Aliya Kuerban

After the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Asian Americans in the United States have experienced a surge in anti-Asian crimes, leading to heightened psychological distress among this community. Consequently, the mental well-being of Asian Americans demands greater attention than ever. Regrettably, Asians tend to underutilize or delayed mental health care treatments. This study examines the conventional and alternative mental health service utilization among Asians in the United States according to their English proficiency. From the 2015–2018 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, this study examined 3,424 self-identified non-Hispanic Asians aged 18–64 with Kessler score of at least 5. Stratified bivariate analysis and multivariable logistic regression analysis were conducted. Regardless of English proficiency, Asians did not utilize alternative mental health service more than conventional mental health service. However, those with limited English proficiency consistently utilize care less than those with English proficiency. Need factors, such as mental distress severity and self-rated health status, were significant factors associated with their mental health service utilization. English proficiency remains a structural factor in preventing Asians from utilizing mental health services regardless of the nature of services. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, more Asians have been experiencing mental distress. This study demonstrates a particular need for mental health services that are culturally specific and Asian language friendly.

Objective: To compare the racial/ethnic differences in traumatic brain injury (TBI) recovery among Asians, Hispanics, and Whites, and explore the effect of nativity in the recovery process. Setting: Six Traumatic Brain Injury Model Systems (TBIMS) centers. Participants: In total, 7953 patients who had at least 1 severe TBI between 2000 and 2016 were admitted to one of the TBIMS centers. Design: Secondary data analysis. Main Measures: Functional Independent Measure (FIM instrument) ratings. Results: Asians had the lowest injury severity at admission, but they failed to make the improvements made by the Hispanics and the Whites between the rehabilitation discharge and the 1-year follow-up. The magnitude of improvement made by the foreign-born Asians was less than that made by their native-born counterparts. Both Asian and the Hispanic groups had lower functional outcomes at the 1-year follow-up, and the differences in functional outcomes between the Asian and Hispanic groups were not statistically significant. The above racial/ethnic disparities in functional outcomes were not fully explained by differences in sociodemographic status, injury characteristics, and immigration-related factors. The effect of nativity was mediated by covariates. Conclusions: This study reveals racial/ethnic disparities post-TBI functional recovery. Despite lower injury severity and apparent financial resource advantages, Asians did not experience better functional outcomes. Although the effect of nativity was not established in this study, contextual factors related to ethnicity and immigration experiences should be further investigated.

Objectives This study examines the gender effect on the associations between body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), and waist circumference to height ratio (WHtR) with hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) when Asian-specific cutoffs are applied among Asians living in the USA. Design This study used the pooled 2013–2014 and 2015–2016 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) data to produce a sample of 900 Asians who were non-pregnant and non-Hispanic aged 20–65. Bivariate and general linear regression analyses were conducted based on gender and age group. Results The group variations of BMI, WC, and WHtR all exhibited different patterns between males and females. Among the bivariate correlations with HbA1c, WHtR was the strongest in males and WC was the strongest in females. All three measures performed better in predicting HbA1c among younger Asians. WC predicted more of the variance in HbA1c among females, whereas WHtR predicted more of the variance in HbA1c among males. Conclusions WC and WHtR are two anthropometric measures that serve as appropriate proxy of HbA1c for gauging the risk of developing type 2 diabetes among Asians living in the USA. They can be easily performed at non-clinical settings and should be used by individuals to monitor their health and be a part of disease prevention.

Background: Most of the DNP programs provide only one Biostatistics course for the students, which means instructors have limited time to prepare DNP students in mastering the statistics skills they need to complete their scholarly project. Methods: Quantitative content analysis was conduct on 100 DNP projects to retrieve information regarding the subjects, sample size, sampling strategies, and statistics methods used. These projects were selected from two online DNP projects repositories, where DNP graduates uploaded their projects voluntarily. Results: Almost half of the projects had a sample size less than 50, majority of the studies adopted convenience sampling strategy, and the most often used statistics methods discovered were descriptive analysis, t Test, and Chi square analysis. Conclusion: Small sample size is an intrinsic problem of most DNP projects. The results of this study give DNP students and faculty a more clear teaching map that focuses on skills used most often.

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Healthy migrant effect (HME) of immigrants has been evidenced in various heath aspects. However, few studies have explored the applicability of HME on Asian immigrants’ health risk behavior-smoking. This study used three waves of Current Population Survey–Tobacco Use Supplement data, 1998–1999, 2005–2006, and 2010–2011, to compare the rates of being a current smoker among Asian immigrants and United States born citizens. Further, the odds ratios of gender, age, marital status, socioeconomic status, years of migration, and citizenship status on the likelihood of being a current smoker were examined. Across the three waves, Asian immigrants smoked at a much lower rate than their native-born counterparts. The gender gap of being a current smoker was much wider among Asian immigrants. The longer the Asian immigrants stayed in the United States, the more likely they were to become current smokers. These data confirmed the association of HME and Asian immigrants’ smoking behavior, and also provided strong evidence of the importance of smoking prevention among Asian immigrants. This study also implied the possibility of a decline in the effectiveness of HME on Asian immigrants as the time they spent in the United States increased.