Experience of South and Southeast Asian minority women in Hong Kong during COVID-19 pandemic: a qualitative study

Roger Yat Nork Chung; Tobey Tsz‑Yan Lee; Siu-Ming Chan; Gary Ka-ki Chung; Yat-Hang Chan; Samuel Yeung-Shan Wong; Eric Lai; Hung Wong; Eng Kiong Yeoh; Michael Marmot; Jean Woo

doi:10.1186/s12939-023-01922-6

Experience of South and Southeast Asian minority women in Hong Kong during COVID-19 pandemic: a qualitative study

Roger Yat Nork Chung^*
, Tobey Tsz‑Yan Lee (Co-first Author)
, Siu-Ming Chan (Co-first Author)
, Gary Ka-ki Chung
, Yat-Hang Chan
, Samuel Yeung-Shan Wong
, Eric Lai
, Hung Wong
, Eng Kiong Yeoh
, Michael Marmot
, Jean Woo

^*Corresponding author for this work

Department of Social and Behavioural Sciences

Research output: Journal Publications and Reviews › RGC 21 - Publication in refereed journal › peer-review

7 Citations (Scopus)

222 Downloads (CityUHK Scholars)

Abstract

Background Hong Kong has a relatively low incidence rate of COVID-19 across the globe. Nevertheless, ethnic minorities in Hong Kong, especially South Asians (SAs) and Southeast Asians (SEAs), face numerous physical, mental, social, economic, cultural and religious challenges during the pandemic. This study explores the experiences of SA and SEA women in a predominantly Chinese metropolitan city.

Methods Ten SA and SEA women were recruited and face-to-face interviews were conducted. Questions about participants’ daily life experience, physical and mental health conditions, economic situation and social interaction amid COVID-19 pandemic were asked to assess the impact of COVID-19.

Results SAs and SEAs have a distinctive family culture, and women experienced significant physical and mental impact of COVID-19 due to their unique gender role in the family. In addition to taking care of their family in Hong Kong, SA and SEA women also had to mentally and financially support family members residing in their home countries. Access to COVID-related information was restricted due to language barrier. Public health measures including social distancing imposed extra burden on ethnic minorities with limited social and religious support.

Conclusions Even when COVID-19 incidence rate is relatively low in Hong Kong, the pandemic made life even more challenging for SAs and SEAs, which is a community already struggling with language barriers, financial woes, and discrimination. This in turn could have led to greater health inequalities. Government and civil organizations should take the social determinants of health inequalities into account when implementing COVID-19-related public health policies and strategies.

© The Author(s) 2023.

Original language	English
Article number	110
Journal	International Journal for Equity in Health
Volume	22
Online published	2 Jun 2023
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1186/s12939-023-01922-6
Publication status	Published - 2023

Funding

We would like to thank all participants and the social workers for their help in recruitment. We also thank all staf at the Chinese University of Hong Kong Institute of Health Equity for their support in this research project. Gary Ka-Ki Chung acknowledges the Research Grant Council of Hong Kong for its sup‑ port over his Postdoctoral Fellowship (Ref. No.: PDFS2122-4H02).

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 5 Gender Equality
SDG 10 Reduced Inequalities

Research Keywords

COVID-19
Hong Kong
Ethnic minority
South Asians
Southeast Asians
Women
Low incidence rate
Health

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This full text is made available under CC-BY 4.0. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

RGC Funding Information

RGC-funded

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abstract = "Background Hong Kong has a relatively low incidence rate of COVID-19 across the globe. Nevertheless, ethnic minorities in Hong Kong, especially South Asians (SAs) and Southeast Asians (SEAs), face numerous physical, mental, social, economic, cultural and religious challenges during the pandemic. This study explores the experiences of SA and SEA women in a predominantly Chinese metropolitan city. Methods Ten SA and SEA women were recruited and face-to-face interviews were conducted. Questions about participants{\textquoteright} daily life experience, physical and mental health conditions, economic situation and social interaction amid COVID-19 pandemic were asked to assess the impact of COVID-19. Results SAs and SEAs have a distinctive family culture, and women experienced significant physical and mental impact of COVID-19 due to their unique gender role in the family. In addition to taking care of their family in Hong Kong, SA and SEA women also had to mentally and financially support family members residing in their home countries. Access to COVID-related information was restricted due to language barrier. Public health measures including social distancing imposed extra burden on ethnic minorities with limited social and religious support. Conclusions Even when COVID-19 incidence rate is relatively low in Hong Kong, the pandemic made life even more challenging for SAs and SEAs, which is a community already struggling with language barriers, financial woes, and discrimination. This in turn could have led to greater health inequalities. Government and civil organizations should take the social determinants of health inequalities into account when implementing COVID-19-related public health policies and strategies. {\textcopyright} The Author(s) 2023. ",

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Experience of South and Southeast Asian minority women in Hong Kong during COVID-19 pandemic: a qualitative study. / Chung, Roger Yat Nork; Lee, Tobey Tsz‑Yan (Co-first Author); Chan, Siu-Ming (Co-first Author) et al.
In: International Journal for Equity in Health, Vol. 22, 110, 2023.

