Health Care Status of First Generation Korean Immigrants in New Zealand

Lee, Eun Sook

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to describe the health care status of Korean Immigrants in New Zealand. The sample consisted of 155 Koreans who were randomly selected from the Korean Immigrants telephone book in Auckland, N.Z. They had health problems that required health management both physically(50.3%) and psychologically(70.3%). During the previous year, the average rate of medical contact with a general practitioner was 1+/-1.29 times. Korean immigrants who had health problems first attempted to resolve the problem through self medication rather than utilize health care services. They would only visit a general practitioner if they had severe subjective symptoms or no relief from self medication. Even if they think they need to visit the health care service, 41.9% of the subjects did not go back for follow-up care. Generally, the person who demonstrated positive health care behaviors was male, a college level graduate or higher, lived in N.Z. longer than 2 years, had a high score on health status by self assessment, and he placed few demands on health care services. Barriers to a healthy lifestyle are communication difficulties in expressing subjective symptoms, understanding the physician's treatment and medication plans, difficulty in accessing the appointment system, ant the high cost of service.