Orphans wholly experience devastating life challenges. The effects of parental loss made and continuously make enormous changes in their beings resulting in multidimensional psychological problems. Several studies explain that becoming an orphan gives adverse negative impacts on one’s well-being in various aspects. Considering this, the researcher sought to know that since literature says that orphan children develop poor well-being due to orphanhood, how come there are still some who become successful adults in later years? This study investigated thoroughly the lived experiences of double orphan children who turned out to be successful adults later on in life. The researcher explored in-depth the experiences of four (4) orphaned adults who lost both parents during their childhood. Participants were aged 30 to 60 years old and had a stable life – in terms of their physiological, social, mental, psychological, financial, and professional needs already being established. Qualitative Research with Phenomenology was utilized as a research design. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) was used as a data analysis procedure with a retrospective approach. Preliminary analyses have revealed that – although true that double orphans experienced multidimensional psychological distress (as a consequence of parental loss in early life), faith (in God, and in self) served a principal role in their survival and eventual success in life. This reveals that Filipino beliefs and values related to spirituality and faith help to transform one's difficulties into life success. These results will help devise a program proposal centralized in addressing the needs of current Filipino orphan children.

Authors:
Kathleen Joy Carizo, University of Santo Tomas, Philippines
Clarissa Delariarte, University of Santo Tomas, Philippines

About the Presenter(s)
Ms Kathleen Joy Carizo is a University Postgraduate Student at University of Santo Tomas in Philippines

See this presentation on the full schedule – Sunday Schedule

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