• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.618-629
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• 2023

Although society has become increasingly diverse, on a few studies analyzed elementary science textbooks in terms of race or disability. Therefore, this study analyzed character illustrations presented in elementary science textbooks in terms of multiculturalism and disability. It identified 14 approved elementary science textbooks for the 2015 revised curriculum, which are used during the first and second semesters in the third grade. First, analysis of the race of character illustrations in elementary science textbooks indicated that 8.2% of them are multicultural, which is higher than the actual proportion of foreigners living in Korea. In addition, most of them were white illustrations, whereas Asian foreign illustrations made up the least, which suggests a different distribution in the Korean context. The study observed significant differences in distribution according to publishers. Second, the gender distribution of multicultural character illustrations differed by 59.0% and 41.0% for men and women, respectively, and the gender variation between publishers was relatively large in which a few publishers accounted for 80% of male multicultural figures. The third pertained to the function of illustrations, that is, the distribution of illustrations of Koreans and multicultural figures was similar in terms of the order of illustrations with explanatory functions followed by exemplary, decorative, and supplementary functions. Finally, from the perspective of diversity in disability, the proportion of illustrations with disability was 2.0%, which was less than the actual proportion in Korea. The study discussed the need to consider the situation and diversity of Korea in terms of race and d isability.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.139-146
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• 2012

This study aimed at identifying the correlation of satisfaction with life and related variables, and the variables influencing the satisfaction with life of women immigrants. The subjects for the study were 108 couple of multicultural families. The main results were as follows. First, women immigrants' satisfaction with life and hope were positively correlated with husbands' hope and satisfaction with life, and negatively correlated with marital conflict. But there were no significant correlation with marital conflict. Second, the result of regression analysis showed that predictors influencing satisfaction with life of women immigrants were women immigrants' agency thinking and husbands' satisfaction with life.

• Cross-Cultural Studies
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• v.29
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• pp.367-389
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• 2012

The aim of this paper is to briefly consider the present state regarding Korean language education for multicultural family members, and to consider the outcomes produced so far. Married woman immigrants and their children must be one of the most significant groups for Korean language education in terms of their huge number and their roles and meanings in Korean society. In order to uplift the Korean communicative ability for multicultural family members, an effective operating system for Korean language education is needed, and also live and efficient Korean language instruction must be given by capable Korean language teachers with adequate teaching materials. A customized Korean language education must also be offered based on researches about the characteristics of multicultural family members as "Korean language learners". Korean language education for married woman immigrants has almost been set up in some extent, in terms of teaching materials and the teacher training system. Therefore, an efficient operating system must be constructed so that the developed teaching materials can be actively utilized in the site of Korean language education. A periodical retraining of Korean language teachers for multicultural family members is also necessary for the improvement of Korean language teaching efficiency. However, Korean language education for multicultural children is still in its infancy due to its late start-up. By the support of the Korean government, the curriculum of Korean language education has recently been fixed, KSL text books are being developed, and a diagnostic tool for evaluating their Korean language ability is now in progress. Many continuing concerns and support must still be provided for the improvement of their Korean language ability and fostering them as competitive and capable of speaking Korean.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.2244-2255
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• 2014

This study aimed to compare smoking, drinking, dietary management, personal hygiene, and oral care between immigrant women in urban and rural areas and to determine predictors of the overall health behaviors. With the standardized questionnaire used for community health survey data collection was performed in 128 immigrant women from November 2011 to October 2012. Rural women performed significantly higher numbers of health behaviors than urban women and residential district, education, employment status, and perceived difficulties related to cultural adaptation significantly predicted health behaviors in immigrant women. Immigrant women in urban areas may be highly vulnerable in maintaining health behaviors compared with rural women and cultural barriers may hinder positive health behavior maintenance. Therefore, careful considerations at individual, community, and environmental levels are needed when assessing immigrant women's health behaviors and designing culturally relevant interventions to improve health status.

• Women's Health Nursing
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.407-414
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• 2011

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to compare birth outcomes between Korean women and immigrant women. Methods: Medical records were reviewed retrospectively from 201 immigrant women and 201 Korean women who delivered babies at K women's hospital in U city from January 2006 to December 2009. Maternal outcomes related factors included nationality, age, obstetric history, delivery type, indications of cesarean section, and complications of pregnancy and delivery. Principal neonatal outcomes were birth weight, Apgar scores, and complications of newborns. Results: Immigrant women were younger and had fewer pregnancies, abortions, and surviving children than Korean women. The rate of primary cesarean section and its indication in immigrant women were not significantly different from Korean women. However, immigrant women's newborn were more likely to have low birth weight and meconium staining. Conclusion: The results of this study indicate less equity of immigrant women in women's health care, although immigrant women's babies had lower Apgar score and more meconium staining. Nurses should help immigrant women cope with labor process effectively to prevent adverse health outcomes for their newborns.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.481-491
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• 2018

The purpose of this study is to investigate the nature of the cultural competence of the staff in Saeil Center, which supports the self-reliance of immigrant women by marriage, and to find ways to improve their cultural competence. The assumption is that the higher cultural competence of the staff enhances the quality of their job training for immigrant women by marriage. I conducted the study from June to September, 2017, and in-depth interviewed the staffs from seven Saeil Centers across the country, who had been involved in the job training for immigrant women by marriage for at least three years. The interview data elicited 60 meaningful statements, 27 themes, and 11 thematic units, and I discussed, based on the findings, 1) the low level of contemplation of the staffs on the issues related to immigrant women 2) their limitations of friendly communication and altruistic stance 3) their own conscience of main stream and 4) insufficient cultural competence of the staffs as well as in terms of the organizational operation. Finally, I suggested the necessity of educational programs, and also emphasized the importance of developing multiculturalism in the centers.

