• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.491-503
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• 2001

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to identify the health promoting lifestyle of Korean immigrants and to develop the health promotion program for Korean immigrants. Method: The subject of the study were 207 adults chosen from Korean religious organizations located in Chicago area. The instrument used in this study was Health Promoting Lifestyle Profile (HPLP) by Walker. Sechrist & Pender(l995). The data were collected between August 1 and October 20. 2000 by using self-administered questionnaire. Analysis of data was done by using descriptive statistics. Pearson correlation coefficient, t-test, ANOVA. Duncan test and stepwise multiple regression with SPSS program. Result. 1) The average score of performance in the health promoting lifestyle 2.43 scores. In the subscales, the highest degree of performance was 'spiritual growth', following 'nutrition', 'interpersonal relationship', 'stress management' and 'health responsibility' and the lowest degree of performance was 'physical activity'. 2) Health promoting lifestyle was significantly correlated with such demographic variables as age (F=2.659. p=.049), family income(F=4.696. p = .027), subjective health status(F = 3.882. p=.005), the frequency of pray(F=9.442. p = .000), the frequency of reading the bible(F=8.584. p= .000) and years of residence in the US(F=4.273. p= .015). 3) Health promoting lifestyle was significantly predicted by the frequency of pray, subjective health status. current working status, taking medication, level of education and family income. These variables explained 27.4% of variance of health promoting lifestyle. Conclusion The above findings indicate that it is necessary to develop a health promotion program facilitating exercise and enhancing health responsibility for Korean immigrants. It is suggested that the comparative study to identify the differences and similarities between Korean immigrants in the U.S.A. and Korean residents in Korea.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.438-450
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• 2013

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to identify relationships between acculturation, social network, and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) among Korean-Chinese immigrants. Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted with 147 Korean-Chinese immigrants who were residing more than 1 year in Korea. Physical and mental dimensions of HRQOL were assessed by Short Form-12 Health Survey that consisted of a physical component summary (PCS) and a mental component summary (MCS). Data were analyzed with Pearson's correlation and multiple regression. Results: The mean PCS score was $41.14{\pm}10.72$ and the mean MCS score was $49.09{\pm}11.31$ (possible range 10-70). Depression (${\beta}$=-6.43) and Social network frequency (${\beta}$=2.44) explained 28.4% of the variance in PCS while depression (${\beta}$=-11.54) and visiting clinic/hospital (${\beta}$=-4.00) explained 34.3% of the variance in MCS. Acculturation was not significantly associated with HRQOL. Conclusion: This study confirmed that the social network frequency influences HRQOL among Korean-Chinese Immigrants. The findings suggest that social network analysis should be considered in the process of developing health intervention strategies for Korean-Chinese immigrants.

• Journal of Korean Public Health Nursing
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.518-531
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• 2012

Purpose: This study was conducted in order to develop and test a measurement for assessment of stress of female marriage immigrants in Korea. Methods: Forty four preliminary items were initially developed based on literature review and focus group interviews. Those items were evaluated by experts for content validity, resulting in six factors and 26 items. The 26 items were translated into Chinese, Vietnamese, and English by professional translators and were reviewed by native speakers of each language who are fluent in Korean. For testing validity and reliability, data were collected from 323 female marriage immigrants residing in five regions in Korea. Results: As a result of item analysis, 25 items were selected. Factor analysis yielded 21 items in four factors, including 1) household economic 2) parenting and discrimination 3) cultural and 4) emotional stressors, explaining 61.3% of the total variance of stress of female marriage immigrants in Korea. The Cronbach's alpha reliability coefficient was .903 for the overall instrument and .692-.892 for four factors. Conclusion: Measurement of stress for female marriage immigrants in Korea has high validity and reliability. Therefore, this measurement may be utilized for systematic assessment of stress and for identification of areas of support for female marriage immigrants in Korea.

• Perspectives in Nursing Science
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.70-80
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• 2016

Purpose: This study examined the relationship between acculturation stress and health promotion behaviors in the Korean Chinese elderly immigrants living in Korea, focusing on the buffering effects of social support. Methods: We included 132 completed questionnaires in the analysis. The buffering effect was examined using a hierarchical regression analysis by adding interaction terms. Results: Health promotion scores were significantly higher in the group with a higher education level, lower depressive symptom scores, and higher levels of social support. However, no statistically significant differences were found in the health promotion behaviors by gender, age, spouse, job, financial stability, subjective health status, chronic disease, regular health checkups, or acculturation stress. The hierarchical regression analysis demonstrated that social support had a buffering effect on the relationship between acculturation stress and health promotion behaviors in the Korean Chinese elderly immigrants. Specifically, the relationship between the acculturation stress stemming from the difficulties in the workplace and health promotion behaviors was attenuated by social support. Conclusion: These findings indicate that social support significantly moderates the relationship between acculturation stress and health promotion behaviors in the Korean Chinese elderly immigrants living in Korea. A variety of strategies to enhance social support should be incorporated in the health promotion programs to decrease the negative effects of acculturation stress in the Korean Chinese elderly living in Korea.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.375-385
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• 2017

Purpose: This study aims to examine the relationships among social discrimination, subjective health, and personal satisfaction based on the country of origin. Methods: The analysis was based on 16,958 immigrants who participated in the National Survey of Multicultural Family 2015 in Korea. This study conducted stratified cross-analysis of social discrimination for the differences in subjective health and personal satisfaction. Multivariate-adjusted odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals for the relationships among social discrimination, subjective health, and personal satisfaction were examined with multivariable logistic regression. Results: There were differences in experience of social discrimination, subjective health status, and personal satisfaction according to the country of origin. Groups without the experience of social discrimination had better subjective health and personal satisfaction than the other groups. Conclusion: This study demonstrates that a discrimination prevention program needs to be developed based on a cultural approach.

