Associations between accessibility to health care service, social support, and Korean Americans' mental health status amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
BMC Public Health
; 21(1): 1949, 2021 10 27.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1560497
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
While previous studies have examined the relationships between social support and health care accessibility among ethnic minority populations, studies on Korean Americans remain scarce. Therefore, this study aims to assess the relationship between Korean Americans' mental health, accessibility to health care, and how they perceive the level of social support during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHOD/RESULT:
We distributed online surveys to Korean Americans from May 24, 2020, to June 14, 2020, generating 790 responses from participants residing in 42 states. Binary Logistic and Ordinary Least Square regression analyses revealed that poor mental health was associated with language barriers inhibiting Korean Americans' access to COVID-19-related information. Their perceived social support from family members and close friends was positively associated with mental health.CONCLUSION:
Our findings recommend that equipping community health care services with translators or interpreters is necessary. Additionally, health practitioners and staff should be trained to utilize telehealth tools to effectively treat individuals with mental health problems. American policymakers and health care professionals need to understand and address the unique hardships Korean Americans experience amid COVID-19.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Pandemics
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Observational study
/
Randomized controlled trials
Limits:
Humans
Country/Region as subject:
North America
Language:
English
Journal:
BMC Public Health
Journal subject:
Public Health
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
S12889-021-11820-7
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