and individualism”. (Santistaben, 2012). Family is considered to be the top priority in the Latino culture. Comparatively, at times, this isn’t true of our busy, work devoted western culture. In western culture we think of our family in a nuclear sense made up of a: mom, dad, and siblings. Conversely, Hispanic culture focuses on the whole extended family including aunts, uncles, grandparent, and cousins. Their culture believes having close connections with the entire extended family benefits the development of their children. The entire family helps the child by giving them differing levels of social and emotional support. (American Home Resolutions,
Latin American society places a great deal of importance on the family as a support network; it is not uncommon for several generations to reside in the same house. This emphasis is called familismo, and the mother in the family is usually the most important figure. She “is seen as the primary nurturer and caregiver in the family…[and] plays a critical role in preservation of the family as a unit, as well as in...
Certain cultures that live at or below the poverty line prefer this type of assistance for their elderly family members because it allows them to have someone meet them at their home. This convenience is a big factor and provides the elderly with a way to fulfill their communal culture by living out their time at home among family, while still receiving any necessary assistance for health checks or IADL’s. This improves their quality of life by meeting their needs in a different way. These alternative methods to older adult care are more popular among minorities and cultural groups (Bookman & Kimbrel, 2011). Bookman and Kimbrel acknowledge the gap between financial status as well as culture and race, they stated, “...because elders are widely diverse by race and socioeconomic status, their families attach differing cultural meanings to care and have widely different resources with which to accomplish their care goals” (2011). Thus, creating the large gap seen in nursing home facilities. Specifically, cultures like the Chinese who maintain traditions like filial piety, in which the adult children must care for their elderly parent (Li & Buechel, 2007). This type of culture defines the line between those who view nursing homes as ideal and those who prefer a separate
The family is the fundamental base to learn patterns associated with behavior in society. Mexican-Americans are the largest ethnic minority group in the United States. The Mexican-American culture is mostly based on traditions and values that are passed on for generations. This is one of the main cultures in which parents teach their children the same ideals, values, norms and social roles they were taught while growing up. For Mexican-American family is essential and fundamental to their culture. The role the family plays in the development of children will influence the way they will behave in the future. Usually, the family structure of this culture is based on the trait of familism. Familism is common in Mexican descendants because it highlights
Families have greatly evolved from the times a woman's only job was to have children so they can work on the farms. Once, women were considered a burden by their father giving a dowry to their husbands, letting the men to control the women, keeping them as a trophy wife or property. Today women are given equal treatment and can occupy any job and be the boss of many men. Families today are very have been dramatically altered over the years with the stereotypical mom and dad not being the only family dynamic. In today’s society, parents vary depending on their sexual orientation, the impact technology has played in families, and purpose a family has been altered.
With advanced technologies in health care, the average lifespan of humans is around eighty-eight years, and these numbers are growing rapidly. Most elderly outnumber the younger within our population now, and with more of the baby boomer generation reaching the gold years, this number will rise exponentially. The cost of healthcare rising and the amount of Medicare funds decreasing makes caring for that loved one challenging. Statistics by Dr. Feng presented, “Individuals are living much longer; family structures are changing; women have entered the workforce. With no national health insurance program like Medicare and with the one-child policy that places elder care responsibilities on fewer shoulders” (Dr Feng). To some, the question of placing an elderly family member in long-term care facilities is a difficult one to consider. All too many times the elderly abandoned are not seeing families until visitation funeral ceremonies.
Traditional cultural values and family relationship are at heart of the Asian principles. Asian immigrants treat their ethnic communities as extended families and every success reflects the expectations of the whole group rather than just one family. The article is very useful to my study as it explains that the traditional Asian values apply to immigrants living in America. Being a minority group in America, Asian communities treat their families as their biggest support and a source of identity. There is a lot of pressure put on young people to succeed. The Asian children often suffer from the inability to fulfil their parents’
The Filipinos lived in settlements called barangays before the colonization of the Philippines by the Spaniards. As the unit of government, a barangay consisted from 30 to 100 families. It was headed by a datu and was independent from the other groups. Usually, several barangays settled near each other to help one another in case of war or any emergency. The position of datu was passed on by the holder of the position to the eldest son or, if none, the eldest daughter. However, later, any member of the barangay could be chieftain, based on his talent and ability. He had the usual responsibilities of leading and protecting the members of his barangay. In turn, they had to pay tribute to the datu, help him till the land, and help him fight for the barangay in case of war. There were four classes of society.
