Protective factors: Risk factors: Perceived privacy in the Debt employer’s house Physical health problems A perceived integration into Family concerns the family employer’s FDWs’ Homesickness individual A perceived treatment with attributes and dignity by the employer or behaviours family employer’s Satisfaction with the employer or family and with employer’s working in Singapore Sufficient daily sleeping hours Language-related communication barriers with An own room as sleeping the employer or employer’s accommodation family Nutritional attention and Invasions of privacy by the provision of sufficient daily Social employer or family employer’s proper meals by the employer circumstances Restrictions on communication Adequate medical and dental by the employer or employer’s attention by the employer family Frequent contact to Verbal, physical, moral and friends/family outside sexual abuse by the employer or Singapore or in home country family employer’s Note. Effect sizes: small, (based on bivariate correlation analysis) medium Table 1: Protective and risk factors for all (regardless of nationality) mental FDWs’ health (HOME, 2015) Based on the HOME (2015) study, 43% of the surveyed FDWs highlighted that they preferred to seek help from their peers rather than from professionals such as doctors (1.6%) when facing emotional problems. An additional qualitative analysis of coping mechanisms, captured via responses to the question of participants’ “What do you think is the best way to help the emotional well-being of domestic workers in and external factors (HOME, 2015). At the Singapore?” revealed various internal internal level, they believed that open communication with their employers, having strong social support and adapting to and knowing its laws were Singapore’s culture helpful. At the external level (environment), participants highlighted that having employers who trusted them, a government that played a larger role in regulating and enforcing decent working and living conditions and the availability of civil society organizations that provided formal support would be helpful for them (HOME, 2015). Overall, the empirical evidence indicates that FDWs are particularly vulnerable as a population to experience ill mental health and that migration stressors (e.g. leaving
Protective factors: Risk factors: FDWs’ individual attributes and behaviours Perceived privacy in the employer’s house A perceived integration into the employer’s family A perceived treatment with dignity by the employer or employer’s family Satisfaction with the employer or employer’s family and with working in Singapore Debt Physical health problems Family concerns Homesickness Social circumstances Sufficient daily sleeping hours An own room as sleeping accommodation Nutritional attention and provision of sufficient daily proper meals by the employer Adequate medical and dental attention by the employer Frequent contact to friends/family outside Singapore or in home country Language-related communication barriers with the employer or employer’s family Invasions of privacy by the employer or employer’s family Restrictions on communication by the employer or employer’s family Verbal, physical, moral and sexual abuse by the employer or employer’s family Note. Effect sizes: small, medium (based on bivariate correlation analysis) Table 1: Protective and risk factors for all FDWs’ (regardless of nationality) mental health (HOME, 2015) Based on the HOME (2015) study, 43% of the surveyed FDWs highlighted that they preferred to seek help from their peers rather than from professionals such as doctors (1.6%) when facing emotional problems. An additional qualitative analysis of participants’ coping mechanisms, captured via responses to the question of “What do you think is the best way to help the emotional well-being of domestic workers in Singapore?” revealed various internal and external factors (HOME, 2015). At the internal level, they believed that open communication with their employers, having strong social support and adapting to Singapore’s culture and knowing its laws were helpful. At the external level (environment), participants highlighted that having employers who trusted them, a government that played a larger role in regulating and enforcing decent working and living conditions and the availability of civil society organizations that provided formal support would be helpful for them (HOME, 2015). Overall, the empirical evidence indicates that FDWs are particularly vulnerable as a population to experience ill mental health and that migration stressors (e.g. leaving
suthendran-how-to-implement-peer-based-mental-health-services-for-foreign-domestic-workers-in-singapore.docx