Asian Working Research Articles

Latex Sensitisation in Healthcare Workers in Singapore

Introduction: Epidemiological data on latex sensitisation among Asian healthcare workers is lacking. The aim of the study is to determine the rate of latex sensitisation in our healthcare workers. Materials and Methods: We recruited 313 healthcare workers, of which 46.6% were operating theatre staff and 53.4% were non-operating theatre staff. Seventy-one administrative staff served as controls. All participants answered a self-administered questionnaire relating to latex exposure and glove-related symptoms. Latex sensitisation was determined by skin prick testing to latex and latex-specific IgE detection. Results: The prevalence of latex sensitisation among healthcare workers was 9.6%, with no difference between operating theatre and non-operating theatre staff. Glove-related symptoms were reported in 13.7% of all healthcare workers, of which 22.9% were sensitised to latex. Only 26.7% of latex-sensitised healthcare workers had glove-related symptoms while the rest were asymptomatic. The most common symptoms were itch and hand eczema but the most important discriminating symptom was contact urticaria. Personal history of atopy was more common in sensitised healthcare workers (40.0%) compared to non-sensitised workers (31.8%). Only 1 out of 9 (11.2%) symptomatic latex-sensitised subjects had sought previous medical attention for the problem. Conclusions: Latex sensitisation among healthcare workers in Singapore should be considered a significant occupational health risk, as it is in the West. Increased screening and awareness of this problem is essential to identify those at risk.

The End of Indenture? Asian workers in the Australian Pearling Industry, 1901–1972

The historical circumstances which led to the end of the indentured labor trade suggest that its abolition was only partially the result of humanitarian concern for the welfare of workers. It was the development of nationalism, both in sending and receiving countries, that prompted a rethinking of the racialized labor organization of indenture. In Australia, the introduction of the White Australia policy in 1901, with its restrictions on non-white immigration and employment, is usually thought to coincide with the abolition of the indentured labor trade. But the Australian pearl-shelling industry continued to employ indentured Asian workers up until the 1970s. This case study extends the historical analysis of indenture well beyond its supposed international abolition. In doing so, it demonstrates a degree of continuity of colonial thought and practice which persisted in the face of global decolonization.

Weak Winners of Globalization: Indian H-1B Workers in the American Information Economy

This article examines the complexity of the debate around the temporary worker visa known as the H-1B program for highly skilled foreign nationals. The debate against the H-1B visa program has been dominated by what feminist economist Naila Kabeer has argued are “coalitions of ‘powerful losers’ in the north seeking to claw back the gains made from international trade by ‘weak winners’ in the south” (Kabeer 2002). I argue that these metaphors are resonant in the debate over the H-1B visa program, where displaced American Information Technology (IT) workers conflate the role of Indian H-1B workers as both vulnerable victims of corporate greed and menacing threats to national prosperity and security, reinforcing both symbolic and institutional racism against this new category of Asian immigrant worker. Based on interviews with over 100 Indian H-1B workers, this paper challenges many of the assumptions about “indentured servitude,” and my findings suggest alternate policy alternatives to pitting the interests of “cheap Indian workers” against the interests of “Americans.”

Weak Winners of Globalization: Indian H-1B Workers in the American Information Economy

This article examines the complexity of the debate around the temporary worker visa known as the H-1B program for highly skilled foreign nationals. The debate against the H-1B visa program has been dominated by what feminist economist Naila Kabeer has argued are coalitions of 'powerful losers' in the north seeking to claw back the gains made from international trade by 'weak winners' in the south (Kabeer 2002). I argue that these metaphors are resonant in the debate over the H-1B visa program, where displaced American Information Technology (IT) workers conflate the role of Indian H-1B workers as both vulnerable victims of corporate greed and menacing threats to national prosperity and security, reinforcing both symbolic and institutional racism against this new category of Asian immigrant worker. Based on interviews with over 100 Indian H-1B workers, this paper challenges many of the assumptions about indentured servitude, and my findings suggest alternate policy alternatives to pitting the interests...

