Psychiatric Morbidity, Phenomenology and Management in Hospitalized Female Foreign Domestic Workers in Lebanon

Abstract

40 million female domestic workers worldwide experience the inhumane conditions associated with this unregulated occupation, a situation that induces psychiatric morbidities in many. The case in Lebanon is not any better where it is estimated that one foreign domestic worker (FDW) commits suicide weekly. 33 female FDW and 14 female Lebanese (control group, CG) were enrolled. Brief Psychotic Rating Scale (BPRS) and Clinical Global Impression (CGI) scales were administered on admission and discharge and socio-demographic, living conditions, mental health care data and phenomenological observations were collected. Sexual, physical, and verbal abuses were detected in FDW (12.5, 37.5, and 50.0 %. respectively). 66.7 % of them were diagnosed with brief psychotic episode. The mean duration of hospital stay (13.1 days) was significantly lower in the FDW group. The mean cumulative antipsychotic dose of the FDW was 337.1 mg of chlorpromazine equivalent and the mean BPRS total pre-score of FDW was 66.4 with a much improved state on the CGI global improvement scale, all of which were nonsignificantly different from the CG. Striking phenomenological findings among FDW were acute anorexia (39.4 %), nudity (30.3 %), catatonic features (21.2 %), and delusion of pregnancy (12.1 %). Inpatient FDW are more diagnosed with psychotic than affective disorders and receive approximately similar treatment as controls in spite of the trend to rapidly discharge and deport the worker to limit the costs. Both groups presented with similar severity, although the FDW had peculiar phenomenological observations.