AB018. Social vulnerability, stressors and adaptive strategies among migrant workers in Singapore

BACKGROUND: Migrant workers make up approximately 4.8% of the global labour force of 167 million workers. Despite their contributions to the development of the receiving countries, low-wage migrant workers are not adequately protected by the labour and health policies putting them at risk of precarious working conditions and adverse health outcomes. The study aims to identify the sources of stressors and explore the interplay between social vulnerabilities and adaptive strategies to health risk among low-wage dormitory-dwelling migrant workers in Singapore. METHODS: In-depth interviews with 33 migrant workers that focused on their living conditions, individual and collective social capital of migrant workers, and health risks and practices were conducted by the research team. Interpretive thematic analysis was used to identify the sources and pathways of vulnerabilities, their impacts on health and their strategies to overcome the hardships. RESULTS: Major stressors that resulted in the susceptibility of migrant workers to adverse health outcomes were predominantly structural in nature, including inadequate labour protection, dire living conditions, barriers to healthcare access, food insecurity and social isolation. In addition, employer gatekeeping of healthcare and over-reliance on employers for essential needs disempowered migrant workers and caused them to adopt maladaptive coping strategies to deal with their everyday experiences. CONCLUSIONS: Non-inclusive protection systems were underlying sources of vulnerabilities, further propagated by their living conditions, making migrant workers susceptible to health risks. Collective agency needs to be developed to respond to the risk posed by these environments. Resilient health systems should be inclusive and focus on mitigating the harms caused by socio-environmental vulnerabilities of underserved populations.