Confirmatory Factor Analysis and Reliability of the Acculturative Stress Scale Among Myanmar Migrants in Thailand

The United Nations estimates that there are 214 million migrants globally and could exceed 400 million by 2050. Similarly, the influx of migrants into Thailand has increased from 528,693 in the 1990s to a peak of 1.7 million in 2017 and migrant workers now make up 65 percent of the total workers in Thailand. Of the migrant workers from Thailand’s neighboring countries, 82% were migrant workers from Myanmar who worked in the agriculture, fisheries, and manufacturing of Thai industry. Statistics from the United Nations (UN) and the Thai Department of Employment about migrants both shared that the number of migrants is increasing and the biggest number of migrant workers are from Myanmar. Thus, Thai government health departments and health care professionals are focusing to develop health care policy or services that appropriate for the specific group of migrant workers to maintain strong healthy migrants.

The complex situation in the migration process itself can impact mental well-being. The stress that is a response to an individual’s difficult experiences related to the process of acculturation, has been termed “acculturative stress”. Experiencing language barriers, discrimination from the native people, and unfamiliarity with the host country’s culture and society can lead to poor relationships with employers and the native people. These stressors are associated with negative health impacts, especially mental health problems (e.g. anxiety, stress, or depression symptoms.

Previous effort to develop acculturative stress scale among migrant workers have mainly focused on specific population, such as the acculturative stress for Latino immigrants and the acculturative scale for Hispanic migrants. Findings from such tools are useful in a specific ethnic group, they have limited application generally among migrant workers in other areas. To address this limitation, the Acculturative Stress Scale (ASS) for Myanmar migrants in Thailand are being developed based on the literatures about acculturative stress among Myanmar migrants in Thailand. Therefore, further testing is required to determine whether the ASS is relevant to use in the context of Myanmar migrants in Thailand.

Purpose: To test for reliability and construct validity of the Acculturative Stress Scale (ASS) – Burmese version for use in migrant workers from Myanmar in Thailand.

Design: Methodological research.

Methods: Data from a previous study of 445 migrant workers from Myanmar in Thailand were used to assess construct validity by conducting a confirmatory factor analysis through LISREL, and reliability by calculating Cronbach’s alpha coefficient.

Main findings: The analysis yielded satisfactory results of chi-square = 179.03, df = 151, p-value = 0.059, RMSEA = 0.02, GFI = 0.97, AGFI = 0.94. The results support that the ASS consists of four components: perceived discrimination, perceived hate, culture shock, and financial problems. Cronbach’s alpha coefficients for total score was 0.921, and four components were 0.865, 0.912, 0.832, and 0.607, respectively

Conclusion and recommendations: Findings indicate that the ASS is a reliable measure for use in migrant workers from Myanmar in Thailand. This instrument will be of great benefit for use as an assessment tool for both research and clinical purposes.