• Journal of Family Relations
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.133-155
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• 2018

Objectives: This study examined the differences in the intention of having a second child and the related factors among Chinese and Vietnamese migrant women from the perspective of adaptation theory. Methods: Data were drawn from the National Survey on Multi-Cultural Families in 2009 and 2015. Among the total 7,615 married migrant women (Korean-Chinese, Chinese-Han, Vietnamese), those within the age group 20-39 within the first 5 years of marriage who had one child were selected. A frequency analysis, chi-squared test, and logit regression analysis were performed. Results: Different ethnic groups had different reasons for having a second child and the related factors also differed between 2009 and 2015. In 2009, after controlling the related variables, the intention of Korean-Chinese and Chinese-Han married immigrant women to have a second child was higher than that of Vietnamese women, but no such difference was found in 2015. Participation in their local community, first marriage, the gender of the first child, and whether they were living with their parents-in-law were associated with the intention of migrant women having a second child in the 2009 analysis model but these factors were not significant in the 2015 analysis model. In the latter model, the household income, a variable related to economic conditions, has a positive effect on the intention of having a second child. Conclusions: The significance of this study supports adaptation theory by addressing the similarity in the childbirth intention between recently married immigrant women and Korean women.

• Journal of Family Relations
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.121-137
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• 2018

Objectives: This study examined the effects of perceived equity in decision-making and gender role attitudes on marital satisfaction among Chinese-Han and Korean-Chinese migrant women. Methods: Data were drawn from the 'National Survey on the Multi-Cultural Families in 2015' and 1,350 Chinese migrant women born after 1979 under the implementation of "one child policy" were selected. Chi-squared test, t-test, and multiple regression analysis were performed for analysis. Results: There were differences between Chinese-Han and Korean-Chinese in marital satisfaction and perceived equity in decision-making. For Chinese-Han, 'balanced group (perceived fairness in decision-making)' showed higher marital satisfaction than 'underbenefited group (husband is more dominant in decision-making)'. For Korean-Chinese, there was no significant difference between the groups. Conclusions: This study found how the perception of equity in decision-making would affect the quality of international marriage relationship. Especially, for Chinese-Han women, the equity plays an important role in marriage relationship.

• Journal of Families and Better Life
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.133-150
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• 2014

This study is aimed at examining the employment preparation of Chinese migrant women and exploring measures to support their employment in a practical manner. To accomplish the objectives, in-depth interviews with 15 Han Chinese and Korean Chinese women, who represent the highest proportion in Korea, were conducted. Each interview lasted for about an hour and a half on average, and there were additional questionnaires and observations on vocational courses. Collected data was analyzed in 4 steps by utilizing the analysis methods suggested by Lichtman (the three C's of data analysis: codes, categories, concepts), which were transformed to fit the final data. The research findings are as follows. First, the fundamental reasons that Chinese migrant women seek employment in Korea are as follows: role model as a mother based on motherhood and the desire to be recognized as a member of society. Second, as for employment strategies, although all the respondents were only dependent on the referral of their acquaintances and national institutions, Han Chinese and Korean Chinese women had ambivalent attitudes toward each other. Third, they attributed the causes of unemployment to personal aspects such as the amount of effort made and luck, and social structural aspects, including employment instability and low acceptance of multi- cultural individuals. Fourth, the migrant women hoping for 'complete integration' in the future, suggested some practical employment support measures. Such measures should be established by comprehensively reflecting their reasons for getting a job, employment strategies, attributions of unemployment, and employment outlook, rather than as response measures to the low birth rate and aging issues in Korea.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.603-615
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• 2022

