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Toward a Life-Course Perspective of Migrant Worker Health and Well-Being

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Health, Safety and Well-being of Migrant Workers: New Hazards, New Workers

Part of the book series: Aligning Perspectives on Health, Safety and Well-Being ((AHSW))

Abstract

The health of migrants is important for both sending and receiving societies, but the sole focus on the post-migration period in the current literature limits our understanding of the health impacts of migration. This chapter proposes that migrant health research include the pre-migration phase so that migration can be explored from a life-course perspective that explicitly recognizes the continuity of life (e.g., skills and resources migrants carry along) as well as changes in life (e.g., physical locations, social environments, and social standing). This chapter will first discuss the advantages of including the pre-migration phase in migrant health research as it reviews a small number of previous studies using a life-course perspective. The specific emphasis is on pre-migration psychosocial processes and their implications for post-migration well-being, especially related to work because job prospects are a major driver for migration. Then some findings from a pre- and post-migration study the authors conducted will be shown and new research questions on migration and health will be suggested. Finally, future directions—needs, challenges, and possibilities—for expanding the scope of research on migrant health and well-being will be presented.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    In this chapter, we discuss only those who have the capacity to decide where they live. We do not include children who move with the family or refugees and other involuntarily displaced persons.

  2. 2.

    Details of recruitment and data collection can be found in Hoppe and Fujishiro (2015).

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The findings and conclusions in this chapter are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Cincinnati, OH, USA

    Kaori Fujishiro

  2. Humboldt University of Berlin, Berlin, Germany

    Annekatrin Hoppe

Authors
  1. Kaori Fujishiro
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  2. Annekatrin Hoppe
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kaori Fujishiro .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Labour Relations & Human Resources, University of Granada, Edificio San Jeronimo, Granada, Spain

    Francisco Díaz Bretones

  2. Division of Psychiatry & Applied Psychology, University of Nottingham, YANG Fujia, Jubilee Campus, Nottinghamshire, UK

    Angeli Santos

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Fujishiro, K., Hoppe, A. (2020). Toward a Life-Course Perspective of Migrant Worker Health and Well-Being. In: Bretones, F.D., Santos, A. (eds) Health, Safety and Well-being of Migrant Workers: New Hazards, New Workers. Aligning Perspectives on Health, Safety and Well-Being. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-52632-0_3

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