Accepted for/Published in: Asian/Pacific Island Nursing Journal
Date Submitted: Jun 28, 2024
Date Accepted: Mar 6, 2025
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
COVID-19 Pandemic-related Racism and Mental Health among Asian Americans: An Integrative Review
ABSTRACT
Background:
Background:
Racism against Asian Americans (AAs) escalated during the COVID-19 pandemic. The degree of impact racism has on mental health and wellness among Asian Americans requires investigation, specifically during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Objective:
Background:
Racism against Asian Americans (AAs) escalated during the COVID-19 pandemic. The degree of impact racism has on mental health and wellness among Asian Americans requires investigation, specifically during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Methods:
Methods:
We conducted an integrative review of peer-reviewed publications in English reporting anti-Asian sentiments and racism’s impacts on mental health among Asian Americans in the US.
Results:
Results:
The 28 eligible articles utilized cross-sectional survey designs with various sample sizes. Racism is directly correlated with the prevalence of depression and anxiety experienced by victims of racist acts. The prevalence of in-person direct racism (racist expression aimed directly at the victim) is lower than in-person indirect racism (racist expression aimed at the ethnic group the victim belongs to). During the COVID-19 pandemic, the incidence of explicit online racism was lower than online indirect racism.
Conclusions:
Conclusions:
COVID-19-related racism exacerbated preexisting racism, contributing to worse depression and anxiety among Asian Americans. To address this issue, we propose two main approaches: increase public awareness and education about recognizable racist sentiments/acts, and systematized reporting of racially motivated crimes to guide political action. At an individual level, culturally responsive trauma-informed interventions promoting cultural support and cohesion for various Asian American groups will foster this empowerment. These proposed actions will help alleviate racism by reducing stereotypes, empowering victims, and chipping away at the systemic racism structure. Clinical Trial: Not applicable. Not a clinical trial.
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Copyright
© The authors. All rights reserved. This is a privileged document currently under peer-review/community review (or an accepted/rejected manuscript). Authors have provided JMIR Publications with an exclusive license to publish this preprint on it's website for review and ahead-of-print citation purposes only. While the final peer-reviewed paper may be licensed under a cc-by license on publication, at this stage authors and publisher expressively prohibit redistribution of this draft paper other than for review purposes.