Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #114846

Nan Lashuay, MA, Community Occupational Health Project, University of California School of Nursing, 2647 International Blvd, Suite 108, Oakland, CA 94601, 510-533-9954, lashuay@itsa.ucsf.edu, Barbara Burgel, RN, MS, FAAN, Community Health Systems, University of California School of Nursing, University of California San Francisco School of Nursing, N505, 2 Koret, Box 0608, San Francisco, CA 94143-0608, Patricia Quinlan, MPH, CIH, Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, University of California San Francisco, Box 0843, San Francisco, CA 94143-0843, Helen Chen, JD, Asian Law Caucus, 939 Market St, Suite 201, San Francisco, CA 94103, and Lisa Moore, Popular Education Consultant, 1010 Salsbury Drive, #205, Vancouver, BC V5L 4A7, Canada.

Industry sources estimate that there are over 54,000 nail salons employing nearly 400,000 technicians in the United States. Many workers in this industry are low-wage, primarily monolingual Vietnamese or Korean immigrants or other ethnic minorities. Workers are exposed on a daily basis to organic solvents, methacrylates, phthalates and other chemicals, bloodborne pathogens, and ergonomic and repetitive stress hazards. Though very little research has been done on health risks for this workforce, several reports exist of disease outbreaks among clients and of work-related asthma and cognitive and neurosensory changes among chemically-exposed workers.

The Bay Area Healthy Nail Salon Project, a joint effort of the UCSF Community Occupational Health Project and the Asian Law Caucus, is testing a grassroots approach to improving health and safety practices among these small businesses. We have developed a bilingual five-part, popular education package designed to be delivered onsite in salons or at vocational schools, ESL classes, and faith-based sites. Outreach to this workforce is exceptionally challenging. We are using multiple site visits, incentives, and various other techniques to establish trust and promote participation.

Our paper will describe our educational methodology, discuss outreach to this population and examine the effectiveness of this educational strategy.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion, participants will be able to

• list five work-related health hazards in nail salons;
• describe three barriers to outreach to this population; and
• discuss the effectiveness of popular education and related techniques in encouraging workplace health and safety in this industry.

Keywords: Asian Women, Occupational Health Programs

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.

Recorded presentation