Addressing Health Disparities in Korean Immigrants through Health Education

Table of Contents

Background of the Study3

Methods3

Sample and Design3

Measures4

Results4

Discussion6

Limitations7

Implications for Practice and Future Research7

References9

Addressing Health Disparities in Korean Immigrants through Health Education

Background of the Study

Over the past few years, healthcare services researchers and policy makers have made great efforts to eliminate health disparities in both healthcare services and health outcomes across ethnic and racial minority groups in the U.S. (Chin, Walters, Cook, & Huang, 2007). Despite the fact that Koreans living in the U.S. form one of the fastest increasing population of immigrants in the U.S., most studies have focused on African and Hispanic Americans. Moreover, studies of health disparities among Korean American Immigrants (KAIs) have been conducted in places where KAIs aggregately live and are more accessible to Korean speaking health professionals (Moon, Lubben, & Villa, 2010).

Methods

Sample and Design

This pilot research used a expediency sample method to collect data from 91 KAIs (35 males and 56 females) who live in the NC Triangle area. The inclusion criteria were: (a) Korean immigrants from South Korea, (b) age 20 or older, and (c) to speak English or Korean. From October 2009 to April 2010, English and Korean bilingual researchers recruited participants at an NC Korean Community Health Fair and a Rex/UNC cardiovascular screening event organized by the Luke Charity clinic, Raleigh, NC.

Measures

Face-to-face interviews were conducted with KAIs, using a 26-item instrument and 8 open-ended questions. Each interview lasted about 30 minutes. The items and questions on barriers, facilitators, utilization of AHCS, and needs for health educational programs were also drawn from and guided by the reviewed literature for this study. While the survey questionnaire was constructed in English and translated into Korean by one bilingual bicultural researcher, two bilingual bicultural researchers did back-translation, modifications, and re-translation. Prior to finalizing the instrument, it was pilot-tested for clarity and examined for content validity by 3 bilingual bicultural researchers.

Results

Descriptive statistics for participants' demographics are presented in Table 1. Ages ranged from 27 to 83, with a mean of 53.23 (SD = 9.35). The majority of the participants (86.6%) identified themselves as Christian or Catholic. They had lived in the U.S. for a mean of 16.63 years, ranging from 2 to 36. The mean range of the familial annual income was from $40,000-$49,999. Forty-five percent (45.1%) reported that they did not communicate well in English; the other 54.9% reported that they did well. Also, 49.5% had chronic diseases such as hypertension, high cholesterol, diabetes, or gastrointestinal (GI) problems, and 44% took prescribed medications.

The majority of the participants (68.1%) reported that they used the AHCS very little. While 57.1% visited a doctor routinely, 42.9% rarely did so. The results of utilization of AHCS and the level of knowledge are shown in Table 2. When the subject of knowledge about AHCS and health insurance was brought up, 60.5% of the participants reported knowledge deficiency about AHCS and 51.7% about health insurance.

The detailed results of content analysis are presented in Table 3. The reasons KAIs did not ...