Like a fish on a hook: a grounded theory study of incarcerated Filipino elderly agony

Abstract

ABSTRACT To date, little to no attempt has been made yet to describe how people experience agony, specifically, the elderly population in the penal setting and how exactly this experience of agony affects these marginalized communities. This grounded theory paper aspires to contribute to the understanding of the complexity of agony specifically, shedding light on what happens to incarcerated elderly when they experience this process of agonizing in prison. The Strauss and Corbin grounded theory method of analysis was utilized to generate theories from systematically obtained and analyzed data. A total of 25 respondents were selected using inclusion criteria and chosen through purposive sampling. Subsequently, a two-part data gathering tool was used consisting of a robotfoto and individual interviews. Lastly, the emerged themes were further subjected to member checking procedures to establish the credibility of the data collected. From the vertical and horizontal analyses of the verbalizations and sharings of a select group of elderly prisoners, the Splash Model of Agony has emerged which describes the Triggering, Escalating, and Plummeting phases of their agony while in prison.