Abstract
Previous literature has shown that migrant workers manifested higher common mental issues (especially depressive symptom) compared to local workers due to stressors such as financial constraint and lack of access to healthcare. The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis is to summarize the current body of evidence for the prevalence of depression and anxiety among migrant workers as well as exploring the risk factors and the availability of social support for migrant workers. Seven electronic databases, grey literature and Google Scholar were searched for studies from 2015 to 2021 related to mental health, social support and migrant workers. Study quality was assessed using the Newcastle Ottawa Scale and the Joanna Briggs Institute Qualitative Assessment and Review Instrument (JBI-QARI). Study heterogeneity was evaluated using I2 statistics. Random effects meta-analysis results were presented given heterogeneity among studies. The search returned 27 articles and only seven studies were included in meta-analysis, involving 44 365 migrant workers in 17 different countries. The overall prevalence of depression and anxiety among migrant workers was 38.99% (95% CI = 0.27, 0.51) and 27.31% (95% CI = 0.06, 0.58), respectively. Factors such as age, biological (health issue, family history of psychiatric disorder), individual (poor coping skills), occupational (workplace psychosocial stressors, poor working condition, salary and benefits issue, abuse), environmental (limited access towards healthcare, duration of residence, living condition) and social factor (limited social support) were associated with a mental health outcome in migrant workers. The availability of social support for migrant workers was mainly concentrated in emotional type of support. A high prevalence of depression and anxiety was found among migrant workers across the globe. This finding warrants a collective effort by different parties in providing assistance for migrant workers to promote their mental well-being.
Highlights
Globalization has improved the interconnectedness between countries which has impacted human mobility in the aspect of migration [1, 2]
Several studies included in this review identified the associated factors of mental health issues among migrant workers during COVID-19, which mainly related to job stressors such as lack of confidence to properly care for themselves and their employer, lack of protective equipment, higher workload and worries being terminated if contracting COVID-19
This review and meta-analysis have provided an overview of the mental health outcome among migrant workers
Summary
Globalization has improved the interconnectedness between countries which has impacted human mobility in the aspect of migration [1, 2]. According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM) (2019), the number of international migrants has increased significantly from 84 million in 1970 to 272 million in 2019. In 2019, the highest two regions that hosted the total global international migrant stock were Europe and Asia, while Oceania, North America and Europe were the highest when a comparison made based on the size of the population in each region. Half of the number of international migrants around the globe is originated from Asian countries (e.g., India, China, Bangladesh) followed by Mexico and the Russian Federation [3]. In 2017, the migrant workers’ population was still highly concentrated in higher-income countries (68%). In terms of gender composition, the number of male migrant workers (58%) was higher than female migrant workers (42%) with apparent gender imbalance geographically in several regions such as the Arab States, where male migrant workers were highly demanded as the labor opportunities were more concentrated in the construction sector [3]
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