The Multilevel Approach to Promoting Asian Migrant Workers' Rights: The MFA Experience

The non-recognition of the rights of Asian migrant workers by labour-sending and labour-receiving countries translates into their exclusion from coverage of labour and social legislation the absence of grievance mechanisms and/or coverage under restrictive and discriminatory policies and laws. It is also reflected in the rate of abuse violence and exploitation committed against them by state actors (both sending and receiving countries) recruiters and employers. Governments of labour-receiving countries view migrant workers as economically necessary but prefer to keep them unregulated and informal in order to keep wages low (therefore competitive) and to justify denial of labour rights. Some countries have creatively devised a trainee to accept foreigners under a transfer of technology programme. In fact this system is only a ruse for local and national companies to get cheap foreign labour without the obligation of providing them with the economic and social entitlements befitting a regular worker. (excerpt)

Evaluation of delivery of enhanced diabetes care to patients of South Asian ethnicity: the United Kingdom Asian Diabetes Study (UKADS)

We tested the hypothesis that enhanced care for diabetes, tailored to the needs of the South Asian community with Type 2 diabetes, would improve risk factors for diabetic vascular complications and ultimately reduce morbidity and mortality. The study was a cluster randomized controlled trial (RCT) with general practice the unit of randomization. Six West Midlands general practices with a high proportion of South Asian patients were randomized to 'enhanced care' using Asian link workers and extra community diabetes specialist nurse sessions (intervention) or continued standard practice care (control). Of 401 patients recruited to the study, 361 (90%), comprising 178 from Coventry and 183 from Birmingham were eligible and included in the analyses. The mean age at baseline (standard deviation, SD) was 58.9 (11.7 years) with median (interquartile range; IQR) duration of diabetes 6.5 (3-11) years. At one year follow-up there was a significant difference in reduction of systolic (4.6 mmHg, P = 0.035) and diastolic blood pressure (3.4 mmHg, P = 0.003) and total cholesterol (0.4 mmol/l, P = 0.005), comparing the intervention and control groups. After adjusting for baseline measurement and age, only differential reduction in diastolic blood pressure remained significant. There was no significant change in HbA(1c) and no difference between the groups. Using link workers and extra community diabetes specialist nurse input together with treatment protocols in primary care might prove a useful strategy in working towards NSF targets for diabetes management. In this study, small reductions in blood pressure and cholesterol were achieved. Improvement in glycaemic control may require longer and possibly different strategies. Further research is required to evaluate fully the effectiveness, including the costs and longer term sustainability of culturally sensitive initiatives.

Globalization and Securing Rights for Women Informal Workers in Asia

The major paradigms of the development discourse have recently incorporated the language of rights. To move from the rhetoric of human rights to concretely elaborate the content of rights for informal workers, particularly women, in Asia is the purpose of this paper. Using a rights-based approach to development, the paper takes up the issue of gender-enabling worker rights in the context of developing economies that are increasingly open to external influences. A matrix of rights consisting of the right to work, broadly defined, safe work, minimum income and social security are identified as core issues for informal workers. Further, we focus attention on four specific groups of informal workers: self-employed independent producers and service workers, self-employed street vendors, dependent producers such as homeworkers and outworkers, and dependent wageworkers. Gender-sensitive micro-economic and macro-economic and social polices are identified for each of these segments of the informal workers. The access to economic, market and social reproduction needs are to be addressed simultaneously to ensure the basic matrix of rights for women informal workers in developing countries. Each of the needs of the workers have to be viewed as a right and a system of institutions or mechanisms that will help to bring these rights to the center of policy have to be worked out. The claim of women and informal workers for a voice in the macro policy decisions through representation at the local, national and international levels is at the heart of the rights-based approach.

Advantages of training Asian diabetes support workers for Asian families and diabetes health care professionals

AbstractLocal consultation with Asian groups and community members in Tameside, Greater Manchester during 1999 on issues around diabetes identified barriers towards optimal self‐care. Six local Asian trainees were recruited in male and female cultural pairs (Bangladeshi, Indian and Pakistani) to participate in a modular Asian Diabetes Support Worker training programme. The training was accredited with Greater Manchester Open College Network, in association with Tameside College, at NVQ Levels 2 and 3. The Asian Diabetes Support Worker Service was evaluated from patient/family and health professional perspectives 12 months after referrals began to be accepted by the team. This article describes the process and outcomes of the service and discusses plans to improve its utilisation. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Cross-Cultural Comparison of Neurobehavioral Performance in Asian Workers

