Making sense of breast cancer and migration : an interpretive phenomenological analysis

Abstract

In 2021, the International Labour Organization estimated that there were 169 million migrant workers globally, with a significant proportion of the related movement taking place within the Asian regions. Many of these workers are women who move from lower-income home countries to higher-income host destinations on temporary work contracts in the hope of improving the financial security of themselves and their families. These women often spend many years engaged in migrant work, and until now, little has been known about how a serious illness, like breast cancer, shapes their lives over time and influences eventual reintegration into their home countries. In this chapter, we explore the intersection of migration, health, and illness by analyzing narratives of ten female migrant domestic workers from the Philippines diagnosed with breast cancer in Hong Kong. The analysis is framed by Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) and thus focuses on issues of identity, sense-making, and existential awareness and serves as a useful supplement to other studies that summarize overall research findings. By using IPA in this analysis, our findings highlight how dimensions of time in the context of temporary migration shape cancer experiences and influence hopes and ideas of the future.