Journal List > J Korean Acad Community Health Nurs > v.26(3) > 1058387

TOOLS
Lee, Kim, and Park: Analyzing Factors Influencing the Quality of Life in Vietnamese Married Immigrant Women in Korea
Original Article

Journal of Korean Academy of Community Health Nursing 2015; 26(3): 268-277.

Published online: 30 September 2015

DOI: https://doi.org/10.12799/jkachn.2015.26.3.268

Analyzing Factors Influencing the Quality of Life in Vietnamese Married Immigrant Women in Korea

Hung Sa Lee1, Chunmi Kim1, Myung Sook Park2

1Department of Nursing, Sunmoon University, Asan, Korea.

2Department of Nursing, Konkuk University, Chungju, Korea.

Corresponding author: Kim, Chunmi. Department of Nursing, Sunmoon University, 70 Sunmoon-ro, 221beon-gil, Tangjeong-myeon, Asan 336-708, Korea. Tel: +82-41-530-2757, Fax: +82-41-530-2725, spring4cmk@gmail.com

Received 5 August 2015       Revised 21 September 2015       Accepted 22 September 2015

© 2015 Korean Academy of Community Health Nursing

(open-access):

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to analyze factors influencing the quality of life in Vietnamese married immigrant women in Korea. The factors included socio-demographic characteristics, spouse's support, and social support of Vietnamese married immigrant women.

Methods

A descriptive survey was conducted to collect data from 190 subjects during the period between May and June, 2015. The randomly sampled subjects answered a self-report questionnaire translated into Vietnamese. Collected data were analyzed using SPSS/WIN 21.

Results

The subjects' quality of life was found to be influenced by economic level, subjective perception of their own and spouse's health, Korean communication ability, spouse's support, and social support. The most influential factor for the quality of life was spouse's support, and next, subjective perception of their own health, Korean communication ability, and economic level in order of influence.

Conclusion

The results of this study suggest that social support programs should be customized to the subjects' characteristics in order for married immigrant women to adjust themselves to new Korean environments and to lead a high-qualitylife through the promotion of marital relationship, Korean communication ability, health status, and economic capability.

Keywords: Quality of life, Social support, Vietnam, Immigrants, Women

Figures and Tables

Table 1

Differences of QOL according to the Sociodemographic Characteristics (N=190)

jkachn-26-268-i001
Characteristics Categories n (%) or M±SD QOL t or F p
M±SD
6.3±1.54
Age (year) Subjects 29.6±5.66
 ≤29 98 (51.6) 6.3±1.57 1.20 .309
 30~39 82 (43.2) 6.5±1.48
≥40 10 (5.2) 6.4±1.53
Husband 45.6±5.93
 30~39 15 (7.8) 6.1±2.09 0.35 .699
 40~49 140 (73.9) 6.3±1.48
 ≥50 15 (7.8) 6.5±1.56
 No response 20 (10.5)
Marital status Married 170 (89.5) 6.3±1.55 -1.63 .104
Divorced 18 (9.5) 5.7±1.41
Bereaved 2 (1.1)
Marriage period (year) <1 8 (4.2) 6.5±1.75 2.44 .066
1~<3 22 (11.5) 6.2±1.87
3~<5 59 (31.0) 5.8±1.30
≥5 102 (53.3) 6.5±1.54
Education level No education 27 (14.2) 6.4±1.57 0.99 .414
Elementary school 48 (25.3) 6.4±1.67
Junior high school 43 (22.6) 5.9±1.55
High school 64 (33.7) 6.2±1.43
College 8 (4.2) 7.0±1.53
Economic status Low 44 (3.2) 5.5±1.40a 10.70 <.001
(a<b<c)
Middle 99 (52.1) 6.2±1.27b
High 47 (24.7) 7.0±1.86c
Religion Have no 142 (74.7) 6.2±1.57 0.22 .819
Have 48 (25.3) 6.3±1.49
Children No 31 (16.3) 5.9±1.65 -1.41 .158
Yes 159 (83.7) 6.3±1.51
Living with family No 132 (69.5) 6.3±1.56 1.10 .270
Yes 58 (30.5) 6.1±1.51
 Parents in law 30 (15.8)
 Mother in law 25 (13.2)
 Father in law 2 (1.1)
 Others 2 (1.1)
The perception of subjects's health Healthy 162 (85.3) 6.5±1.48 5.70 <.001
Unhealthy 28 (14.7) 4.8±1.11
The perception of husband's health Healthy 150 (79.0) 6.5±1.49 3.55 <.001
Unhealthy 20 (10.5) 5.4±1.52
No response 20 (10.5)
Job No 102 (53.7) 6.3±1.53 0.04 .967
Yes 88 (46.3) 6.3±1.57
 Agriculture 13 (6.8)
 Worker 50 (26.3)
 Others 25 (13.2)
Korean communication ability Poor 11 (5.8) 5.7±1.02a 10.98 <.001
(a<b)
Fair 140 (73.7) 6.0±1.52a
Excellent 39 (20.5) 7.2±1.34b

QOL=quality of life.

