Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-ws8qp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-28T15:19:40.464Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Evaluating the working conditions and exposure to abuse of Filipino home care workers in Israel: characteristics and clinical correlates

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 December 2008

Liat Ayalon*
Affiliation:
School of Social Work, Bar Ilan University, Israel
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: Dr. Liat Ayalon, School of Social Work, Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel52900. Email: ayalonl@mail.biu.ac.il.

Abstract

Background: Filipino home care workers provide the majority of around-the-clock personal care to frail individuals in Israel. To date, the working conditions as well as exposure to work-related abuse of Filipino home care workers in Israel have not been evaluated.

Methods: A survey of 245 Filipino home care workers was conducted to evaluate their working conditions and exposure to abuse as well as their clinical correlates (e.g. burnout as measures by the Maslach Burnout Inventory). This was integrated with findings from interviews with Filipino home care workers, social workers, and family members of care recipients cared by Filipino home care workers.

Results: A majority of the workers (88%) reported paying large amounts of money in order to work in the country. Overall, 43% reported being asked to do more than was specified in their job description, 41% reported being verbally abused, and 40% reported not receiving adequate food. Almost half reported work-related injuries. The most consistent predictor of burnout (as measured by the Emotional Exhaustion and Depersonalization scales) was exposure to work-related abuse. Interview data identified system and societal barriers that prevent workers from using the legal system for their protection.

Conclusions: The present study calls for further supervision of this caregiving arrangement. Psychoeducational programs directed towards all stakeholders (e.g. social workers, home care workers, care recipients, and family members of care recipients) are needed.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © International Psychogeriatric Association 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Amir, S. (2002). Overseas foreign workers in Israel: policy aims and labor market outcomes. International Migration Review, 36, 4157.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Aneshensel, C. S., Pearlin, L. I., Levy-Storms, L. and Schuler, R. H. (2000). The transition from home to nursing home mortality among people with dementia. Journal of Gerontology, B: Psychological Science Social Science, 55, S152162.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Aronson, J. and Neysmith, S. M. (1996a). The work of visiting homemakers in the context of cost cutting in long term care. Revue Canadienne de Sante Publique, 87, 422435.Google ScholarPubMed
Aronson, J. and Neysmith, S. M. (1996b). “You're not just in there to do the work.” Depersonalizing policies and the exploitation of home care workers' labor. Gender and Society, 10, 5977.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ayalon, L. (2007). Subjective socioeconomic status as a predictor of long-term care staff burnout and positive caregiving experiences. International Psychogeriatrics, 17, 17.Google Scholar
Barling, J., Rogers, A. G. and Kelloway, E. K. (2001). Behind closed doors: in-home workers' experience of sexual harassment and workplace violence. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 6, 255269.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ben Israel, H. (2007). Sexual Assault of Migrant Workers in Israel. Tel Aviv: Kav Loved. Available online at http://www.kavlaoved.org.il/media-view_eng.asp?id=381. Last accessed 1 August 2007.Google Scholar
Borowski, A. and Yanay, U. (1997). Temporary and illegal labour migration: the Israeli experience. International Migration, 35, 495508.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brush, B. L. and Vasupuram, R. (2006). Nurses, nannies and caring work: importation, visibility and marketability. Nursing Inquiry, 13, 181185.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bussing, A. and Hoge, T. (2004). Aggression and violence against home care workers. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 9, 206219.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chang, G. (2000). Disposable Domestics. Immigrant Women Workers in the Global Economy. Cambridge, MA: South End Press.Google Scholar
Creswell, J. W. (1998) Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design: Choosing Among Five Traditions. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
Denton, M. A., Zeytinoglu, I. U. and Davies, S. (2002). Working in clients' homes: the impact on the mental health and well-being of visiting home care workers. Home Health Care Services Quarterly, 21, 127.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ehrenreich, B. and Hochschild, A. R. (2000). Global Woman: Nannies, Maids, and Sex Workers in the New Economy. New York: Metropolitan Books.Google Scholar
Geiger-Brown, J., Muntaner, C., McPhaul, K., Lipscomb, J. and Trinkoff, A. (2007). Abuse and violence during home care work as predictor of worker depression. Home Health Care Services Quarterly, 26, 5977.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Glenn, E. N. (1992). From servitude to service work: historical continuities in the racial division of paid reproductive labor. Journal of Women in Culture in Society, 18, 143.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Glenn, E. N. (2000). Creating a caring society. Contemporary Sociology, 29, 8494.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hayashi, R., Gibson, J. W. and Weatherley, R. A. (1994). Working conditions in home care: a survey of Washington state's home care workers. Home Health Care Services Quarterly, 14, 3748.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Heller, E. (2003). The Care of Older Adults in Israel. The Topic of Foreign Home Care Workers in Israel and Israeli Nursing Care Workers: Needs and Available Solutions. Jerusalem: Haknesset: Research and Information Center (in Hebrew).Google Scholar
Klein-Zeevi, N. (2003). Foreign Workers in Israel: Current Status. Jerusalem: Haknesset: Research and Information Center (in Hebrew).Google Scholar
Martin-Matthews, A. (2007). Situating “home” at the nexus of the public and private spheres. Current Sociology, 55, 229249.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Martineau, T. and Willetts, A. (2006). The health workforce: managing the crisis in ethical international recruitment of health professionals. Will codes of practice protect developing country health systems? Health Policy, 75, 358367.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Maslach, C., Jackson, S. E. and Leiter, M. P. (1996). Manual of the Maslach Burnout Inventory (3rd edn). Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists Press.Google Scholar
Maslach, C., Schaufeli, W. B. and Leiter, M. P. (2001). Job burnout. In Fiske, S. T., Schacter, D. L. and Zahn-Waxler, C. (eds.), Annual Review of Psychology, 52, 397422.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Neysmith, S. M. and Aronson, J. (1997). Working conditions in home care: negotiating race and class boundaries in gendered work. International Journal of Health Services, 27, 479499.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Popenoe, D. (1993). American family decline, 1960–1990: a review and appraisal. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 55, 527555.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Raijman, R., Schammah-Gesser, S. and Kemp, A. (2003). International migration, domestic work, and care work: undocumented Latina migrants in Israel. Gender and Society, 17, 727749.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
REACH (2005). Resources for Enhancing Alzheimer's Caregiver Health. Available online at http://www.edc.gsph.pitt.edu/REACH/.Google Scholar
Salazar Parrenas, R. (2001). Servants of Globalization. Women, Migration, and Domestic Work. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Schultz, R. and Beach, S. R. (1999). Caregiving as a risk factor for mortality: the Caregiving Health Effects Study. JAMA, 282, 22152219.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Strauss, A. L. and Corbin, J. (1998). Basics of Qualitative Research: Techniques and Procedures for Developing Grounded Theory (2nd edn). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
Wierucka, D. and Goodridge, D. (1996). Vulnerable in a safe place: institutional elder abuse. Canadian Journal of Nursing Administration, 9, 82104.Google Scholar
Yeoh, B. S., Huang, S. and Gonzalez, J. (1999). Migrant female domestic workers: debating the economic, social and political impacts in Singapore. International Migration Review, 33, 114136.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed