1. Factors Leading to Reverse Migration Among Migrant Workers During the COVID-19 Pandemic
- Author
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Raviprakash Sharma, Madhur Verma, Bir Singh Chavan, Jitender Aneja, RK Solanki, Ravi Rohilla, Mankirat Kaur Murara, Gurvinder Pal Singh, Sanjay Bahri, Ajeet Sidana, Priti Arun, Dushant Bhanwra, Chitra Singh, Saikat Chakraborty, and Himanshu Sharma
- Subjects
Adult ,Employment ,Male ,Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice ,Adolescent ,Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) ,Cross-sectional study ,media_common.quotation_subject ,India ,Young Adult ,Pandemic ,Humans ,Medicine ,Family ,Socioeconomics ,Aged ,media_common ,Transients and Migrants ,business.industry ,Dry cough ,Migrant workers ,COVID-19 ,social sciences ,General Medicine ,Middle Aged ,Cross-Sectional Studies ,Feeling ,Multicenter study ,Communicable Disease Control ,behavior and behavior mechanisms ,population characteristics ,Female ,business ,Psychosocial ,geographic locations - Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To examine the various psychosocial factors associated with reverse migration among migrant workers during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) lockdown in India. METHODS: A cross-sectional multicenter study was conducted at 4 sites in Northwest India. The migrant workers were recruited from various shelter homes, and information was gathered from reverse migrant workers and controls using various tools including a sociodemographic profile; knowledge, attitudes, and practices questionnaire; and reasons for migration and reverse migration questionnaires. A total of 275 reverse migrant workers and 276 controls participated in the study. RESULTS: There was a considerable difference between reverse migrant workers and controls regarding the question of whether it was safe to travel during lockdown (76.0% vs 26.4%, respectively). The most common route of spread of COVID-19 infection was through touching and sneezing, and symptoms were fever, dry cough, and sore throat in both groups. Reverse migrant workers had low self-esteem and were reluctant to participate in customs of their migration city. A large number of reverse migrant workers reported that they had no money to survive, worried about family back home at their village, felt pressured by family members to come back to the village, and had been terminated from their job. CONCLUSIONS: Reverse migrant workers had the attitude that it was safe to travel during the lockdown. About one-fifth of the reverse migrant workers reported no place to live and fear of getting an infection. The reverse migrant workers also reported feeling low and gloomy, restless, and uncertain about the future and fear of death. Lack of jobs was a major factor driving migrant workers from their native homes.
- Published
- 2021
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