Table 2

The Scores of a Social Support and Spouse's Support (N=190)

jkachn-26-268-i002
Variables M±SD
Social support 4.0±0.84
 Others thank to me. 3.9±1.07
 Others respect me. 3.9±1.02
 Others concerned about me. 3.9±1.12
 Others help me with information and advice. 4.1±0.96
 Others help me if I have many things to do. 4.1±0.94
 Others listen to me when I want to get it off my chest 4.1±0.97
Spouse's support 3.3±0.92
 He listen my emotion and feeling. 3.5±1.40
 I freely tell my physical problem to him. 3.6±1.40
 I can talk with him my family problems freely. 3.7±1.33
 He helps me when I am sick. 3.6±1.41
 He spends time with me if he is free. 3.3±1.53
 He knows well about my relatives and friends. 3.2±1.43
 He expressed to me the feeling of intimacy and love. 3.5±1.33
 He respects my opinion. 3.5±1.36
 He forces to follow his thinking.† 3.7±1.34
 He always asking me to obey his thought.† 3.8±1.35
 He tries to solve the problems when we have a conflict. 3.1±1.46
 He gets digging my bad points.† 4.0±1.34
 He makes efforts to solve the family problems. 3.7±1.35

†Negative item.

Table 3

Correlation among Economic Status, the Perception of Health, Korean Communication Ability, Support and Quality of Life (†=190)

jkachn-26-268-i003
Variables Economic status PSH PHH KCA Spouse's support Social support
r (p) r (p) r (p) r (p) r (p) r (p)
Economic status 1
PSH .18 (.008) 1
PHH .13 (.046) .57 (<.001) 1
KCA .18 (.007) .07 (.372) .06 (.431) 1
Spouse's support .18 (.014) .18 (.013) .25 (.001) .09 (.213) 1
Social support .32 (<.001) .41 (<.001) .28 (<.001) .30 (<.001) .21 (.004) 1
Quality of life .32 (<.001) .40 (<.001) .28 (<.001) .45 (<.001) .45 (<.001) .27 (<.001)

PSH=the perception of subject's health; PHH=the perception of husband's health; KCA=Korean communication ability.

Table 4

Variables Influencing on the Quality of Life

jkachn-26-268-i004
Factors B SE β t p
(Constant) 2.57 0.87 2.95 .004
Economic status 0.35 0.13 0.15 2.62 .009
The perception of subjects's health 0.70 0.20 0.25 3.43 .001
The perception of husband's health 0.05 0.18 0.02 0.31 .751
Korean communication ability 0.74 0.18 0.23 3.94 <.001
Spouse's support 0.63 0.11 0.34 5.47 <.001
Social support 0.18 0.11 0.10 1.63 .103
R2=.394, Adjusted R2=.373, F=18.98, p<.001

Calculated by multiple regression analysis.

