LAUSR

ABSTRACT The impact of prison upon incarcerated individuals is considerably destructive and may lead to low mental health resiliency. Despite a large body of literature on resiliency, little is known about the process that the elderly go through in developing resiliency in the penal setting—hence, this grounded theory investigation. The overall intent of this investigation is to describe the process by which older male adults develop resiliency while in prison. The study used a grounded theory design. To gather the needed data, a two-part research instrument that included a robotfoto and a semistructured interview was employed. A total of 25 incarcerated Filipino elderly in New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City, Philippines were purposively selected. Field text was subjected to thematic analysis following Corbin and Strauss coding procedure. Interestingly, this study yielded the Maze Theory of Resiliency, which describes the Filipino elderly’s road to achieving resiliency. Initially, they go through the sending up phase in which they feel condemnation and uncertainty. The sending off phase captures the moments in which prisoners show signs of optimism and readiness to experience life in their new environment. Lastly, the sending in phase, prisoners became accustomed to the dynamics of penal environment—thus, achieving their sense of resiliency. The emerged theory from this study could help nurses in the early recognition of psychological deterioration and in providing counseling services to the incarcerated elderly without any prejudice. And at the same time, the theory could help implement nursing interventions appropriate for each stage of resiliency.