Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2024 Jul;34(8-9):865-877.
doi: 10.1177/10497323241228789. Epub 2024 Feb 4.

"We Need to Go Back Home (to) the Philippines Healthy": An Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis of Migrant Domestic Workers' Experiences of Having Breast Cancer in Hong Kong

Margo Turnbull  1 , Carol Yu  1 , Dennis Tay  1
Affiliations

"We Need to Go Back Home (to) the Philippines Healthy": An Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis of Migrant Domestic Workers' Experiences of Having Breast Cancer in Hong Kong

Margo Turnbull et al. Qual Health Res. 2024 Jul.

Abstract

Diagnoses of breast cancer are continuing to increase in the Philippines, but little is known about incidence rates among the significant number of Filipino women working abroad as migrant domestic workers (MDWs). These women are often the main income providers for their families, and their ability to work depends upon their physical health and strength. In this article, we use interpretive phenomenological analysis to explore the experiences of 10 MDWs from the Philippines who were diagnosed with breast cancer during a period of employment in Hong Kong. Analysis of these narratives revealed numerous points at which their status as temporary, transnational migrant workers intersected with their experiences of breast cancer detection, diagnosis, and treatment. We argue that these women's experiences of breast cancer were shaped by the structures of migration that link the Philippines with host destinations like Hong Kong. These structures create a unique context in which these women had to constantly renegotiate their identities as migrants, financial providers, and breast cancer patients.

Keywords: Hong Kong; Philippines; breast cancer; interpretive phenomenological analysis; migrant domestic workers.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

References

    1. Abrams J. A., Tabaac A., Jung S., Else-Quest N. M. (2020). Considerations for employing intersectionality in qualitative health research. Social Science and Medicine, 258, 113138. 10.1016/j.socscimed.2020.113138 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Amrith M. (2021). Ageing bodies, precarious futures: The (im)mobilities of 'temporary' migrant domestic workers over time. Mobilities, 16(2), 249–261. 10.1080/17450101.2021.1885834 - DOI
    1. Boersma M. (2019). Filipina domestic workers in Hong Kong: Between permanence and temporariness in everyday life. Current Sociology, 67(2), 273–293. 10.1177/0011392118792928 - DOI
    1. Bray F., Ferlay J., Soerjomataram I., Siegel R. L., Torre L. A., Jemal A. (2018). Global cancer statistics 2018: GLOBOCAN estimates of incidence and mortality worldwide for 36 cancers in 185 countries. CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians, 68(6), 394–424. 10.3322/caac.21492 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Brunet J., Sabiston C. M., Burke S. (2013). Surviving breast cancer: Women's experiences with their changed bodies. Body Image, 10(3), 344–351. 10.1016/j.bodyim.2013.02.002 - DOI - PubMed