To Be Visible Yet Remain Unseen: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis of Embodied Drug Use and Recovery of Filipino Women

Date of Award

7-1-2022

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy in Physics

First Advisor

Nico A. Canoy, PhD

Abstract

Women experience drug use differently than men which not only includes biological but also psychosocial elements that warrants further exploration. In this qualitative study, I unpack the lived and embodied experiences of drug use and recovery of adult mothers who used drugs using a critical approach to Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). Through in-depth interviews examining the embodied experiences of drug initiation and recovery among 16 urban poor Filipino mothers, main findings show that their experiences were divided primarily into drug initiation and recovery. Key findings show embodied experiences of initiation through starting use, staying hooked, and navigating through (public and private) spaces of drug use as well as experiences of drug recovery through Community-Based Drug Rehabilitation that revolved around their experience of decoupling relations and avoiding drug use spaces as well as healing the strained home due to their drug use. I further discuss the theoretical and practical implications contributing to culturally

nuanced understanding of drug use and recovery among Filipino women from low- income communities. Theoretically, I contribute to enriching the critical theorizing of IPA through a gendered and embodied perspective. In terms of practical implications, key findings point to the need of a gender-conscious approach in intervention design and implementation in the community setting considering the life space of Filipino drug using women.

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