Examining Live-In Foreign Domestic Helpers as a Coping Resource for Family Caregivers of People With Dementia in Singapore

Abstract

In Singapore, the responsibility of caring for persons with dementia falls on family members who cope with a long-term caregiver burden, depending on available support resources. Hiring foreign domestic workers to alleviate caregiver burden becomes a prevalent coping strategy that caregivers adopt. This strategy allows caregivers to provide home care as part of fulfilling family obligations while managing the caregiver burden. This study aimed to investigate primary caregivers' relationship with hired support and its impact on coping with caregiver burden. Twenty in-depth interviews were conducted with primary caregivers who hired live-in domestic helpers to take care of their family members with dementia. The findings revealed that caregivers perceived the normative obligations to provide home care to family members with dementia. They sought support from domestic helpers to cope with physical and mental burnout, disruption of normal routines, and avoidance of financial strain. A mutual-support relationship was built between caregivers and domestic helpers through trust and interdependence. The presence of domestic helpers as a coping resource reveals the positive outcomes of problem-, emotional-, and diversion-focused coping. This study illustrates that coping strategies are employed in different ways depending on the needs of caregivers, access to infrastructure, cultural expectations, and available resources.

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

“…The demand in Singapore for foreign domestic workers to care for older adults is projected to surge from 198,000 in 2011 to 300,000 by 2030 (2012). A foreign domestic worker is a full‐time live‐in migrant worker who is tied to an employer either through a regulated work permit or underground contract that allows her to work for a single household (Basnyat & Chang, 2017). Internationally, foreign domestic workers generally perform caring and domestic work, known as the three Cs: cooking, cleaning and caring (Anderson, 2000).…”

“I Can't Do This Alone”: a study on foreign domestic workers providing long-term care for frail seniors at home

“…A FDW is usually a stay-in migrant female waged domestic worker attached to one employer and works for only a single household, under Singapore's strict legal permit system (Basnyat and Chang, 2016). FDWs mainly come from Indonesia, the Philippines, and Myanmar (Ministry of Manpower, 2016).…”

“…With the number of SWD in Singapore expected to top 103,000 in 2030, the demand for FDWs is projected to increase to 300,000 (National Population Talent Division, 2010;Alzheimer's Disease International, 2014). FDWs usually help with basic activities of daily living (Basnyat and Chang, 2016), while familial caregivers settle the finances and determine care-related decisions. In larger families, the FDWs and SWD are arranged to rotate and reside with different children for certain periods of time.…”

Perception on the Quality of Life, Communication and Life Satisfaction among Individuals with Parkison’s and Their Caregivers

“…This was because most of the PD patients in this support group were at an early stage of PD and hence were still able to do their daily activities. We noticed a trend of caregiving changes in Malaysia, whereby maids from Indonesia or Philippines were becoming the primary caregivers, instead of family members (35). Due to language barrier and lower education level, most of the maids were unable to read or understand our surveys; they were excluded from this study.…”