The aged Filipinos in Australia: A case of double jeopardy?

The Philippines is the only English-speaking Catholic country in South East Asia. The peak of Filipino migration to Australia was in the 1980s. By 2026, the older Filipino population aged 65+ years is projected to be the 6th largest group among aged cohorts from culturally and linguistically diverse background (CALD) communities. Studies in ethnicity and ageing point to the theory of double jeopardy, which infers that being an older person and coming from an ethnic community present more adverse health outcomes, compared to being young, or being old and belonging to a majority community group. Evidence suggests that despite English proficiency and a common religion, this ethnic community's cultural heterogeneity compounds older Filipinos' issues with family roles, intergenerational conflict, social isolation and geographical dispersion. This paper outlines an investigation into cultural factors such as language, customs, religion and values as significant dimensions in health service usage by older Filipino persons; highlights ethnicity as a fundamental tool in planning culturally-responsive services for small and/or emerging ethnic communities; and discusses the implication of these findings for strategic distribution of scarce government funding resources to meet the future needs of ethnic communities in Australia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]