• Journal of the Korean association of regional geographers
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.347-366
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• 2008

With the advent of the global era in earnest, and with the transnational migration and exchanges of capital, goods and cultures being actively progressed at regional level, the importance of a region as the immediate stage for such migration and exchanges is brought into relief. This study aimed to analyze the multicultural policies being implemented by Goryeong gun county and draw out points and problems by focusing on immigrant women on marriage who are the main subjects of the discourse on multiculturalism in Korea. According to this research, the supports for the multicultural families in Goryeong-gun were provided mainly by Goryeong-gun Office and Goryeong Office of Education and many similar contents in supporting activities overlapped. However, the related agencies were not linked sufficiently, and there were little efforts made to improve the contents of the supporting activities. In order to recognize accurately the multicultural phenomena in a region and make appropriate response and support for them, the regional government wi]] have to become the center for the support of multiculturalism and implement an integration policy so that the resources and people within the region can be used in the right place.

• Journal of Korean Public Health Nursing
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.87-101
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• 2014

Purpose: This study was conducted in order to investigate the experiences of nurses in health care of women with multi-cultural background. The structure of these experiences was identified in a social-cultural context. Methods: Data were collected by means of in-depth interviews using tape-recordings from 16 participants who were providing childbirth care for culturally different women. A phenomenological method proposed by Colaizzi was used to guide the process of data analysis. Results: A total of 138 significant statements were extracted from the data resulting in nine themes and five theme clusters. Theme clusters that emerged from the data were: more in-depth cultural difference, difficulty in providing care in multi-cultured, sticking to care in our own way, not being ready to nurse, and accepting culturally different woman, such as a Korean woman. Conclusion: The findings suggest that systematic educational programs for enhancement of cultural competency and its support systems should be developed for Korean nurses. Useful materials on Korean childbirth care should also be provided to women giving birth.

• Journal of the Korean association of regional geographers
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.203-222
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• 2013

This study has been implemented under the two purposes. One is to critically explore how married immigrant women had experienced or experience conflicts, differentiation and so on occurred in their relations to family, neighbor, friend, organization and nation. The other is to understand married immigrant women and family through a new perspective based on a relational space of interacting trans-nation, local and nation. The results of the study are summarized as the followings. Firstly, transnational space is produced by international marriage between Korean man and foreign woman and kept (or activated ) by (non) everyday activities of married immigrant women and family. There are remittance, children's rearing and education, visits to mother's house, emotional interactions by phone and computer and so on. Secondly, multi-layered and relational local spaces have been (re)produced by married immigrant women's various activities related to family, neighbor, friend, nation and so on. Thirdly, married immigrant women's relations to nation state or government has been specifically presented (or expressed) through the acquiring of Korean nationality and government's activities of supporting multicultural family. Married immigrant women feel that their national identity between mother's nation and Korea is ambiguous and undecided.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.312-325
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• 2011

The purpose of this study was to investigate dietary behaviors and nutritional knowledge among immigrant women in multicultural families. In addition, this study reveals a necessity for nutrition education, which is apparent to both immigrant women living in multicultural families as well as nutrition education experts. The survey was conducted with 30 immigrant women within multicultural families in Seoul. The dietary behaviors of the women were significantly different by their period of residence. The longer they had resided in Korea, the higher their dietary behavior score. However, there was no significant difference in nutrition knowledge by their period of residence. This study also conducted in-depth personal interviews with 8 immigrant women who lived in Seoul, and with 4 nutrition education experts. These interviews were performed to provide profound insights regarding the content and means of nutrition education for immigrant women. Nutrition education for immigrant women living in multicultural families should proceed at a basic level in terms of language and content, using bilingual (Korean and their native language) education materials. Education topics and content need to be developed differently according to the level of Korean comprehension and period of residence in Korea. Also, this multicultural approach should be adapted when planning nutrition education since immigrant women have various acculturation levels, and the content and means of education should be adjusted to these acculturation levels. Management after nutrition education is necessary for immigrant women who do not have sufficient understanding of the Korean language. Practical educational methods such as real cooking practices and food purchasing simulations must be developed. Finally, the results suggest that the government needs to establish a systematic plan for nutrition education among immigrant women living in multicultural families. Policy support such as training nutrition educators on multicultural individuals residing in Korea is necessary for active and effective nutritional education.