Assessing the health of international migrants is crucial in the Republic of Korea, Asia, and even worldwide. We compared the risk factors for non-communicable diseases among Asian migrants in Korea and the Korean population. This cross-sectional (2015) and longitudinal (2009-2015) observational study comprised a population-wide analysis spanning 2009 to 2015. Asian migrants (n=987,214) in Korea and Korean nationals (n=1,693,281) aged ≥20 were included. The Asian migrants were classified as Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Vietnamese, and other. The prevalence of risk factors for non-communicable diseases (current smoking, obesity, diabetes mellitus, and hypertension) were analyzed. Regarding the age-adjusted prevalence, direct age standardization was conducted separately by sex using 10-year age bands; the World Standard Population was used as the standard population. Among the participants aged ≥20, the age-adjusted prevalence of current smoking was higher among Chinese and other Asian migrant men than among Korean men and women (p<0.001 and p<0.001, respectively). The age-adjusted prevalence of obesity was higher among Chinese, Filipino, and other Asian migrant women than in Korean women (p<0.001, p=0.002, and p<0.001, respectively). Among the participants aged 20-49, the age-adjusted prevalence of diabetes mellitus and hypertension was higher in Filipino migrant women than in Korean women (p=0.009 and p<0.001, respectively). Current rates of smoking and obesity were worse among Asian migrants of specific nationalities than among native Koreans. The health inequalities among Filipino migrant women in Korea, especially those aged 20-49, should be addressed.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.53-64
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• 2016

Objectives: Nowadays, the multicultural families make up significant portion of Korean population and communities. Successful re-settling in a new country can be difficult, particularly when there are disparities in dietary behavior compared to home country. The objective of the study was to investigate the dietary behavior of marriage migrant women according to their nationality in multicultural families. Methods: The primary research was conducted targeting 94 marriage migrant women who came from China (40.4%), Vietnam (26.6%), and other countries except for Japan (33.0%). We investigated their dietary behavior, such as eating attitude and food choice behavior for Korea acculturation. We also studied dietary behavior among 14 selected subjects who had high level of integration and assimilation acculturation patterns by administering the Focus Group Interview (FGI). Results: The multicultural families had more integration acculturation patterns, which could have been influenced by their nationality. Vietnamese origin has the highest cultural adaptation as marginalization pattern. The common types of Korea acculturation were integration ($3.03{\pm}1.08$), separation ($3.10{\pm}0.59$), marginalization ($3.10{\pm}0.58$), followed by assimilation ($2.84{\pm}0.51$). There were significant differences in the four types of acculturation by marriage immigrant women's country of origin (p<0.05). According to dietary behavior, 'eliminating hunger' was the most important value in a meal. Chinese marriage migrant women, who had higher level of food intake attitude significantly, also considered 'being healthy' an important value. Regarding food choice behavior, Vietnamese had lowest frequency of homeland food intake. Most of marriage immigrant women were satisfied with the Korean food, and need for education was very high with interest for cooking, good nutrition, and managing their children's dietary life. Conclusions: Coping with a change in dietary behavior is one of the biggest transitional difficulties, and family members may need support to find their familiar food items and to continue their cultural food choice behavior in the local areas. Further researches with quantitative and qualitative analysis are needed to understand the effect of dietary behavior for acculturation in multicultural families.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.284-298
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• 2016

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to develop and evaluate the quality (understandability and actionability) of health education materials for Korean-Chinese (KC) female migrant workers, using Patient Education Materials Assessment Tool for Printable Materials (PEMAT-P). Methods: Educational needs assessment was conducted with 3 focus groups with 20 KC women and a focus group with 4 community stakeholders. The quality of the educational materials was evaluated by 3 experts and a community stakeholder, followed by a survey with 15 KC women using 17 items for understandability and 7 items for actionability by means of a Korean version PEMAT-P. Results: The health educational calendar consists of 12 subjects out of 9 topics related to healthy lifestyles for preventing cardiovascular diseases. The overall mean understandability score was 98.8% and the overall mean actionability was 100%. Conclusion: Involvement of KC women and community stakeholders in the development of educational materials was found to be an effective strategy for increasing understandability and actionability of educational materials for KC female migrant workers. This study also demonstrates the PEMAT-P is a useful evaluation tool, emphasizing the actionability of educational materials.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.205-219
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• 2018

The purpose of this study was to analysis of food adaptation and dietary behavior of marriage migrant women in according to their acculturation type, and find out their relationship. The survey was conducted by well-trained researchers using questionnaires translated into English, Chinese and Vietnamese. Food adaptional score was the highest in the assimilation type, and the separation type was the lowest. Dietary behavioral score in daily intake of milk and dairy foods was the highest in the assimilation type. There were positive correlations occurred between food adaptional score and dietary behavioral score, and also, between food adaptional score and assimilation score. Analysis of structural equation models shows that only assimilation affects food adaptational score, and food adaptational score affects the improvement of dietary behavior. In conclusion, marriage migrant women's positive attitude of new cultures, assimilation, might help them not only adapt to new cultures, but food adaptation and right dietary behaviors.

