Facilitators of and Barriers to Access to Mental Health Support within Transnational Contexts: Narratives of Foreign Filipino Domestic Helpers in Hong Kong SAR

While a growing body of research on migration and mental health has started to illuminate the complex interplay between structural conditions, transnational familial dynamics, and other sociocultural factors affecting the mental well-being of foreign domestic helpers in destination countries, there remains a knowledge gap in understanding how they navigate and negotiate access to the complex landscape of formal and informal mental health support systems within transnational contexts. This ongoing research aims to bridge address gap by identifying and examining the key factors that facilitate or hinder foreign Filipino domestic helpers’ (FFDHs) decision to seek help and utilization of mental health support at various scales.

The study will employ pakikipagkuwentuhan (story telling or informal conversations) (Pe-Pua and Protacio-Marcelino, 2000) with FFDHs in Hong Kong SAR. A multiscalar feminist sociological analysis (Parreñas and Hwang, 2023) will be utilized to examine the interplay of factors at the macro (nation-state and transnational level), meso (service-provision level), and micro (individual) scales that shape FFDHs’ access to formal and informal mental health support within transnational contexts. This paper will contribute to a more sophisticated understanding of mental health challenges faced by FFDHs in Hong Kong SAR and could provide insights for policymakers and service providers in both Hong Kong SAR and the Philippines.