Foreign Domestic Workers' Perspectives on an LLM-Based Emotional Support tool for Caregiving Burden

TL;DR

This study explores how foreign domestic workers in Singapore interact with an LLM chatbot for emotional support, highlighting its safety, accessibility, and multifunctionality in caregiving contexts.

Contribution

It provides qualitative insights into FDWs' engagement with LLM-based emotional support tools, emphasizing design considerations for safety and accessibility.

Findings

Chatbots are experienced as psychologically safe and validating.

They support linguistic accessibility with imperfect language.

FDWs use chatbots for reassurance, guidance, and companionship.

Abstract

Foreign Domestic Workers (FDWs) play a central role in home-based eldercare yet often experience substantial emotional caregiving burden shaped by linguistic barriers, social isolation, and limited access to support. While caregiving burden has been extensively studied among familial caregivers, little is known about how FDWs engage with emotional support technologies. We present an exploratory qualitative study of how FDWs in Singapore interact with a Large Language Model (LLM)-driven chatbot as an everyday, non-clinical form of emotional support. Through interviews and guided chatbot interactions, we conducted an inductive thematic analysis of participants' experiences. We identify three design-relevant themes: chatbots were experienced as psychologically safe and emotionally validating; they supported linguistic accessibility by accommodating imperfect and fragmented language; and they were appropriated as multifunctional resources for reassurance, guidance, and companionship. We discuss implications for designing LLM-driven emotional support tools that foreground psychological safety, accessibility, and flexible appropriation.