Major Stressors and Coping Strategies of Internal Migrant Workers During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Qualitative Exploration

COVID-19 forced lockdown in India, leading to the loss of job, crisis of food, and other financial catastrophes that led to the exodus migration of internal migrant workers, operating in the private sector, back to their homes. Unavailability of transport facilities led to an inflicted need to walk back to homes barefooted without lack of any other crucial resources on the way. The woeful state of internal migrant workers walking back, with all their stuff on their back, holding their children, was trending on social media worldwide. Their problem continued even after reaching home, including misbehavior of villagers, indifferent mannerism of family members toward them, inability to fulfill family responsibility, and financial crisis, which led to stress, fear, and trauma for these internal migrant workers. The present paper aimed to assess the idiosyncratic stressors of internal migrant workers throughout the pandemic era and their responses toward those problems, which helped them cope with it. In-depth semistructured telephonic interviews were conducted with 25 internal migrant workers who were working in different cities in India before lockdown. The analyses revealed that multiple stressors include financial crisis, unavailability of food, inability to continue education, inability to pay house rent, lack of support from neighbors and family, and other psychological stressors that affected them. However, they also tried multiple strategies to deal with the problems, including a cognitive appraisal of the problem and making oneself psychologically competent to deal with the situation. Social support of family and friends played a vital role in enhancing hardiness and increasing the level of happiness at scarce times. At the same time, some of them could not deal with stressors and opted for psychiatric help to manage the physical symptoms of stress.

Labour's Burden of the Epidemic COVID-19 and internal migrant workers: The case of India

The COVID-19 crisis in India produced severe disruptions in labour's life and pro-cess, while it offered the rulers an opportunity to push further the neoliberal re-forms. In this context, questions of economy became a matter of life for millions of petty producers, informal labour including migrant labour, peasants, and other sections of society. The metamorphosis of economic questions into biopolitical issues had been never as evident as it was in the time of the pandemic. In the all round atmosphere of neo-liberalism where the state had retreated from public ed-ucation and public health, the priority for migrant workers was found to be absent. In this background the question of justice emerged as the backbone of rights. In-deed, one may ask: Will a rights-based approach to defend the existing entitle-ments of workers be enough? Or is there now an overwhelming need to centrally situate the issue of informal workers, of whom a significant section belongs to mi-grant population?

Gender disparities in depressive and anxiety symptoms among internal migrant workers in Shenzhen: a cross-sectional study

ObjectivesTo investigate the gender disparities in the prevalence and severity of depressive and anxiety symptoms and associated factors among internal migrant workers in Shenzhen.DesignCross-sectional study.SettingLabour intensive factories in Shenzhen, Guangdong, China.ParticipantsWe recruited 3200 internal migrant workers who aged over 18 years old and above and did not register in Shenzhen’s household registration system. There were 3095 participants eligible for this study.MethodsParticipants completed sociodemographic questionnaire, the Patient Health Questionnaire-9, the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7, the UCLA Loneliness Scale, the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale, the Social Support Rating Scale, the Simplified Coping Style Questionnaire and Meaning in Life Questionnaire. We applied χ2 test, analysis of variance, Wilcoxon rank test, Fisher’s exact test and univariate and multivariate multilevel linear regression analysis.ResultsThe overall prevalence of depressive and anxiety symptoms was 27.85% and 19.26% among internal migrant workers. We reported gender disparities of depressive and anxiety symptoms among participants that the prevalence of depressive and anxiety symptoms was higher in women (30.57% vs 26.43% and 22.67% vs 17.47%), and the symptoms were more severe among women. Female migrant workers were more likely to be singled, have lower prevalence of smoking and drinking, receive less education and monthly income, have higher level of impulsiveness and social support and lower level of meaning in life. We found age, marriage, income, adaption to living in Shenzhen, being discriminated, drinking, loneliness, impulsiveness, social support, coping strategies and meaning of life were associated with the severity of depressive and anxiety symptoms among internal migrant workers in Shenzhen.ConclusionGender inequality may be the institutional factor leading to disparities in depressive and anxiety symptoms among internal migrant workers. Interventions should be embedded with strategies improving gender equality.

Socioeconomic Disparity and Depression Among Internal Migrant Workers In Myanmar

Background: Over the past few decades, Myanmar has faced mass internal migration to seek job opportunities and pursue a better life. Migration gives rise to unambiguous stress and depression. This study aimed to assess the magnitude of depression and to identify the association between socioeconomic disparity and depression among migrant workers in Myanmar. Methods and Materials: Cross-sectional study was done among 1,201 migrants in Yangon Region. To assess the socioeconomic status, mental health status, accessibility of health care service and Quality of Life by developing self–administered questionnaire. The Generalized Linear Mixed Model was applied to determine the association between socioeconomic disparity and depression after adjusting for other covariates. Result: Their average age was 31.44 ±10.31 years. Gender distribution was not much different. About one third of respondents were factory workers and had low level of education. The magnitude of depression was 38.22% (95%CI= 35.50-41.00). Regarding the socioeconomic disparity, adequacy of income (AOR= 1.79, 95%CI: 1.35-2.37, p value<0.001) and floor surface area of the houses (AOR= 1.21, 95%CI: 1.00-1.47, p value><0.001) were strongly associated with depression. Moreover, other factors that were associated with depression were stress, quality of life and burden of medical service cost. Conclusion: Two-fifth of internal migrant workers suffered depression. The findings highlighted to develop intervention aimed to improve mental health status among migrants. In order to achieve the sustainable development goals, it is important to make investment on mental health of the migrant workers.> <0.001) were strongly associated with depression. Moreover, other factors that were associated with depression were stress, quality of life and burden of medical service cost. Conclusion: Two-fifth of internal migrant workers suffered depression. The findings highlighted to develop intervention aimed to improve mental health status among migrants. In order to achieve the sustainable development goals, it is important to make investment on mental health of the migrant workers.