Live-in migrant home care workers in Germany: Stressors and resilience factors

Milena Kriegsmann-Rabe, Katja Maus, Nina Hiebel, Constantin Klein and Franziska Geiser

PLOS ONE, 2023, vol. 18, issue 3, 1-18

Abstract: Background: Thousands of Eastern Europeans find employment caring for older individuals as transmigrating live-in home care workers in private households in Germany. Studies have shown that the stressors threatening their well-being are multifaceted and include inequalities and a high practical and emotional workload, but research on protective factors is still scarce. Aim & methods: This qualitative descriptive study focuses on both the stressors and factors that promote care workers’ well-being and contribute to their psychological resilience. In guideline-based interviews, 14 female and one male care workers were asked about their stressors and the factors that help them cope. Results: Identified stressors included separation from their own family, strained relationship with either or both the care recipient (dementia) and their relatives (violation of worker´s rights and devaluation of care work), and permanent availability and lack of free time due to a 24-h care schedule. Resilience factors were both external and internal and included positive social relationships, self-determination, experience in care work, and intrinsic job motivation. Conclusion: Live-ins reside in an ambiguous setting, exposed to both structural and individual strains. However, external and internal resilience factors contribute to a generally positive attitude toward their job and indicate the agency of this precariously employed group. A socially anchored appreciation of their work and an officially controlled expansion of free time are mandatory to improve the working conditions of live-in care workers.

Date: 2023
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:plo:pone00:0282744

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0282744

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