Nail salon employees are potentially exposed to dozens of recognized chemical hazards including acrylates, solvents, and biocides in dust and vapor form, yet little is known of salon workers' total exposure or work environment conditions. Even less is known about prevalence of health effects in this population of mostly Asian immigrant women workers. We do know that exposure to the chemicals with which they work have been linked to asthma, dermatitis, cognitive dysfunction and reproductive health hazards. Special barriers confront investigators in studying the nail work environment, including the smallness of nail salons businesses and potential language and cultural differences between investigators and salon owners and workers. The proposed study, by a new investigator, aims to develop methods for a community-based, comprehensive investigation of both the technical and social issues related to the nail salon work environment and health hazard prevalence in salon workers. Through consultation with a Research Advisory Group, site visits to salons, and in-depth and relationship-building interviews with stakeholders, the investigator will 1) design an exposure assessment strategy appropriate to the evaluation of nail salon work environments; 2) design a survey to assess occupationally-related health effects in nail salon workers; 3) pilot the exposure assessment strategy and health effects survey to evaluate feasibility and validity; 4) assess the social context of occupational health issues as they relate to nail salon work; 5) determine access strategies and build relationships to facilitate this project and a larger-scale study.
| Roelofs, Cora; Azaroff, Lenore S; Holcroft, Christina et al. (2008) Results from a community-based occupational health survey of Vietnamese-American nail salon workers. J Immigr Minor Health 10:353-61 |
