Using community-based participatory research to design and initiate a study on immigrant worker health and safety in San Francisco's Chinatown restaurants

Abstract

Background: Restaurant workers have among the highest rates of work-related illness and injury in the US, but little is known about the working conditions and occupational health status of Chinese immigrant restaurant workers.

Methods: Community-based participatory research (CBPR) was employed to study restaurant working conditions and worker health in San Francisco's Chinatown. A community/academic/health department collaborative was formed and 23 restaurant workers trained on research techniques and worker health and safety. A worker survey instrument and a restaurant observational checklist were collaboratively developed. The checklist was piloted in 71 Chinatown restaurants, and the questionnaire administered to 433 restaurant workers.

Results: Restaurant workers, together with other partners, made substantial contributions to construction of the survey and checklist tools and improved their cultural appropriateness. The utility of the checklist tool for restaurant-level data collection was demonstrated.

Conclusions: CBPR holds promise for both studying worker health and safety among immigrant Chinese restaurant workers and developing culturally appropriate research tools. A new observational checklist also has potential for restaurant-level data collection on worker health and safety conditions.