• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.589-602
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• 2012

The Korean society has gone through a dramatic change in its population, with rapidly increasing number of multicultural families through international marriages since 1990s. This study investigated the differences between multicultural families and Korean families in three areas related to dietary behaviors: diet-related behaviors and perception, and food preferences. A cross-sectional analysis was performed in 500 Koreans from Korean families and 104 couples from the multicultural families with Vietnamese wives. More subjects from multicultural families grew up in the countryside, received less education and also had lower income than the subjects from Korean families. Multicultural families ate traditional Korean meals more often at home and dined out less often than Korean families. The multicultural families focused more attention on nutritional aspects of their diets than Korean families. The Vietnamese wives in multicultural families favored Vietnamese foods but they rarely ate those foods in Korea despite an easy accessibility to Vietnamese ingredients. In conclusion, the multicultural families had more traditional Korean dietary patterns than Korean families, which could have been influenced by their socioeconomic factors. Further research with a quantitative analysis is needed in future studies to understand the effect of dietary patterns on nutritional status and quality of life in multicultural and Korean families.

• Journal of the Korean housing association
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.1-8
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• 2013

Recently international marriage has been increasing steadfastly in Korea and its diversity of nationality has been expanding also. Korean government and academic circles are actively studying on such trends in population to find out proper measures to cope with such social changes. But their studies on improving the residential environment that is the base of the essential three factors of life, clothing, food and housing are not sufficient enough. Therefore it is necessary to study in depth and diversity about the residential environments of multi-culture families that are the base of their life. It is necessary to comparatively study the residential status and demands of these immigrants by marriage. The purpose of this study is to comparatively study the residential status and demand of immigrant women by marriage according to their nationalities. The objects of this study are the immigrant women by marriage from China, Vietnam and Cambodia who take the high portion of immigrant women in Jeonju-si and survey was used as study method. The result of this study revealed that the general characteristics, residential status and demands of immigrant women showed certain differences and the direction of residential plans for them in future based on these differences was proposed. This study is meaningful as basic information to improve the residential conditions of the multi-culture families in order to enhance their quality of life in preparation for the coming society of multi-culture.

• Journal of Digital Contents Society
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.75-83
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• 2018

Multicultural family members have difficulty in educating their children due to language differences. In order to solve these difficulties, it is necessary to provide smart translation services that enable them easily and quickly access real-life vocabularies. However, the current automatic translation technology is being developed in dominant languages such as English, Chinese, and Japanese. There are also limitations to translating special-purpose terms such as documents of schools and instructions of public institutions. In this study, we propose a real-time automatic word translation service for multicultural family members who understand beginner level Korean. The service automatically analyzes the semantics of each word in the Korean sentences and provides a word-by-word translation. This study includes semantic analysis research for Korean language, building multilingual translation knowledge, and fusion study of language education. We evaluated the word translation service for migrant women from Vietnam and Japan and obtained meaningful evaluation results.

• The Journal of the Society of Korean Medicine Diagnostics
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.88-100
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• 2021

Objectives The purpose of this study was to examine the daily lifestyle of Vietnamese immigrant women and to find out if they could affect health-related quality of life improvement. Methods The subjects of this study were 273 women who immigrated to Korea from Vietnam. This study was conducted at Daejeon and nearby Healthy Family Support Centers from September 2019 to January 2020 with the cooperation of the Daejeon City Healthy Family Support Center. Correlation analysis was performed between lifestyle and quality of life, and ANOVA analysis was performed to confirm the difference in health-related quality of life scores for each subgroup of dietary nutrition, sleep quality, and physical activity. A regression analysis was conducted to investigate the contribution of dietary nutrition, sleep quality, and physical activity to the quality of life of Vietnamese immigrant women. The significance level was p<0.05. Results Physical activity showed significant correlations with Euro Quality of Life -Visual Analogue Scale (EQ VAS), sleep quality with EQ VAS and Euro Quality of Life-5Dimension (EQ-5D) Index, and dietary nutrition with EQ-5D Index. There were significant differences in EQ VAS and EQ-5D Index scores for each sleep quality subgroup, and a significant difference in EQ VAS scores for each activity subgroup. The quality of sleep was found to have the greatest effect on EQ VAS and EQ Index of Vietnamese immigrant women, and physical activity on EQ VAS and dietary nutrition had some influence on EQ-5D Index. Conclusions Quality of sleep is closely related to health-related quality of life, and plays an important role in health-related quality of life for Vietnamese immigrant women.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.144-150
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• 2013

