Quality of Life, Discrimination Experience and Associated Factors among Asian American Nursing Staff in the U.S. during the COVID-19 Crisis

Aims: To investigate Asian American nursing staff’s overall quality of life (QoL), discrimination experience and the contributing factors during the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

Study Design: Cross-sectional survey.

Place and Duration of Study: Participants were recruited from national and state-wide nursing organizations in the United States of America to complete online survey between October -December 2020.

Methodology: A convenience sampling approach was adopted for the study. Sample: we recruited 98 Asian American nursing staff (86% female) from six ethnic groups, including Chinese, Filipinos, Indian, Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese. Valid and reliable measures were used to assess theoretical constructs related to the Vulnerable Populations Conceptual Framework (resources availability, relative risk, health status/QoL). We also conducted descriptive statistics, ANOVA and multiple regression analyses using IBM® SPSS® Statistics 27.0. For the open-ended survey responses, we used thematic content analysis to analyze the qualitative data. Discrepancies in the interpretation were resolved by reaching a consensus among the four researchers.

Results: The mean QoL score of the participants was 69.93 (SD = 13.22), with females demonstrating better QoL than males. Ethnicity was marginally, significantly associated with QoL (P =.06), Moreover, 22% of the participants experienced discrimination and 49% of them reported witnessed discrimination, with race/ethnicity reported as the most common reason. Their QoL was negatively associated with witness discrimination (P =.003), while positively associated with social support (P < .001) and resilience (P =.001).

Conclusion: Our findings provide a timely understanding of AA nursing staff's discrimination experience and factors associated with their QoL during this challenging time. Tailored interventions to mitigate discrimination, strengthening social support and coping strategies to promote resilience are needed to promote QoL among AA nursing staff.