Health and wellbeing geographies of female domestic workers: Understanding space-time constraints and access to health-promoting places and social networks

Female domestic workers (FDWs) are a highly vulnerable group due to intensive work responsibilities. Demanding daily tasks limit women’s mobilities within space and time constraints thus restricting FDWs’ social interactions outside their employers’ homes. With the regulated rest day policy in Hong Kong, FDWs may have opportunities to engage with activities outside their employers’ homes. However, the role of the rest day on FDWs’ engagement with places and social networks that affect their health and wellbeing is still poorly understood. This dissertation sought to understand how space-time constraints of Indonesian FDWs in Hong Kong influence the ways they seek therapeutic landscape and network experiences, and how their relationships with their therapeutic landscapes and networks affect their health and wellbeing. To answers these questions, I collected data from online activity diaries, survey, and semi-structured interviews with Indonesian FDWs in Hong Kong. I adopted two-level multilevel modeling, structural equation modeling (SEM), and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) for quantitative analysis. For qualitative methods, I employed qualitative GIS and thematic analysis for analyzing interview data and open-ended survey responses. In addition, I utilized GIS and spatial analysis methods for geospatial data analysis and visualization. This dissertation is comprised of three papers as a unit. The first paper uncovered significant differences in FDWs’ mobility patterns and activities between work and rest days. Further, FDWs’ activity spaces were more expansive on the rest day than on work days. This paper highlights the importance of the rest day for FDWs’ lives and mobility, especially to cope with their everyday challenges in Hong Kong. The second paper revealed that FDWs built therapeutic networks (TNs) within each therapeutic landscape (TL) type (green spaces, blue spaces, religious sites, and built environments) on the rest day. Social networks among FDWs help create therapeutic experiences in places with no inherent therapeutic qualities and values. Thus, the findings in this paper are paramount in highlighting the role of the rest day for FDWs’ mental health and wellbeing. Lastly, the quantitative modeling results of the third paper were unexpected because the findings revealed little or no association between perceptions of TLs and TNs and FDWs’ self-rated health and subjective wellbeing. However, interviews with FDWs suggested that reduced access to TLs during the COVID-19 pandemic may have affected these findings. This dissertation contributes to the literature in health geography, feminist geography, applied GIS, quantitative geography, qualitative GIS, and immigrant health.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Geography

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2022

Author dc:creator

• Winata, Fikriyah

Contributors dc:contributor

• McLafferty, Sara L.
• Cidell, Julie
• Kwan, Mei-Po
• Williams, Allison

• Indonesian female domestic workers (FDWs)
• Health and wellbeing geographies
• Therapeutic landscapes
• Therapeutic networks
• Quantitative modeling
• Qualitative GIS
• Immigrant health
• Hong Kong

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2022 Fikriyah Winata

Language dc:language

en, eng

Handle dc:identifier

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/116069

OAI record oai:identifier

https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=etdms&identifier=oai%3Awww.ideals.illinois.edu%3A2142%2F116069