Objectives The number of marriage immigrant women has been increasing in the past several years in Korea and their adaptations to the new environment have been an important social issue. The aims of this study were to evaluate the psychosocial and mental health statuses of Vietnamese marriage immigrant women (VMIW). We intended to compare the mental health of VMIW with married Vietnamese women living in Vietnam and reveal the demographic or psychosocial factors affecting their mental health. Method Subjects comprised one-hundred-forty-three VMIW who enrolled in multiculture family support centers in Chungbuk Province and forty-eight women from Vinh Phuc province in Vietnam. Marital satisfaction, domestic violence and social support were evaluated as psychosocial factors, and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) and General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) were used to evaluate mental health. Results VMIW had a larger age gap with their husbands but better psychosocial statuses. BDI (p = 0.20), BAI (p = 0.08), GHQ (p = 0.13) scores of VMIW were not significantly different compared to Vietnamese residents. Marriage duration of VMIW affects significantly their marital satisfaction, social support and depressive levels (p < 0.01). The level of domestic violence showed a significant difference according to the educational levels of their husbands, composition of family members and marriage process (p < 0.05). VMIW with older husbands and jobless VMIW had low levels of anxiety (p < 0.01). Conclusion The results suggest that VMIW have no difference in mental health compared to Vietnamese women living in Vietnam which is contrary to general expectations. However, various environmental factors, such as marriage duration, have an effect on the mental health of VMIW. As marriage duration is proven to be important factor on mental health of VMIW, more extended duration of care and interventions are needed to maintain good mental health. Networking system connecting mental health screenings by the multiculture family support center to the local mental healthcare center is needed to care those with poor screening outcomes.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.56 no.3
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• pp.264-276
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• 2023

Purpose: Food environmental factors related to food insecurity affect household food intake in several socio-ecological aspects. This study explores the relationship between food environment factors and food insecurity in households with married immigrant women. Methods: From November 2018 to February 2020, a survey was conducted enrolling 249 married immigrant women residing in the metropolitan areas of South Korea. In the final analysis, 229 subjects were divided into 2 groups classified as food security (n = 154) and food insecurity (n = 75), as assessed by the score of food security. Three aspects of food environments were measured: built·natural, political·economic, and socio-cultural Results: Food environments were significantly different between food security and food insecurity groups, as follows: the number of foods market and their distance from the home and food status for the last week at home in the built·natural domain; monthly cost of food purchase and experience for food assistance in the political·economic domain; total score of social support, parenting, and cooking skills in the socio-cultural domain. A stepwise multivariate linear regression model showed a negative association between the food insecurity score with social support from family and food inventory status in the last week. After adjusting for confounders, a positive association was obtained between the experience of a food support program. The final regression model explains about 30% of the relationship obtained in the three food environment domains and food insecurity (p < 0.001). Conclusion: Not only economic factors, which are common determinants of household food insecurity, but socio-cultural factors such as social support also affect household food insecurity. Therefore, plans for implementing a food assistance program to improve food insecurity for households with immigrant women should consider financial support as well as other comprehensive aspects, including socio-cultural domain such as social support from family and community.

• Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.79-89
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• 2010

Objectives: This study aims to identify health status and health risks among female marriage immigrants to Korea and to provide a basis for public health strategies to address their health issues. Methods: The participants of the study were 3,069 immigrant wives. The health examination was conducted by the Korea Association of Health Promotion (KAHP) in 2008. The participants also completed self-administered questionnaires on demographic characteristics, health-related behaviors and mental health. Results: Patterns of immigrant women's health problems differed by age and country of origin. Behavior patterns also differed by their heritage, age, and years of residence in Korea. Generally Vietnamese women fell in lower ranges of disease prevalence and health risk factors in the participant group and Japanese women presented most healthy eating habits. Filipina women showed relatively high disease prevalence than any other group. Conclusion: Immigration to Korea by marriage is relatively a new phenomenon, thus continuing surveillance and research are needed to identify health risks, behavior patterns, and their relationships. Interventions and policies for the health of migrant wives, their children and families are required.

• Journal of Sasang Constitutional Medicine
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.39-49
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• 2020

The purpose of this study was to find out how sleep characteristics by Sasang constitution (SC) appear in Vietnamese immigrant women in Korea, and how sleep aberration by SC affected the quality of life. The number of 217 Vietnamese immigrant women joined this study. We surveyed SC with Korea Sasang Constitutional Diagnostic Questionnaire (KS-15) and sleep characteristics with Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index(PSQI) questionnaire. We evaluated quality of life(QoL) with Euro Quality of Life-5Dimension(EQ 5D) questionnaire. A Chi-square test and a one-way ANOVA test were conducted according to SC, and T test also used to compare PSQI groups. Significant p was .05. The number(rate) of Taeeumin(TE), Soeumin(SE), and Soyangin(SY) were 40(18.4%), 55(25.3%), and 122(56.2%) respectively. The distribution of obstructive factors of sleep were significantly different according to SC(Too Cold in Sleeping, x =13.378, p=.037, Too Hot in Sleeping x²=12.834, p=.046). The distribution of daytime drowsiness(x²=15.379, p=.018) and falling concentration power (x²=17.533, p=.008) was significantly different according to SC. The sleep status of the subjects showed a significant negative correlation with the EQ 5D Visual Analogue Scale(VAS) (r =-.399, p<.001), and the EQ 5D Index (r=-.211, p=.002). In the EQ VAS, TE showed a difference between the good and bad sleeping groups (t=3.955, p<.001). SE showed a difference between the two groups in the EQ 5D Index (t=2.332, p=.037). SY did not show a difference between the two groups. This study reveals that sleeping is closely related with QoL and distribution of obstructive factors of sleep may be different according to SC. Further study to confirm the constitutional difference in race at Vietnam is needed.

• Journal of Ginseng Culture
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• v.3
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• pp.1-10
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• 2021

Panax ginseng (Ginseng or Korean ginseng) is one of the most important medicinal herbs in the world. We made a high-quality whole genome sequence of P. ginseng using 'Chunpoong' cultivar, which is the first cultivar registered in Korea Seed and Variety Service (KSVS) with relatively similar genotypes and superior phenotypes, representing approximately 3 Gbp and 60,000 genes. Genome sequence analyses of P. ginseng and related speciesrevealed the origin of Korean ginseng and the ecological adaptation of 18 Panax species around the world. Korean ginseng and American ginseng (P. quinquefolius) are tetraploid species having 24 chromosome pairs, while the other 16 species are diploid species with 12 chromosome pairs. Panax and Aralia are the closest genera belonging to the Araliaceae family that diverged approximately 8 million years ago (MYA). All Panax species evolved as shade plants adapting to cool climates and low light conditions under the canopy of deep forests from Southeast Asia such as Vietnam to Northeast Asia such as Russia approximately 6 MYA. However, through recurrent ice ages and global warming, most diploid Panax species disappeared due to the freezing winter, while tetraploid P. ginseng may have appeared by allotetraploidization, which contributed to the adaptation to cold temperaturesin Northeast Asian countries including the Korea peninsula approximately 2 MYA. American ginseng evolved by the adaptation of P. ginseng in Northeast America after the intercontinental migration 1 MYA. Meanwhile, most of diploid Panax species survived in high-altitude mountains over 1,600 meters in Southeast Asia because they could not endure the hot temperature and freezing cold. The genome sequence provides good basisto unveil the origin and evolution of ginseng and also supports practical gene chips which is useful for breeding and the ginseng industry.