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.

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.

Dietary behaviors of female marriage immigrants residing in Gwangju, Korea / 한국영양학회지

PURPOSE: This cross-sectional study aimed to document the dietary behaviors, dietary changes, and health status of female marriage immigrants residing in Gwangju, Korea. METHODS: The survey included 92 female immigrants attending Korean language class at a multi-cultural family support center. General characteristics, health status, anthropometric data, dietary behaviors, and dietary changes were collected. RESULTS: Mean age of subjects was 31.3 years, and home countries of subjects were Vietnam (50.0%), China (26.0%), Philippines (12.0%), and others (12.0%). Frequently reported chronic diseases were digestive diseases (13.2%), anemia (12.1%), and neuropsychiatry disorder (8.9%). Seventeen percent of the subjects was obese (BMI ≥ 25 kg/m²). Dietary score by Mini Dietary Assessment was 3.45 out of 5 points. Dietary scores for dairy foods, meat/fish/egg/bean intake, meal regularity, and food variety were low, and those for fried foods and high fat meat intake were also low. Thirty-three percent of subjects answered that they have changed their diet and increased their consumption of fruits and vegetables after immigration. Length of residence in Korea was positively associated with BMI and waist circumference. Length of residence tends to be positively associated with dietary changes and obesity as well as inversely associated with disease prevalence. CONCLUSION: The study shows that length of residence is inversely related to disease prevalence. However, this association is thought to be due to the relatively short period of residence in Korea and thus the transitional phase to adapting to dietary practices. As the length of residence increases, disease patterns related to obesity are subject to change. Healthy dietary behaviors and adaptation to dietary practices in Korea in female marriage immigrants will not only benefit individuals but also their families and social structure. Therefore, varied, long-term, and target-specific studies on female marriage immigrants are highly needed.

Food intake and nutritional status of female marriage immigrants residing in Gwangju, Korea / 한국영양학회지

PURPOSE: This study was conducted to assess the nutritional status of female marriage immigrants attending Korean language class in Gwangju, Korea by analyzing daily food and nutrient intake. METHODS: Eighty-three female immigrants completed a survey. Anthropometric measurements were obtained, and dietary food intake was assessed using a 1-day 24 hour recall method. RESULTS: The average length of residence in Korea was 5.3 years, and mean age of subjects was 31.0 years old. The home countries of subjects were Vietnam (50.6%), China (24.1%), Philippines (13.3%), and others (12%). Due to the length of residence, there were significant differences in body weight (p < 0.05), BMI (p < 0.05), percent body fat (p < 0.05), and diastolic blood pressure (p < 0.05). The subjects who were 30~49 years old consumed more vegetables and less seaweed than the subjects who were 20~29 years old. The other kinds of consumed foods were similar among groups in different age groups or lengths of residence in Korea. Average energy intake of subjects was 1,641.0 Kcal. The group with less than 5 years of residence showed higher cholesterol intake than the group with 5 or more years of residence in Korea (p < 0.05). There was no significant difference in nutrient intake between the groups of different age or length of residence. There was a positive association among dietary cholesterol intake and consumption of eggs, milk. and dairy products, and blood pressure. CONCLUSION: The study shows that length of residence affects rate of obesity and nutritional status. Further extensive research is needed to understand the effect of dietary changes and nutritional status of female marriage immigrants as well as for their successful adaptation to develop a more active and long-term nutrition education program.

The Lived Experience of Japanese Marriage-Immigrants' Caring for Parents-in-law with Chronic Illness / 한국간호교육학회지

PURPOSE: The study was done to explore lived experience of Japanese women taking care of chronically ill parents-in-law at home under the Korean family culture emphasizing filial piety. METHOD: van Manen's Hermeneutic Phenomenology research method was applied to conduct in-depth analysis on the meaning and nature of those experiences. This method derives the universal and fundamental aspect of human being. RESULTS: There were 8 essential themes derived from the Japanese marriage-immigrants' experiences taking care of parents-in-law with chronic diseases as followings: 'stuck in a situation in which I am obligated to take care of the parent-in-law', 'hard to be the only person responsible to take care of the parent-in-law', 'unaccustomed to the Korean filial duty culture', 'the adverse effect of Korean-Japan history on taking care of the parent-in-law', 'refusing to let the taking care of the parent-in-law to be a shackle of my life', 'starting to be willing to take care of the parent-in-law', 'following through with my own way of taking care of the parent-in-law without being swayed by what others say', 'growing in the process of taking care of the parent-in-law'. CONCLUSION: The study results broadened ground to understand the experiences taking care of chronically ill parent-in-law from Japanese marriage-immigrants' social and cultural perspectives.

Diet-related Behaviors, Perception and Food Preferences of Multicultural Families with Vietnamese Wives / 대한지역사회영양학회지

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.