Working conditions and health of the immigrant worker population: a literature review

Keywords: migrants, occupational health, occupational health nursing, labour conditions.

Abstract

Objectives: The aim of the current study is to find out more about the working conditions and how it affects the health of the immigrant worker community.

Method: Literature review of scientific articles by searching the databases Pubmed, Scopus, WOS and Cinhal (2014-2019). Reviews of the full text articles have been included, based on the established inclusion criteria. Twelve articles were selected for review.

Results: The results show the scarcity of safety measures and risk prevention training protocols that immigrants receive in their jobs and the different factors that contribute to the vulnerability of this group. Consequently, an overall decline in physical and emotional health has been observed, as well as the scarcity of access to adequate health assistance and significant health differences among men and women.

Conclusions: The immigrant community is more likely to encounter unsafe labour conditions, due to the lack of adequate occupational health safety measures, the immigration process and ethnocultural differences. The findings show that occupational health nursing professionals have the skills and abilities required to promote occupational health while protecting and empowering the immigrant groups who are most at risk.

Published
2020-10-30