• Journal of the Korean Dietetic Association
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.64-77
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• 2017

This study was conducted to develop a nutritional education program based on the health belief model to improve nutritional status among Vietnamese female marriage immigrants in Korea. The education program was developed through literature review, focus group interviews, expert consultation, and pilot tests. Based on theoretical requirements and needs of beneficiaries, the education program was consisted of 16 sessions with nine topics: 'how to evaluate own dietary habits and nutritional status', 'health problems according to dietary habits and nutritional status', 'understanding six food groups', 'healthy eating plan', 'understanding food cultures of Korea and Vietnam', 'traditional and seasonal Korean foods', 'how to cook Korean food', 'nutrition management of family members', and 'practicing of healthy dietary life'. Program contents in each session consisted of activities that could induce outcome and value expectations, self-efficacy, perceived benefits, and barriers and cues to actions regarding dietary behavior. This nutritional education program based on the health belief model would be helpful to implement healthy diet behaviors in Vietnamese marriage immigrants and their families. Extension of these nutritional education programs to health centers and multicultural family support centers would improve the current poor nutrition status of Vietnamese marriage immigrant women. Further studies are needed to validate our program.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.21 no.12
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• pp.629-638
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• 2020

This study was designed to investigate the health information usage of immigrants. A questionnaire survey was conducted on 171 immigrants. Data was analyzed for descriptive statistics, chi-square test, and Fisher's exact test. The frequency of migrants' use of health information is low, and the number of respondents who use health information less than once a month is highest. There were statistically significant differences in the frequency of use of health information according to age, occupation, and those who contracted diseases. The main source of health information was the Internet, and there were differences in the sources of health information according to age and whether the Internet was used. Most of the respondents used health information for themselves, and there was a difference in the targets of using health information according having a cohabitee and the perceived health status. It was found that the majority of immigrants do not actively use health information. However, when the age increased or the immigrant was unhealthy, the use of health information increased to solve health problems. Therefore, it is important to provide health information in a variety of ways according to the characteristics of immigrants.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.491-500
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• 2014

The purpose of this study was to examine the health status of marriage immigrants and naturalized people, their health service utilization and barriers to that in an effort to seek ways of getting rid of their difficulties in health service utilization. The raw data of a 2012 Survey on the State of Multicultural Families were used, and a survey was conducted on 15,001 marriage immigrants and naturalized people from July 10 to July 31, 2012. As a result, the marriage immigrants and the naturalized people got a mean of 3.96 in subjective health status, which showed that they were in good health. The main medical institutions that they used in times of sickness were hospitals and clinics(82.7%). 39.1 percent of the respondents answered they had difficulties in using health service, and the most dominant difficulty they faced at that time was communication problems(52.0%), followed by high expense(28.9%). The respondents who answered they found it most difficult to use health service due to communication lagged behind the others in terms of Korean proficiency, and the respondents who cited expense as the biggest difficulty fell behind the others in terms of living standard. To make health service more accessible to marriage immigrants and naturalized people, the government should take measures to ensure their right of health. Specifically, how to relieve their financial burden should carefully be devised, and medical institutions should provide interpretation service to guarantee their easier health service utilization.

• Journal of the East Asian Society of Dietary Life
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.765-778
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• 2015

The purpose of this study was to investigate Japanese female marriage immigrants' dietary life and health-related characteristics after immigration to Korea. A survey was conducted with Japanese women married to Korean men and having one child or more aged 7 to 18 years old. Data were collected from 243 women during the summer of 2014. A total of 204 questionnaires were analyzed, after excluding 39 questionnaires with a high percentage of incomplete responses (84% analysis rate). Over 85% of respondents were the members of the Unification Church, and over 92% of respondents had stayed in Korea for longer than 10 years. Based on the overall mean score for dietary adaptation level (3.68 out of 5 points), respondents were classified into two groups: low dietary adaptation group (mean score 3.12) and high dietary adaptation group (mean score 4.19). The collected data were compared between the two groups. The high dietary adaptation group reported higher percentages of decreasing consumption in processed food, confectionary, and bread than the low dietary adaptation group after immigration to Korea. A higher percentage of respondents in the high dietary adaptation group perceived their health status as good and reported changes that led to a healthier dietary life after immigration to Korea compared with those in the low dietary adaptation group. In conclusion, Japanese female marriage immigrants well adapted to Korean dietary life tended to eat healthier and perceive health status better compared with those who were not well adapted. The results of this study could be useful for prospecting dietary life and health-related characteristics of immigrant women in the long term after immigration to Korea.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.173-182
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• 2016

Purpose: This study was conducted to survey female Vietnamese marriage immigrants' life stress and to analyze factors influencing their life stress and coping strategies. Methods: As descriptive correlation research, this study conducted a survey with 182 conveniently sampled subjects. Data were collected in June, 2015, and analyzed with descriptive statistics, t-test, ANOVA, Pearson's correlation coefficient, and stepwise multiple regression. Results: The subjects' life stress levels were above average, and significantly varied according to their health, and economic status. Stress coping strategies used by the subjects included assistance seeking, problem avoidance, wishful thinking, problem solving, and emotional alleviation in the order of frequency. As a result of the stepwise multiple regression, economic level, economic activity, and health status were found to be the most significant factors influencing the subjects' life stress, and these variables explained 45.1% of the variation in life stress. Conclusion: Female marriage immigrants were experiencing above-average life stress, and they were coping with it mainly in terms of assistance seeking or problem avoidance. In order to mitigate their stress, therefore, it is necessary to provide extended employment opportunities and economic activities for them so that they can cultivate their abilities in health management.