Development of health and safety training for Vietnamese American nail salon owners and workers

Background Nail salon workers are an underserved worker population that faces multiple barriers to accessing occupational health training and services. We developed a series of occupational health training modules, which were culturally tailored to Vietnamese-speaking workers, covering topics on infection control, musculoskeletal disorder prevention, chemical safety, and labor practices. We delivered the training online (due to COVID-19) to a small group of Vietnamese owners and workers in the Philadelphia metro area to obtain feedback on the training content and potential implementation challenges. Methods Seven participants (three owners and four workers) were recruited to attend the training. Qualitative feedback was obtained after each training session, followed by a more in-depth interviewer-assisted open-ended questionnaire to gain better understanding of the potential challenges of implementing the recommended changes. The Health Belief Model was used to guide the analysis of the participants’ responses to identify the perceived benefits and barriers of the training. Results Themes of perceived benefits of the training were bridging the gap of cosmetology school training, offering practical tips to protect their health at work, and inspiring conversations about work dignity and labor practices. Themes of perceived barriers were availability of affordable safer products and lack of resources, desire to please customers, lack of commitment from owners, and ubiquitous low wage that impacts employee’s job satisfaction and motivation to change, and difficulty in obtaining a work license. Conclusions Our study revealed the multitude of social and economic barriers facing immigrant nail salon owners and workers. Potential policies and strategies to overcome some of these structural barriers are discussed for the long-term health protection of nail salon workers.