Widely-used neurobehavioral tests have been developed and standardized on Western populations, but studies on subject factors for Asian populations have been very limited. For the effective application and interpretation of neurobehavioral tests in Asian populations, an evaluation of the effects of subject factors, including cultural background, is necessary. A cross-cultural study was conducted to evaluate the effects of cultural background and the interaction between cultural background and education on neurobehavioral tests in Asian populations. The Korean version of the Swedish Performance Evaluation System (Simple Reaction Time, Symbol Digit, and Finger Tapping Speed) and a pegboard test were administered to 537 workers who were not exposed to chemicals at work from Fareast (Korea and Chinese), Central (Uzbekistan and Tajikistan), and South Asia (Sri Lanka and Indonesia). The Fareast Asian group exhibited better performance in adjusted test scores than other Asian groups, achieving significance for Symbol Digit and Finger Tapping Speed in both genders. The magnitude of the effect of cultural background on Symbol Digit was comparable to the effect of about 10 years of education. Cultural background did not modify the relation between years of education and Symbol Digit in either males or females. This study may provide the first evidence that cultural background has a large impact on neurobehavioral test performance, even within Asian populations, and suggests that cultural background is a critical confounding factor that must be controlled in epidemiologic studies which include Asian populations in the sample.

Asian Working Women and Agency: Their Voices

AbstractThe aim of this paper is to discuss the challenges of organising women workers in Asia, and to discuss how trade unions can facilitate their more effective participation in these movements. The paper is primarily informed by research undertaken with Southern Initiative on Globalization and Trade Union Rights (SIGTUR). Formed in Perth, Western Australia in 1991 and made up of delegates from India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Thailand, Malaysia, South Korea, the Philippines, Hong Kong, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and Brazil, the aim of SIGTUR is to promote collaborative activity by independent trade unions in the ‘South’ or rather countries within the Asia-Pacific. The paper highlights the effects of neo-liberalism on workers and develop appropriate international responses.

Alternative Ways of Organising: Asian Labour’s Response to the ‘New’ Globalisation: Introduction

Globalisation--when defined as the 'linking of distinct localities in such a way that local happenings are shaped by events occurring miles away and vice versa' (Giddens 1990: 64)--is nothing new. However, the most recent wave of globalisation has distinctive features. Rather than being linked to the activity of identifiably imperialist powers such as Britain or France, post-1960s globalisation is driven by often faceless investment interests using vehicles other than the nationstate. These include transnational corporations who have no clearly identifiable home country base, and global structures such as the WTO (World Trade Organization), which have erected a 'boundaryless world' that prioritises capitals' interests over those of the nation-state or labour. This 'new globalisation' is modelled on an American style of neoliberalism under which the conduct of individuals, groups and nations is clearly dominated by economic imperatives. American neo-liberalism promotes a minimalist approach to social obligations while maximizing economic interests; it differs from the Ordo neo-liberalism practised in Europe, which combines free market ideas with the need for social welfare provisions (Emy 1993). However, both forms of neo-liberalism have had significant effects on society. Not only does neo-liberal ideology seek to eliminate restrictions and regulations such as tariffs, quotas and other tariff and non tariff barriers, it also seeks to actively construct an enterprise culture (Peters 1996), or enterprise mentality, that prioritises market or economic interests above social needs. Individualism not collectivism, user pays not social justice, become the dominant values guiding the conduct of individuals, groups and nations operating within this framework of governance as each person, group, or community of persons, aims to carve out their own 'best deal'. These principles drive the export-oriented model of industrial development (EOI) that now dominates the economies of Asia. EOI advocates argue that a reassertion of the primacy of economic growth and market interests reduces poverty and generates prosperity in newly industrialising environments (NIEs) (see Balassa 1981; Krueger 1985). The International Monetary Fund's promotion of EOI, along with the rapid growth achieved~by Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea and Hong Kong, encouraged other Asian countries to adopt EOI policies. As a result, EOI has become the industrial development model of choice in the region, even in previously closed or centrally managed economies such as India, Vietnam and now of course China. This pathway has been pursued with relative ease because most Asian NIE economies were governed by authoritarian or single party democratic regimes, which erected legislative and regulatory frameworks to proactively promote EOI even when social costs were incurred. Asian governments' commitment to export-driven economic growth has had serious implications for labour. Exchange controls, guarantees concerning repatriation of investment, taxation and general industry assistance schemes to attract investment were complemented by an industrial relations model characterized by restrictions on freedom of association, collective bargaining and the right to strike. These governments tightly controlled remuneration and workplace conditions to match the needs of international capital, as opposed to broader community needs. In summary, the Asian labour-management model has heightened the vulnerability of Asian workers in comparison to those working in more industrialised environments. Collective resistance is not only difficult to co-ordinate within this paradigm; it is also difficult to stimulate. However, the papers in this symposium suggest that the harsh regimes of labour control characteristic of Asia's EOI economies have not been able to eliminate labour collectivity altogether. Rather, they have encouraged novel forms of labour activism both within the tradition of unionism and beyond it. …