Research output: Journal Publications and Reviews › RGC 21 - Publication in refereed journal › peer-review

TY - JOUR

T1 - Experience of South and Southeast Asian minority women in Hong Kong during COVID-19 pandemic

T2 - a qualitative study

AU - Chung, Roger Yat Nork

AU - Lee, Tobey Tsz‑Yan

AU - Chan, Siu-Ming

AU - Chung, Gary Ka-ki

AU - Chan, Yat-Hang

AU - Wong, Samuel Yeung-Shan

AU - Lai, Eric

AU - Wong, Hung

AU - Yeoh, Eng Kiong

AU - Marmot, Michael

AU - Woo, Jean

PY - 2023

Y1 - 2023

N2 - Background Hong Kong has a relatively low incidence rate of COVID-19 across the globe. Nevertheless, ethnic minorities in Hong Kong, especially South Asians (SAs) and Southeast Asians (SEAs), face numerous physical, mental, social, economic, cultural and religious challenges during the pandemic. This study explores the experiences of SA and SEA women in a predominantly Chinese metropolitan city. Methods Ten SA and SEA women were recruited and face-to-face interviews were conducted. Questions about participants’ daily life experience, physical and mental health conditions, economic situation and social interaction amid COVID-19 pandemic were asked to assess the impact of COVID-19. Results SAs and SEAs have a distinctive family culture, and women experienced significant physical and mental impact of COVID-19 due to their unique gender role in the family. In addition to taking care of their family in Hong Kong, SA and SEA women also had to mentally and financially support family members residing in their home countries. Access to COVID-related information was restricted due to language barrier. Public health measures including social distancing imposed extra burden on ethnic minorities with limited social and religious support. Conclusions Even when COVID-19 incidence rate is relatively low in Hong Kong, the pandemic made life even more challenging for SAs and SEAs, which is a community already struggling with language barriers, financial woes, and discrimination. This in turn could have led to greater health inequalities. Government and civil organizations should take the social determinants of health inequalities into account when implementing COVID-19-related public health policies and strategies. © The Author(s) 2023.

AB - Background Hong Kong has a relatively low incidence rate of COVID-19 across the globe. Nevertheless, ethnic minorities in Hong Kong, especially South Asians (SAs) and Southeast Asians (SEAs), face numerous physical, mental, social, economic, cultural and religious challenges during the pandemic. This study explores the experiences of SA and SEA women in a predominantly Chinese metropolitan city. Methods Ten SA and SEA women were recruited and face-to-face interviews were conducted. Questions about participants’ daily life experience, physical and mental health conditions, economic situation and social interaction amid COVID-19 pandemic were asked to assess the impact of COVID-19. Results SAs and SEAs have a distinctive family culture, and women experienced significant physical and mental impact of COVID-19 due to their unique gender role in the family. In addition to taking care of their family in Hong Kong, SA and SEA women also had to mentally and financially support family members residing in their home countries. Access to COVID-related information was restricted due to language barrier. Public health measures including social distancing imposed extra burden on ethnic minorities with limited social and religious support. Conclusions Even when COVID-19 incidence rate is relatively low in Hong Kong, the pandemic made life even more challenging for SAs and SEAs, which is a community already struggling with language barriers, financial woes, and discrimination. This in turn could have led to greater health inequalities. Government and civil organizations should take the social determinants of health inequalities into account when implementing COVID-19-related public health policies and strategies. © The Author(s) 2023.

KW - COVID-19

KW - Hong Kong

KW - Ethnic minority

KW - South Asians

KW - Southeast Asians

KW - Women

KW - Low incidence rate

KW - Health

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U2 - 10.1186/s12939-023-01922-6

DO - 10.1186/s12939-023-01922-6

M3 - RGC 21 - Publication in refereed journal

C2 - 37268921

SN - 1475-9276

VL - 22

JO - International Journal for Equity in Health

JF - International Journal for Equity in Health

M1 - 110

ER -

Experience of South and Southeast Asian minority women in Hong Kong during COVID-19 pandemic: a qualitative study

Abstract

Funding

UN SDGs

Research Keywords

Publisher's Copyright Statement

RGC Funding Information

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