Influencing Factors on Health-related Quality of Life among Japanese Middle-aged Marriage-based Immigrant Women in South Korea: A Cross-Sectional Study

ABSTRACT

Purpose@#With the first generation of marriage-based immigrant women in East Asia now reaching their middle or old age, the need to focus investigations on their health-related quality of life has arisen. This study aimed to examine the extent to which physical and mental health, and psychosocial variables can predict health-related quality of life among Japanese middle-aged immigrant women. @*Methods@#This study has a descriptive cross-sectional design. A convenience sample of 197 Japanese middle-aged marriage-based immigrant women from two regions of South Korea were recruited between December 2017 and March 2018. Participants completed self-administered questionnaires on health-related quality of life, menopausal symptoms, depression, perceived health status, disease morbidity, social support, and acculturation. The data were analyzed using hierarchical multiple regression. @*Results@#Depression was the strongest predictor of health-related quality of life, followed by perceived health status, social support, and household income. Menopausal symptoms, presence of disease, and acculturation appeared to have no additional impact on participant’s health-related quality of life. @*Conclusion@#In times of rapid growth of global migration and the aging of immigrants in new destination countries, nursing interventions and public health policies for aging marriage-based immigrant women should be prioritized to improve their mental health by facilitating social support and disease management. In addition, social and employment policies that can help immigrant women transition to a healthy midlife are needed.