Social mobility and the educational choices of Asian Americans

In this paper, we propose a synthetic framework, “strategic adaptation,” for understanding the social mobility process of Asian Americans. We argue that Asian Americans consciously choose occupations where they can effectively cope with potential discrimination and other disadvantages by achieving marketable credentials. Our empirical analyses are primarily based on data from the 1988–1994 National Educational Longitudinal Survey. There are four main findings from our study. First, Asian American youth tend to choose occupations with a high representation of Asian workers and high average earnings/education, relative to whites, even after controlling for socioeconomic background and academic performance. Second, Asians are more likely than whites to expect to enter college and to major in fields that have high financial payoffs. Third, a large fraction of this racial gap is attributable to occupational expectation. Finally, Asians are more likely than are whites to actually enroll in college and to pursue high-earning majors, and these racial differences are attributable to both educational expectation and occupational expectation.

Consuming the Asian Other in Singapore: Interculturalism in TheatreWorks' Desdemona

The Singaporean company TheatreWorks, under the artistic direction of Ong Keng Sen, has been responsible for the creation of a number of large-scale Asian intercultural works that have toured to international festivals from Adelaide to Hamburg. Among the best known of these are Lear and Desdemona, both of which use Shakespeare as a point of departure for new performance pieces that bring together practitioners representing a wide range of traditional and contemporary art forms. Unlike other intercultural experiments, in Lear and Desdemona practitioners stay largely within the frame of their own performance and linguistic traditions, creating a work which, especially in the case of Desdemona, is far from seamless. Using the 2000 production of Desdemona as an object of inquiry, this model of Asian intercultural production is examined against the backdrop of the politics of one's location, the troubled audience response to the work in Singapore and Adelaide, and the current state of intercultural theory.

A Return to Spirituality

This paper describes how family therapy was used by an Asian social worker in working with an Asian family who believes and practices Buddhism. The family came to treatment concerned about their 7-year-old son who was experiencing school refusal, night terrors, and increasing “hyperactivity.” Since the family perceived the origin of these problems to be spiritual, the author gave special attention to the family's spiritual beliefs in order to join with them and work within their worldview. This paper discusses the case in detail and also illustrates how there can be a meeting of eastern and western worldviews when family therapy is translated into culturally relevant practice.

Prevalence Of Tuberculosis Among Asiatic Migrant Workers In North Lebanon

Objective: To study the prevalence of tuberculosis among a group of Asian migrant workers in North Lebanon. Methods: Retrospective cohort study was conducted between June 1, 1994 and December 31, 1999 in 415 Asian migrant workers who were subjected to tuberculosis screening tests. Results: 415 Asians migrants workers were skin tested for tuberculosis. The majority of subjects (77%) were from Srilanka. Thirteen percent of Sri lankans workers tested positive for tuberculosis, while 20% of non-Sri lankans workers had positive tuberculin skin tests. There was no statistical difference in positivity rates with respect to the country of origin, age groups and sex. None of the subjects tested had an sexually transmitted diseases. Conclusion: Prevalence of TB reactivity is relatively high among Asians migrant workers. Preventive measures for early diagnosis of latent infection should be regularly performed especially in migrant worker from high-prevalence countries.

