Essential and Expendable: Migrant Domestic Workers and the COVID-19 Pandemic

'C'mon, let's talk: a pilot study of mental health literacy program for Filipino migrant domestic workers in the United Kingdom

PURPOSE

This pilot study of a culturally adapted online mental health literacy (MHL) program called 'Tara, Usap Tayo!' (C'mon, Let's Talk) aims to assess the acceptability, appropriateness, feasibility, and potential effectiveness in improving the help-seeking behavior of Filipino migrant domestic workers in the United Kingdom (UK).

METHODS

Using mixed methods, we conducted a non-randomized single-group study of the online MHL program with 21 participants. The development of this intervention was guided by the Medical Research Council Framework for developing complex interventions and utilized Heim & Kohrt's (2019) framework for cultural adaptation. Content materials from the WHO Mental Health Gap Action Program (mhGAP), WHO Problem Management Plus (PM +) and Adult Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) were modified and translated into the Filipino language. The MHL program was delivered online in three sessions for two hours each session. Data were collected at three time points: (T1) pretest; (T2) posttest; and (3) follow-up test. Quantitative data on participants' attitudes towards help-seeking and level of mental health literacy as outcome measures of potential intervention effectiveness were collected at T1, T2 and T3, while focus group discussions (FGDs) to assess participants' feedback on the acceptability, feasibility, and appropriateness of the online MHL program were conducted immediately at T2. Data analysis was done using a thematic approach for qualitative data from the FGDs and descriptive statistics and repeated-measures ANOVA were used to assess the difference in the T1, T2, and T3 tests. Both quantitative and qualitative results were then integrated and triangulated to answer the research questions.

RESULTS

The online MHL program is generally acceptable, appropriate, and feasible for use among Filipino migrant domestic workers. Preliminary findings lend support for its possible effectiveness in improving mental health literacy and help-seeking propensity. The cultural adaptation made in the content, form, and delivery methods of the intervention was acceptable and feasible for this target subcultural group.

CONCLUSION

By improving their mental health literacy and help-seeking propensity, this online MHL program has the potential to provide support to the mental health and well-being of Filipino migrant domestic workers in the UK. Further feasibility study or large-scale randomized controlled trial is needed to confirm the preliminary findings of this study.

Immobilized by the pandemic: Filipino domestic workers and seafarers in the time of COVID-19

This essay documents the experiences of two different groups of 'essential' Filipino migrant workers: female domestic workers and male seafarers, each confined in new ways in their work/home situations and spaces. These two categories of workers make up a large proportion of migrants within the Philippines' extensive export labor economy. For domestic workers, the Canadian government virtually stopped processing applications for permanent resident status. Held in limbo in their temporary work status, many domestic workers experienced increased employer control over their movements and their bodies. Seafarers have been no less immobilized, disallowed from leaving their workplace (their ship) when in port or within the normal and expected work period of 9 months at sea. Extended 'shifts' at sea for some seafarers have left other seafarers at home, waiting in the Philippines in precarious situations of loss of income and mounting debt. In the case of both domestic workers and seafarers, the pandemic and a range of state and international regulatory failures and/or gaps have placed temporary workers into new conditions of precarity and into intensified experiences of immobility. We also show how their immobilization as precarious workers reverberates throughout their families, and across the globe.

"I'm sick of being called a hero - I want to get paid like one": Filipino American frontline workers' health under conditions of COVID-19 and racial capitalism

Although the era of COVID-19 has reaffirmed the vital role of frontline workers in maintaining a functional society, the ongoing pandemic has taken a devastating toll on their health and well-being. In the United States, Filipino American frontline workers in healthcare and service industries have endured threats to their health, safety, and economic livelihood throughout the pandemic and against the broader backdrop of racialized and xenophobic hate directed toward Asian Americans. Drawing on a qualitative approach, the current study explores work-related health risks and effects of the pandemic for Filipino American frontline workers. Data come from the qualitative arm of a larger mixed-methods study that used a community-based participatory research approach. The current analysis is based on focus group data with thirty-five Filipino American frontline workers, a majority of whom were migrants, that worked across healthcare, caregiving, education, childcare, food services, and retail industries. Situated through the lens of racial capitalism, themes included: (1) work-related stress, tensions, and trauma, (2) anti-Asian racism and intersections with age- and gender-based violence, and (3) working while ill and distressed. Study findings can inform interventions and policies to improve health, occupational environments, and labor conditions in order to support minoritized communities disproportionately affected by COVID-19.

Social Network Analysis on the Mobility of Three Vulnerable Population Subgroups: Domestic Workers, Flight Crews, and Sailors during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Hong Kong

Background: Domestic workers, flight crews, and sailors are three vulnerable population subgroups who were required to travel due to occupational demand in Hong Kong during the COVID-19 pandemic. Objective: The aim of this study was to explore the social networks among three vulnerable population subgroups and capture temporal changes in their probability of being exposed to SARS-CoV-2 via mobility. Methods: We included 652 COVID-19 cases and utilized Exponential Random Graph Models to build six social networks: one for the cross-sectional cohort, and five for the temporal wave cohorts, respectively. Vertices were the three vulnerable population subgroups. Edges were shared scenarios where vertices were exposed to SARS-CoV-2. Results: The probability of being exposed to a COVID-19 case in Hong Kong among the three vulnerable population subgroups increased from 3.38% in early 2020 to 5.78% in early 2022. While domestic workers were less mobile intercontinentally compared to flight crews and sailors, domestic workers were 1.81-times in general more likely to be exposed to SARS-CoV-2. Conclusions: Vulnerable populations with similar ages and occupations, especially younger domestic workers and flight crew members, were more likely to be exposed to SARS-CoV-2. Social network analysis can be used to provide critical information on the health risks of infectious diseases to vulnerable populations.

Essential Work in the U.S. during COVID-19: Navigating Vulnerability–Sustainability Tensions

The COVID-19 pandemic affected every functioning system in the United States. Workers deemed “essential” faced multiple threats to their well-being that quickly led to acute symptoms of anxiety, depression, burnout, and overall exhaustion, and organizations were challenged to devise employee protocols to maintain sustainability. This qualitative study takes a tension-centered approach to discern how “essential workers” in the United States navigated this tenuous work landscape, particularly with regard to emotional work and workplace dignity. We conducted 19 semi-structured in-depth interviews with essential workers during COVID-19. Our constant comparative analysis of the data identified a macro-tension between vulnerability and sustainability that was revealed through two micro-tensions: (a) essential work as instrumental and disposable, and (b) workplace dignity as recognized and transgressed. We unpack the emotional responses enmeshed in these micro-tensions and situate our findings at the intersection of organizational sustainability, emotional work and workplace dignity. We offer theoretical and practical implications for essential workers and organizations.

The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Mental Disorders. A Critical Review

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the lives of the worldwide population. Citizens suffer the social, economic, physiological, and psychological effects of this pandemic. Primary sources, scientific articles, and secondary bibliographic indexes, databases, and web pages were used for a consensus critical review. The method was a narrative review of the available literature to summarize the existing literature addressing mental health concerns and stressors related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The main search engines used in the present research were PubMed, SciELO, and Google Scholar. We found the pandemic has had a direct impact on psychopathologies such as anxiety, increasing its ratios, and depression. Other syndromes such as burnout and post-traumatic stress disorder have increased with the pandemic, showing a larger incidence among medical personnel. Moreover, eating disorders and violence have also increased. Public authorities must prepare healthcare systems for increasing incidences of mental pathologies. Mental health apps are one of the tools that can be used to reach the general population.