Identifying the Causes of Nutrition Inadequacy in Vietnamese Married Immigrant Women and Korean Spouses through Qualitative Research

This study examined the possible causes of nutritional inadequacy in Vietnamese immigrant women married to Korean husbands. Qualitative in-depth interviews were conducted with a sample of 34 Vietnamese marriage immigrant women and 17 Korean spouses participating in or having experienced Nutrition Plus from four Community Health Centers in Seoul, Korea. The study results showed that the nutritional staus of the Vietnamese marriage immigrant women was affected by the unfamiliar Korean food (cultural factor), low household income (economical factor), difficulty in purchasing Vietnamese food (environmental factor), and low accessibility to nutrition support systems (social factor). The Korean husbands' nutritional status was affected by the unfamiliar Vietnamese food (cultural factor), low household income (economic factor), and irregular working conditions (social factors). Nutritional interventions as a public service to the community needs to be developed and applied. Suggestions are presented regarding the future efforts to better understand and meet the nutrition needs of intermarried couples to respond to their heterogeneous needs and deliver adequate nutrition service to ever increasing intermarried families.

Qualitative Study on Improvement of Operating System and Tailored Nutrition Education Program for Marriage Immigrants to Korea: Program Providers' Perspective / 대한지역사회영양학회지

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study is to analyze the current status of nutrition education programs for multicultural families and to provide policy suggestions for improvement. METHODS: In-depth interviews of a total of 21 multicultural experts were conducted; 15 people were interviewed individually, while 6 people were interviewed in groups of three. RESULTS: In-depth interviews revealed various problems related to the operation of nutrition education programs. The causes of problems were analyzed and categorized as four factors: systemic, practical, environmental and cultural. As for the systematic factors, insufficient linkage between related organizations and duplicate performance of several projects were identified as concerns Establishment of a control tower and strengthening the linkage among the related organizations may be needed to address this concern. With regard to practical factors, the study identified that language barriers, and lack of nutritional education media and tools translated into multicultural languages were limiting factors. These limitations the development of nutrition education materials that aretranslated into multiple languages, implementation of education programs that are different from the Korean education, and by providing interpreters. As for the environmental factors, low educational level and poor nutritional knowledge of multicultural women made it difficult for them to understand the contents of the education. Demonstration, practical training and urgent education on pregnancy and childbirth nutrition were identified as needs to address these concerns. Withregard to cultural factors, food culture conflict with Korean families, and difficulties in home practices were detected as concerns. Participants in the study suggested that getting education with family and facilitation of weekend and nighttime programs health of this community. CONCLUSIONS: Further studies are needed to adopt more effective and efficient nutrition intervention to promote the healthy eating of the married immigrant women based on the study results.

Development of Nutrition Education Program for Vietnamese Female Marriage Immigrants in Korea Based on the Health Belief Model

This study was conducted to develop a nutritional education program based on the health belief model to improve nutritional status among Vietnamese female marriage immigrants in Korea. The education program was developed through literature review, focus group interviews, expert consultation, and pilot tests. Based on theoretical requirements and needs of beneficiaries, the education program was consisted of 16 sessions with nine topics: ‘how to evaluate own dietary habits and nutritional status’, ‘health problems according to dietary habits and nutritional status’, ‘understanding six food groups’, ‘healthy eating plan’, ‘understanding food cultures of Korea and Vietnam’, ‘traditional and seasonal Korean foods’, ‘how to cook Korean food’, ‘nutrition management of family members’, and ‘practicing of healthy dietary life’. Program contents in each session consisted of activities that could induce outcome and value expectations, self-efficacy, perceived benefits, and barriers and cues to actions regarding dietary behavior. This nutritional education program based on the health belief model would be helpful to implement healthy diet behaviors in Vietnamese marriage immigrants and their families. Extension of these nutritional education programs to health centers and multicultural family support centers would improve the current poor nutrition status of Vietnamese marriage immigrant women. Further studies are needed to validate our program.