Determinants of COVID-19 Vaccine Uptake among Female Foreign Domestic Workers in Hong Kong: A Cross-Sectional Quantitative Survey.

Globally, minority groups and non-citizens may not be sufficiently included in the COVID-19 vaccine coverage. This study seeks to understand determinants of vaccine uptake among female foreign domestic workers (FDWs) in Hong Kong. We conducted a cross-sectional study of female FDWs (n = 581) from June to August 2021. Respondents completed an online survey obtaining sociodemographic, employment, and health status information. Based upon the socio-ecological model, we obtained individual, interpersonal, and socio-structural factors that may be associated with COVID-19 vaccine uptake. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was used to examine factors associated with having received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. At the individual level, agreeing that taking COVID-19 vaccines can contribute to COVID-19 control in Hong Kong (OR 6.11, 95% CI 2.27-16.43) was associated with increased vaccine uptake, while being worried of severe side-effects from vaccination (OR 0.29, 95% CI 0.16-0.55) was associated with decreased uptake. At the interpersonal level, those being encouraged by their employer (OR 2.05, 95% CI 1.06-3.95) and family members (OR 2.27, 95% CI 1.17-4.38) were more likely to be vaccinated, while at the socio-structural level, believing vaccination would violate religious beliefs (OR 0.19, 95% CI 0.06-0.65) was associated with decreased uptake. The government can formulate a multi-level approach according to our findings to target the remaining unvaccinated FDW population.

The impacts of Covid-19 on foreign domestic workers in Hong Kong

This paper is to inform the recent situations of work by the foreign domestic workers (FDWs) in Hong Kong through the lens of Covid-19. Through the interviews with seven informants — two employers and five FDWs, stories describing the changes in their working conditions, rights and entitlement, and the contextual environment related to the impacts of Covid-19 were collected. They were analysed through three theoretical tools — visibility/invisibility, mobility/immobility, and work boundary. The findings show that under the Covid-19 crisis, the FDWs experienced more hardships and struggles in both the home country and host country. The paradoxes of visibility/invisibility and mobility/immobility together with blurred work boundary were found in their experience of work, rights and entitlement, and the contextual environment. On one hand, the employers’ power of controlling FDWs has increased, but the agency to resist by the FDWs has decreased making them to turn to more passive means of resistance which could harm the FDWs’ physical and mental health and wellbeing. © 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V.

"We also deserve help during the pandemic": The effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on foreign domestic workers in Hong Kong.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic poses particular challenges for migrant workers around the world. This study explores the unique experiences of foreign domestic workers (FDWs) in Hong Kong, and how COVID-19 impacted their health and economic wellbeing. Interviews with FDWs (n = 15) and key informants (n = 3) were conducted between May and August 2020. FDWs reported a dual-country experience of the pandemic, where they expressed concerns about local transmission risks as well as worries about their family members in their home country. Changes to their current work situation included how their employers treated them, as well as their employment status. FDWs also cited blind spots in the Hong Kong policy response that also affected their experience of the pandemic, including a lack of support from the Hong Kong government. Additional support is needed to mitigate the particularly negative effects of the pandemic on FDWs.

A discursive paper on the importance of health literacy among foreign domestic workers during outbreaks of communicable diseases.

AIM: Using an integrated model of health literacy, we discuss the importance of health literacy among foreign domestic workers in the provision of informal caregiving during outbreaks of communicable diseases. COVID-19 pandemic is used as an example. BACKGROUND: Adequate health literacy in the population is known to be important for the prevention of communicable diseases. Foreign domestic workers, a group of marginalised caregivers in private households, are generally presumed to have limited health literacy because of numerous socio-cultural disadvantages. To date, there is limited evidence that these informal healthcare providers receive support from community-based nurses. DESIGN: A discursive paper. CONCLUSION: Foreign domestic workers, with varying levels of health literacy, may be viewed either as a resource to break the chain of infection or as a potential reservoir of communicable diseases in the community. Meanwhile, restrictions imposed in response to diseases transmissions (e.g. stay-at-home measures for COVID-19) may directly exacerbate the social support received by these foreign domestic works and their ability to access health-related information. There are also concerns about their ability to appraise and evaluate information related to communicable diseases at a time when fake news and misinformation are being disseminated through social media. Language and cultural barriers are important issues that need to be addressed to ensure that foreign domestic workers are in a position to follow public health recommendations. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: Nurses hold an important position in empowering foreign domestic workers with adequate health literacy, by engaging groups of foreign domestic workers in the community and their consulates in planning educational programmes and effectively disseminating information. At a time of global pandemic, an assessment of the health literacy levels of foreign domestic workers in places like Hong Kong is urgently required.