Compositional subjects: enfiguring Asian/American women

In Compositional Subjects Laura Hyun Yi Kang explores the ways that Asian/American women have been figured by mutually imbricated modes of disciplinarity, representation, and knowledge production. Kang's project is simultaneously interdisciplinary scholarship at its best and a critique of the very disciplinary formations she draws upon. She shows how several disciplines-including literature and cinema studies, history, and the social sciences and political economy-mediate the parameters of knowledge about Asian/American women. Kang begins by showing how different disciplines construct the figure of the Asian/American woman, each privileging different modes of subjection. She explores the issue of writing the self, studying the Asian/American woman as autobiographical presence through the vexed and voluminous writings about Maxine Hong Kingston's book The Woman Warrior. Kang then turns to cinematic representations of Asian/American women. She looks at three films where an Asian/American woman is the heroine and desired body, and then turns to the broader issue of representing and interpreting Asian/American women through distinctly American modes of cinematic production. Moving from cinema studies to history, Kang looks at the ways that the Asian/American woman emerged as a U.S. citizen over the past 150 years or so, reading immigration policies from the mid-nineteenth up through the present. Next Kang reads several notable recent texts by social scientists interested in discourses about transnational assembly line work, sex tourism, and military prostitution; she finds that these texts tend to naturalize the very exploitation of the Asian women workers that they critique. In her final chapter Kang studies selected scholarly and artistic works by Korean women (living in Asia, the United States, and Canada) which acknowledge and actively engage with the fraught issues regarding identity and representation that Kang explored in her first four chapters.

Service responses to South Asian women who attempt suicide or self-harm: challenges for service commissioning and delivery

This article draws on an investigation of service responses to women of South Asian background who have attempted suicide or self-harm within northwest England to outline policy challenges for adequate provision to this population. This article highlights, in particular, the challenges for service managers arising from and documented within the study, outlining implications for improving policy, service commissioning and provision. We suggest that these omissions have resulted in the distress of South Asian women going unrecognized in the name of respect for cultural diversity, thereby sanctioning policies and practices that further the oppression of South Asian women. Four main issues emerging from the interviews are discussed: 1) the impact of the contract culture on the form and structure of service provision; 2) limitations of current partnership arrangements with South Asian communities; 3) practical and conceptual problems within models of both consultation and change; and, 4) key practical consequences of the covert ways in which the structure and interpretation of service responses work to treat `race' as more important than gender. In terms of specific implications, it is suggested that the current policy focus on addressing service inequalities via recruitment of South Asian workers warrants critical re-evaluation, while training and management development should take as central the intersections of `race', culture, class and gender as systemic issues to be worked with rather than marginal or optional considerations. It is argued that attending to the specific needs and conditions of South Asian women attempting suicide or self-harm by providing integrated culturally and gender-sensitive services highlights good practice for everyone.

School Nursing in an Underserved Multiethnic Asian Community: Experiences and Outcomes

Based on an Asian faculty's previous work, University of South Alabama College of Nursing conducted a project¹ targeting the Asian population in Bayou La Batre, Alabama. The Helene Fuld Health Trust, HSBC, Trustee funded the project to demonstrate effective models for involving nursing students and faculty members in community-based practice. This project provided health services and developed educational programs for this underserved population. To facilitate entry into the Asian community, the College estab-lished clinical sites at 2 schools in Bayou La Batre that had the highest concentration of Asians in Mobile County's public school system. The purpose of the project was to develop a new curriculum, to involve nursing students in community-based practice, and to provide health care services in the community. The health services, educational programs, and com-munity instructional activities generated substantial outcomes for the targeted population as well as nursing students. Nursing students learned to assess aggregates, plan, and evaluate interventions. The learning outcomes of the nursing students were evaluated using objec-tives developed in accordance with Bloom's (1956) Taxonomy. The project not only com-plemented and expanded existing school health services and programs but also filled the void in some health service and program areas. Preliminary evaluation of the project re-vealed overwhelmingly positive feedback from both the nursing students and Bayou La Batre school teachers. This article also explores the implications of the newly issued "Na-tional Standards for Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services in Health Care" for nursing education in the contexts of the Census 2000 and the megatrend of globalization.

Crossed wires: interpreters, translators, and bilingual workers in cross-language research.

Increasingly, researchers are undertaking studies involving people who do not speak the same language as they do. Sociologists have long argued that language constructs the social world at the same time as it describes it. However, the implications of this for cross-language research are rarely considered. Employing interpreters/translators and "cultural brokers" in research raises methodological issues around the meanings of concepts and how to convey difference. Using a project that employed two Asian mental health workers, the author teases out some of the implications for research of language difference. She focuses both on the value of a biographical approach and on the problems such an approach presents.

Different Racisms and the Differences They Make: Race and "Asian Workers" of Prewar Hawai'i

Different Racisms and the Differences They Make: Race and "Asian Workers" of Prewar Hawai'i