Aging & Social Change: Fourteenth Interdisciplinary Conference

Abstract

The study explores the support needs of female migrant aged care workers, towards improving retention and career progression, and sought to understand how female migrant aged care workers can overcome challenges to act agentically in their migration and employment journeys, and to develop social resilience, through coping, adapting, and transforming within their workplaces and communities. The research adopted a prospective cross-sectional design using mixed methods which consisted of an online survey and semi-structured interviews. The online survey was conducted with 117 participants from urban, rural, and regional Victoria. The follow-up semi-structured phone or face-to-face interviews were conducted with 20 participants who consented through the online survey. The research has generated two qualitative studies which have adopted theoretical frameworks of social resilience and agency, and one quantitative study. Research results demonstrate that most female migrant aged care workers were satisfied working in the aged care sector (60%) though they indicated that they would like more support from their organisational managers (34%), direct supervisors (33%) and co-workers (30&). The kinds of support or improvements that could be implemented included more diversity training and awareness and greater emotional support, as well as improved communication, greater opportunities for career progression, more hours and flexibility, and English language courses. Findings demonstrate that female migrant aged care workers face workplace challenges such as racism, discrimination, and cultural and language barriers. Through the development of community and workplace support networks, they were able to cope, adapt and transform towards building social resilience and achieving their career goals.