Middle adulthood is often viewed through the lens of generativity versus stagnation, with middle-aged mothers often expected to be productive in nurturing their familial relationships and being stewards of the younger generation. However, the occurrence of incarceration leads to difficulties and disruptions in fulfilling familial responsibilities. Hence, the study aimed to understand the lived experiences of 12 women deprived of liberty (WDL) about their roles as mothers and romantic partners before their incarceration, during incarceration, and on their envisioned release. By utilizing the phenomenological approach, the study identified the multifaceted nature of the maternal role, the implications of incarceration on their maternal identity and responsibilities, and the effects on their mother-child relationship. While participants reported varied experiences as romantic partners, the mutual division of responsibilities and incarceration as an aid in strengthening the relationship were commonly identified. The experience of imprisonment fostered an awareness of life's finite nature, motivating the desire for personal improvement for the self and for the family. Furthermore, the study’s findings revealed how the participants' identities as mothers and partners continued to exist despite the limitations of incarceration, but encountered redefinitions on how they are fulfilled. Findings emphasize the importance of family-centeredness in the policies and programs of correctional facilities to support the continuity of incarcerated individuals’ familial roles, thereby contributing to the objectives of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16.

Barangay Violence Against Women and their Children (VAWC) desk officers are first responders protecting women and children’s rights at the barangay level, contributing to Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3 on good health and well-being and SDG 5 on gender equality. Repeated exposure to trauma-related cases places them at risk of compassion fatigue (CF), yet their psychological well-being remains underexplored. This study examined (1) levels of compassion satisfaction (CS) and CF, specifically burnout (BO), and secondary traumatic stress (STS), among barangay VAWC desk officers in Pampanga and (2) the factors influencing them. Through explanatory sequential mixed methods design, quantitative data was collected from 230 participants using the Professional Quality of Life Scale-5, followed by semi-structured interviews with 20 purposively selected participants. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Kruskal-Wallis tests, and thematic analysis. Most participants reported high CS, low BO, and low STS. Income classification significantly differed in CS scores. CS was strengthened by seminars, positive workplace climate, cooperative and appreciative clients, strong helping orientation, family support, religion, role adaptation, knowledge, experience, and diskarte. Adequate compensation and resources, manageable caseloads, workplace support, patience, work-life boundaries, adaptation, and coping strategies protected against BO. Seminars, trauma-informed knowledge, lakas ng loob, resilience, adaptive coping, and self-efficacy protected against STS. Overall, barangay VAWC desk officers generally experienced high CS despite the challenges of violence-related work due to factors across their work, client, and person environments.

It is commonly remarked in the Philippines that it takes a village to raise a child. For LGBT-parented families, understanding their experiences in their immediate environment composed of the school, healthcare, and neighborhood is essential in determining their community connectedness or the sense of belonging and support that they may perceive from the people around them. Existing literature shows that LGBT-parented families experience both support and marginalization in their immediate environment that operate within a heteronormative system. This qualitative study is descriptive in nature and used a semi-structured interview. Through purposive sampling, participants were identified as those who may provide meaningful data. The sample was drawn from both urban and rural communities in Luzon and was composed of eight families with lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender parents with biological or adopted children aged seven years and above. The sample also included five community members from school, healthcare, and neighborhood who have had interactions with LGBT-parented families. The study found that community connectedness for LGBT-parented families is perceived strongest in the neighborhood and weakest in healthcare. Although the school serves as a venue for socialization for both LGBT parents and their children, it can also be a venue for discrimination and marginalization. The study addresses Sustainable Development Goals 5 (Gender Equality) and 10 (Reduced Inequalities) as it provides insights on the challenges faced by LGBT-parented families, highlighting the need for inclusivity, supportive relationships, and protective legislation to improve the quality of life of LGBT parents and their children.

Romantic intercultural relationships and marriages have continuously increased over the years due to globalization, migration, and the rise of technology and social media. In the Philippines, however, intercultural relationships have long been common due to the country’s history of colonization, migration, and cross-cultural interactions. Despite growing international studies on intercultural relationships, local research on the experiences of Filipino women in these relationships remains limited. This study explored the experiences of Filipino women in intercultural romantic relationships, focusing on cultural differences, cultural negotiation, identity preservation, and relational power dynamics. Using a qualitative research design, in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with 16 Filipina women involved in intercultural romantic relationships. The findings revealed that cultural differences influenced participants’ experiences in communication, family orientation, parenting practices, finances, and emotional expression. While these differences sometimes created misunderstandings and adjustment difficulties, they also encouraged learning, compromise, and mutual understanding between partners. Participants also actively negotiated and preserved important aspects of their Filipino identity while adapting to their partners’ cultural environments. Contrary to earlier studies portraying Filipina women as passive or subordinate, many participants described collaborative decision-making, shared responsibilities, and mutual adjustment within their relationships. The findings suggest that intercultural relationships are dynamic and evolving relational spaces where culture, identity, emotional labor, power, and societal expectations are continuously negotiated through everyday interactions, adaptation, and relational compromise.

While perinatal loss, either through miscarriage and stillbirth, remains to be a tragic experience, for Filipino couples it is commonly emotionally painful and often left unacknowledged by the community. Using Doka’s Disenfranchisement Grief Theory, Neimeyer’s Meaning Reconstruction Theory, and Stroebe and Schut’s Dual Process Model of Grief, this qualitative phenomenological study explores the experience of fifteen (15) Filipino heterosexual couples from Central Luzon highlighting how they experienced and processed the grief, healing, and meaning-making. The research highlights that grieving a pregnancy loss is a multifaceted, unpredictable experience that causes emotional distress, relationship strain, silence, and existential questioning. Mothers tended to express grief more openly through crying, emotional disclosure, and self-blame. Meanwhile fathers frequently internalized their pain and adapted emotionally restrained coping strategies that are influenced by societal expectations of masculinity and katatagan. The couple’s search for healing and meaning is largely influenced by the deeply ingrained Filipino cultural values of hiya, pakikisama, and pakikiramay alongside faith-based beliefs. Thus, in navigating the loss, couples heavily relied on shared meaning-making, familial support, emotional endurance, and remembrance rituals to cope. While the trajectory of grief initially induced severe emotional distance and conflict, this period ultimately served as a driver for dyadic growth, deepening relational intimacy and mutual resilience. Ultimately, the findings stresses the urgent need for a culturally sensitive and accessible psychosocial support system (SDG 3) promoting mental healthcare, validation and acknowledgement of father’s overlooked grief (SDG 5), provision of equitable resources for bereaved families (SDG 10), and institutional recognition bringing this unspoken loss into public awareness (SDG 16).