Navigating migration and cancer in Asia: A narrative analysis of stories told by Filipino migrant domestic workers with breast cancer

TL;DR

This paper explores how Filipino migrant domestic workers in Hong Kong experience and narrate breast cancer, highlighting the impact of migration and social relationships on their health journeys.

Contribution

The study introduces a narrative analysis of breast cancer experiences among migrant domestic workers, emphasizing the interplay of migration, identity, and social networks.

Findings

Migration status significantly affects breast cancer outcomes for women in Asia.

Employers, families, and social networks either support or hinder recovery for migrant domestic workers.

Narratives reveal the complex and changing identities of migrant domestic workers as they navigate illness and migration.

Abstract

•Migration status is a key determinant of breast cancer outcomes for women in Asia.•Migrant domestic workers navigate both employment and migration when seeking diagnosis.•Recovery was facilitated or impeded by employers, families and social networks.•Growth in migration highlights the need to understand more about diversity of cancer experiences.

Migration status is a key determinant of breast cancer outcomes for women in Asia.

Migrant domestic workers navigate both employment and migration when seeking diagnosis.

Recovery was facilitated or impeded by employers, families and social networks.

Growth in migration highlights the need to understand more about diversity of cancer experiences.

This article presents the narrative analysis of interview data collected from 15 migrant domestic workers (MDWs) from the Philippines who were diagnosed with breast cancer in Hong Kong. The analysis draws on a social constructionist understanding of identity as multiple and performed through language, communication, and social interaction to explore how these MDWs narrated their cancer experiences and changing identities as they worked to incorporate serious illness into their lives as MDWs. The narratives of these MDWs highlight their multiple and changing identities as they move and communicate across places, systems of migration and networks of relationships.