Work History and Health Among Returned Foreign Domestic Workers in Sri Lanka

Abstract

As one of the first countries to experience rapid ageing in South Asia, Sri Lanka is put many efforts to understand and characterize the ageing population in order to better serve them and prepare for population ageing. This thesis studied further on Foreign Domestic Workers (FDWs) since they are one of the most vulnerable groups among the aged population in Sri Lanka. The aims of the study were to: (1) describe the characteristics of the returned FDWs; (2) associate work history and healthy older life by performing multivariable analysis; (3) describe the technology familiarity among the returned FDWs. 120 returned FDWs residing in Galle, Sri Lanka were surveyed using a questionnaire that was created for the purpose of the thesis. The population sample was women aged between 45 and 65 years old and worked as an FDW for at least 2 years in the past. Whether their older lives were healthy was measured using a binary well-being outcome variable. Overall, the study found that older FDWs were not living differently from that of the general elderly population in Sri Lanka. Many of the descriptive statistics results followed the literatures and other similar studies. When the subjects were satisfied with different aspects of health, they were also satisfied with their current overall well-being. In summary, the older life of the returned FDWs is accompanied by a continual period of good health and a sustained sense of well-being, their social engagement and productivity remain low.