Pakikipagkapwa: Determining the level of social interaction of domestic helpers (kasambahay) toward their employers

• Main Authors: Dayandante, Priscilla Gaye C., Ferrer, Maria Monica C., Pasion, Nikki F., Reyes, Kathleen Anne S. A.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2014
• Subjects: Household employees > Social aspects; Psychology
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_bachelors/10774
• Institution: De La Salle University

This study aims to explicitly investigate and identify the levels of interaction (pakikipagkapwa) attained by the Filipina domestic helpers working as a live-in employee among Filipino families from the-other (ibang-tao) to one-of-us (hindi ibang-tao). The interaction of the domestic helper in the employer's household, along with the familiarity of home and years spent with employer's family changes with the way the employer treats, interacts, and relates to the domestic helper, contrasting the way the conventional professional setting handles their employees. Using Enriquez' concept of Pakikipagkapwa, the researchers examined across the data sets that they were able to collect from their sample, which were selected based on a given criteria using the method of pakikipagkwentuhan. The sample consisted of experienced Filipina domestic helpers, whose ages were at least 23 years old and rendered at least 5 years of service to their employers working as stay-in helpers. The findings suggest that the change in the levels of interaction (pakikipagkapwa) and its development is influenced by the employee's own perspective of their standpoint given their position. The research also discusses the factors in the relationship between the domestic helper and her employers as to how they play a role in their determined level of interaction. The research places importance on the psychology of Filipino interaction and how the perspectives of the kasambahay, relatively unique as compared to the average Filipino professions, hold influence on how they chose to connect with their employer which remains to be still a rather unexplored area of Filipino Psychology.