References

1. Korea Imigration Service. KIS statistics 2014 [Internet]. Gwachon: Korea Imigration Service;2015. cited 2015 April 11. Available from: http://www.immigration.go.kr/doc_html/attach/imm/f2015//20150701229489_1_1.pdf.files/PDFBook.html.
2. Korea Imigration Service. KIS statistics 2015 January monthly report [Internet]. GwaChon: Korea Imigration Service;2015. cited 2015 April 11. Available from: http://www.immigration.go.kr/HP/COM/bbs_003/ListShowData.do?strNbodCd=noti0097&strWrtNo=167&strAnsNo=A&strOrgGbnCd=104000&strRtnURL=IMM_6070&strAllOrgYn=N&strThisPage=1&strFilePath=imm/.
3. Lee JH, Jin SJ, Ju HJ, Cho YS. The impact of marriage migrant women's Korean language ability, self-esteem, and acculturative stress on their family health: Focused on mediating effects of marital adjustment. J Korean Acad Community Health Nurs. 2013; 24(1):87–98. DOI: 10.12799/jkachn.2013.24.1.87.
crossref
4. Seol DH, Kim HS, Yoon HS, Lee HK, Yim KT, Chung KS, et al. Foreign wives' life in Korea: Focusing on the policy of welfare and health. Sejong: Ministry of Health and Welfare;2005. 06. Report No.: 11-146000-002610-01.
5. World Health Organization. WHOQOL User Manual [Internet]. Geneva: World Health Organization;2012. cited 2015 April 11. Available from: http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/77932/1/WHO_HIS_HSI_Rev.2012.03_eng.pdf.
6. Kim JH. A study on quality of life of married immigrant women [master's thesis]. Seoul: Korea University;2012. 66.
7. Kim S. The determinants of quality of life: A case of marriage migrant women in rural Korea [master's thesis]. Seoul: Seoul National University;2013. 94.
8. Kim M, Kim A. The impact of Korea immigrant women's resources on their satisfaction with family relations and life. Fam Cult. 2012; 24(2):64–100.
9. Seo MS, Park KS, Park HM, Park HO. A study on health behavior and quality of life of married immigrant women. J Korean Soc Menopause. 2013; 19(2):112–121.
crossref
10. Kim HO. Quality of life in married immigrant women -focused on Gimhae city- [master's thesis]. Kimhae: Kaya University;2014. 80.
11. Kim MJ. Effects of domestic violence, acculturation stress, and social support on the mental health of migrant women in international marriages. Korean J Fam Ther. 2011; 19(3):1–28.
12. Kim HJ. A study of spousal support the demand for health education and quality of life married female immigrants. Korean J Women Health Nurs. 2008; 14(1):5–11.
13. Joo YJ. Research on the delivery of the marriage migrant women from Vietnam. [master's thesis]. Seoul: Chung-Ang University;2014. 86.
14. Statistics Korea. 2013 marriage, divorce statistics [Internet]. Daejeon: Statistics Korea;2014. cited 2015 April 12. Available from: http://kostat.go.kr/smart/news/file_dn.jsp?aSeq=313207&ord=2.
15. Chang SB, Lee KH. An analytic study on influencing factors for sexual satisfaction in women who had a hysterectomy. J Nurs Acad Soc. 1989; 19(2):160–172.
16. Abbey A, Abramis DJ, Caplan RD. Effects of different sources of social support and social conflict on emotional well-being. Basic Appl Soc Psych. 1985; 6(2):111–129.
crossref
17. Stoker MJ, Stoker GC, Beaumont G. The SmithKline Beecham 'quality of life' scale: A validation and reliability study in patients with affective disorder. Qual Life Res. 1992; 1(6):385–396.
crossref
18. Yoon JS, Kook SH, Lee MS. A preliminary study on Korean version of SmithKline Beecham quality of life' scale (KvSBQOL). J Korean Neuropsychiatr Assoc. 1998; 37(2):280–294.
19. Yoo EK, Kim HJ, Kim MH. Factors influencing quality of life in married immigrant women in Korea. Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing. 2012; 42(2):171–180. DOI: 10.4040/jkan.2012.42.2.171.
crossref
20. Park JS, Chung YJ, Ryu HS. The effects of marriage commitment and marital stress on QOL in intermarried Korean husband. Minjok Yeonku. 2015; 61:168–189.
21. Chang OJ, Park JY. A study on marital adaptation of international married Korean husbands. Fam Cult. 2009; 21(2):1–27.
22. Song JH, Lee TY. A study on marital adjustment factors among multicultural couples. Health Soc Welf Rev. 2010; 30(2):164–192.
23. Jang HS, Lee YJ. Relationship among attachment style, communication competence and marital satisfaction. Korean J Dev Psychol. 2007; 20(4):17–32.
24. Chu HH, Park OI, Kim JH, Park JS. The effect of family stress and social support on marital adjustment for the immigrant woman's husband. Korean J Fam Welf. 2008; 13(4):85–101.
25. Lee EJ. A study on family values of Vietnamese women [dissertation]. Seoul: Donggk University;2015. 157.
26. Oh GS, Kim YJ. Factors influencing quality of life in married immigrant women in Chungbuk area. J Korean Soc Multicult Health. 2013; 3(1):15–25.
27. Kim H, Yoo S, Cho S, Kwon EJ, Kim S, Park JY. Health status and associated health risks among female marriage immigrants in Korea. Korean J Health Educ Promot. 2010; 27(5):79–89.
28. Kim C, Park MS, Kim EM. Married immigrant women's utilization of health care and needs of health services. J Korean Acad Community Health Nurs. 2011; 22(3):333–341. DOI: 10.12799/jkachn.2011.22.3.333.
crossref
29. Jung YA, Choi WG. The present state and task of married immigrant women's information literacy. J Peace Stud. 2012; 13(3):293–312.
30. Kim YH, SEO YJ. Health-related quality of life among immigrant women who married Korean men. J Womens Stud. 2014; 24(1):35–62.
TOOLS
ORCID iDs

Chunmi Kim
https://orcid.org/http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6479-9956

Similar articles