• Women's Health Nursing
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.153-163
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• 2024

Purpose: This study aimed to investigate the experiential meaning of child-rearing for marriage immigrant women in Korea in the context of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Methods: Using the hermeneutic descriptive phenomenology framework developed by Colaizzi, 10 marriage immigrant women rearing preschool and school-age children were invited through purposive and snowball sampling from two multicultural support centers in Korea. The participants were rearing one or two children, and their original nationalities were Vietnamese, Japanese, Cambodian, and Chinese. Individual in-depth, face-to-face, semi-structured interviews were conducted from September 1 to November 30, 2021. We extracted significant statements from the transcripts, transformed these into abstract formulations, and organized them into theme clusters and themes to authentically capture the essence of the participants' subjective experiences. Results: Four theme clusters with 14 themes were derived. The four theme clusters identified were "navigating child healthcare alone," "guilt for not providing a social experience," "worry about media-dependent parenting," and "feelings of incompleteness and exclusion." This study explored the perspectives of mothers raising children as marriage migrant women who experienced physical and emotional health crises due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Conclusion: The findings underscore that marriage immigrant women encountered heightened challenges in managing their children's health and well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic due to linguistic and cultural barriers limiting access to healthcare and information. Additionally, these women experienced considerable emotional stress from perceived inadequacies in providing a holistic social and developmental environment for their children under extensive social restrictions.

• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
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• v.50 no.2
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• pp.185-201
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• 2015

This paper suggests how Korean housemaids, called Sikmo, and Korean-Chinese migrant domestic workers have similar class positions and therefore form a dual identity in their interactions with female employers. rough spoken stories of the experiences of 27 females from Seoul, including Korean-Chinese domestic workers, Korean housemaids, and their employers, this research effectively overcomes the dichotomous discourse of natives versus foreigners. Instead it suggests the new interpretation that it is not foreignness but class inferiority of the domestic workers that plays a key role in establishing relationships with employers. Korean housemaids and Korean-Chinese domestic workers, both groups of whom are migrant workers, have developed coping strategies to enhance their labor value by spatially relocating themselves from their home society to a new society. They possess a similar labor status in women's history, being of low income, low education, and rural births. Consequently, these women experience 'translocal anchoring,' meaning their identities are intertwined with that of their home societies, and employers perceive them based on the characteristics of these places. The Korean employers perceive that the domestic workers' morality and intellectuality are inferior based on their class differences. This stigmatizing process leads employers to regard domestic workers as ambivalent people, not only threatening outsiders but also objects of pity, needing love and protection of their employers. The employers educate them culturally, teaching them skills to survive in the urban environment. These skills include cooking and language, in addition to advice on long-term plans to blend into society.

• Korean Journal of Family Social Work
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• no.55
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• pp.91-128
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• 2017

The purpose of this study is to develop an effective intervention strategy for marriage migrant woman in family therapy. For this purpose, we collected counseling cases of professional counselors who successfully completed counseling and attempted the qualitative analysis of treatment intervention strategies and effects. The results of the study were obtained by dividing the meaning units in the immigrant woman's statements made during the counseling process composed of a total of 6 sessions. The counselors were analyzed to have tried the following intervention strategies. They attempted the following six strategies: Helping emotional differentiation by searching for unresolved emotional problems, dealing with undifferentiation due to family projection process and love triangle, dealing with multi-generational transfer process of the original family relationship patterns and coping mechanism, shedding lihgt on ineffectiveness of inconsistent communication due to emotional oppression applying a communication model of MRI, switching client's awareness through reorganization, suggesting a way of communication that leads to real self. Such counselors' attempts resulted in positive changes and treatment effects were found to include first, cognitive insights and motivation for change, second, improved communication skills and third, anxiety reduction and self-differentiation. Due to their husbands' refusal to participate in counseling, marriage migrant women often get involved in counseling alone, so they tend to worry that the effectiveness of family therapy may be low but it was found that the proper intervention of the counselor could improve the ability of the wife to resolve conflicts, which would be a great help in solving problems such as family violence and this study is meaningful in that it provided the appropriate therapeutic intervention strategies needed.