Filipino Families in Slum Communities and their Tales of Survival in Times of Pandemic: An Exploration of Wellness Dimensions

Abstract

In this time of pandemic where the balance of wellness dimensions is disrupted, neglecting any dimension can impact adversely on the people’s life most especially those who are deprived including their coping strategies and ultimately their survival. A key factor is to ensure that services and policies are in synched with the state of wellness dimensions. This study examined the state of wellness of the thirty purposively selected families in five slum communities in Cebu, Philippines in times of pandemic. One-on-one semi-structured interview was used in order to gather significant data. Discourse analysis was applied which brought about their tales of survival in synched with their eight wellness dimensions. The findings elaborated that the pandemic and the different mitigation measures to curb it, had taken a heavy toll on the wellness of Filipino families in slum communities. However, this did not topple their resiliency and survivability as the social services and other crisis mitigation policies and strategies afforded by the national government and private sectors, albeit insufficient, including the peculiar Filipino attributes and individual initiatives they manifested and done were instrumental. Furthermore, noting that the essential support and services provided for the families in the slum communities were not holistic enough to address the multi-faceted issues hounding their different wellness dimensions, hence, stemming some non-conforming behaviors despite strict quarantine measures. This study recommends that pandemic mitigation measures including essential support and services be reviewed and enhanced in high consideration of human wellness dimensions for them to be more inclusive and holistic.