"A family is a small social group of people related by ancestry or affection, who share common values and goals, who may live together in the same dwelling, and who may participate in the bearing and raising of children. They have a physical or emotional connection with each other that is ongoing" (Vissing, 2011) and is the foundation of all societies. They can be formed by a grouping of father-mother-children or even more complicated combination of relatives. In the primary stage of family life in the United States, everyone from every generation lived together in one house. Subsequently, the idea of traditional family evolved and a married couple with children is at present, often called the traditional family. There are many types of families; however, this paper will focus on the traditional family. It will describe how the functionalist perspective, conflict perspective, and the interactionism theory apply to the sociological institution known as a family. It will explain some of the similarities and differences between the sociological theories in regards to families and how they affect the family members.
Crisostomo Ibarra did everything to seek justice for his father’s death. Despite the insults he received from Padre Damaso, Ibarra was a forgiving man. He forgave the man who tried to kill him during the laying of cornerstone where he tried to put up a school. Maria Clara, on the other hand, definitely showed her devotion to her family. She was an obedient daughter to Capitan Tiago. She agreed to her father’s request on marrying a Spaniard even though it was against her will. This is true with Filipinos who possess a genuine and deep love for the family. We always give importance and respect to our parent’s decision. We value our families so much that we tend to obey them because we believe they know what’s best for us. We have a strong family ties which includes not only our immediate family, but also grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins, and other relatives. We have remarkable closeness with parents that we find very difficult to let go of them resulting to staying with them as long as we want. We really make sure to have quality time
Section A: Plan of Investigation The main focus of this study is going to be the process of colonization of the Philippines and how the Spanish colonized the Philippines, primarily focusing on the customs and cultures. The pre-colonized and post-colonized Philippines will be discussed and compared with one another to determine the degree of change that occurred with the Filipino culture. The analysis of the information will explain how events that followed colonization erased aspects of the Filipino culture. Much of the information provided will be mainly a collection of scholarly books that describe the Filipino colonization in a contemporary perspective, such as Dolan and Francia.
Generally, textbooks, articles, and essays talk about America’s “occupation,” “supervision” or “intervention” in the Philippines. They seem to be afraid to use the word “colonization.” According to Webster’s Dictionary the definition of colonization is, “The colonial system of political government or extension of territory, by which one nation exerts political control over another nation, territory, or people, maintaining the colony in a state of dependence, its inhabitants not having the same full rights as those of the colonial power. The controlling power is typically extended thus by military force or the threat of force” (6). In his book analyzing Japanese Assimilation Policies in Colonial Korea, Mark Caprio makes a distinction between two different “levels” of colonialism: external and internal. He states that external colonization is what Hannah Arendt calls “overseas imperialism…where their indirect policy exerted minimal effort to forge political, social, or cultural bonds with the peoples under their jurisdiction” (2). Although this is the way the French colonized, the United States seem to adopt the British way of colonizing, which is Caprio’s second level of colonization or internal colonization. This is what Benedict Anderson describes as “inventing nations” (Caprio 2). It requires that the colonial power send ambassadors to impress its culture upon the colony through controlling things such as dialect, media, education, and military (Caprio 2). Caprio also mentions, “The decision to colonize, as well as the administration to administer the colonized, was based primarily on the needs and interests of the colonizer’s subject; those of the colonized object received minimal consideration” (2). Therefore, a colony serves...
The Philippine society consists of distinct class systems which depend, number one, on the family background of a person, then number two, the socioeconomic level. Which family you come from, whether they are in business, in politics, etc. is very important. People really look at surnames. If you have a revered surname you get some kind of automatic respect, even if you are not a very kind person. Money also matters but if you have just recently encountered your wealth and you do not belong to the right kind of family, chances are you will be considered "nouveau riche."
The Philippine islands are located in Southeastern Asia, between the Philippine Sea and the South China Sea, east of Vietnam. The country is made up of about 7000 islands, only 2000 of those islands are inhabited. The population of the country includes about 84,619,974 people. The people of this country are all very close to their families. They work together to make the income that their family needs to survive. Sometimes th...