A Feasibility Study to Develop a Multilevel Occupational Health Intervention Program for Nail Salon Employees and Owners

Details

• Personal Author:
  Burstyn I ; Carroll-Scott A ; Huynh TB ; Robinson L
• Description:
  Background: Immigrant nail salon workers is an overlooked and vulnerable worker population. Nail salon workers experienced numerous work-related bad health outcomes from chemical exposures, and bodily pains from repetitive tasks and uncomfortable work positions. They are also at risk of infections from handling sharp tools or respiratory illnesses such as COVID-19 and flu. Interventions to reduce work-related illnesses for these workers have been limited. Methods: Grounded in community-based participatory research (CBPR), we partnered with Vietlead, a local community-based organization (CBO), to co-develop an intervention program. We recruited Vietnamese nail salons from the Philadelphia area to participate in the study. The purpose of the pilot study were 1) to determine how difficult it would be to recruit salons to participate in the study and 2) gained experience delivering the worker safety and health intervention and collecting data before and after the intervention to inform the larger study. Findings: We reached out to 52 nail salons and got 12 salons consented to be in the study. Eleven salons completed the whole process and one dropped out after the training due to change in ownership. A total of 44 salon workers and owners participated in the study. We learned that without existing relationship with Vietlead, it would be extremely difficult to convince immigrant salon workers and owners to participate in the study, underscoring the need to work closely with existing ethnic CBOs serving immigrant worker communities for outreach. Preliminary results indicated that the intervention may improve participants' confidence in performing safe work practices and reduce chemical exposures at follow-up. However, the results should be interpreted with caution because the study had a very small sample size. When we talked to the participants, we also learned about many barriers salon workers and owners faced trying to adopt and maintain safe work practices. The barriers included 1) limited availability of safer and more affordable products at their local nail suppliers and high cost of purchasing these products, 2) challenges communicating with customers about salon protocol, 3) lack of commitment from some owners, 4) organizational management practices (e.g., low wage, no time for training) affecting employees' motivation, and 5) lack of partnership with local government to support small business owners and their employees. Our results highlight the need to address systemic barriers to make it easier for immigrant nail salon owners and employees adopt and maintain safe practices to protect their health at work. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Communicable Diseases Emigration And Immigration Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Community Based COVID-19 Immigrant Workers Infectious Diseases Intervention Effectiveness Nail Technicians Repetitive Work Safety Practices Service Industries Worker Safety
• Series:
  Grant Final Reports
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Final Grant Report
• Place as Subject:
  OSHA Region 3 ; Pennsylvania
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  OEP - Office of Extramural Programs
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1-16
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20068296
• Citation:
  Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, R21-OH-011740, 2022 Dec; :1-16
• Contact Point Address:
  Tran B Huynh, Drexel University, 3020 Market Street, Suite 510 Office of Research & Innovation, Philadelphia, PA, 19104-3735
• Email:
  tbh38@drexel.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2023
• NORA Priority Area:
  Services
• Performing Organization:
  Drexel University
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  20200930
• Source Full Name:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• End Date:
  20220929
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:3e49397446e4014ab09c8f88942516f204e659006a6f913fef7e2dc66c541ed03a79727b53f4cc83ee0dae073b7f67c69884d73bb4b418f7f14d24b3d25139ff
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/219207/cdc_219207_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.26 MB ]