This qualitative study aimed to develop a substantive theory of the process of adaptation to motherhood in Central Asian-Korean immigrants to Korea.

Individual, in-depth interviews were conducted from July to September 2017, with 18 women who emigrated of Korean ethnicity from Central Asia to Korea, and took care of their baby for at least a year after their first delivery in Korea. The interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. Data from the transcriptions were analyzed through Strauss and Corbin's grounded theory method, and data analysis was conducted simultaneously with data collection.

As a result of categorizing the interview data through the process of open coding, 10 categories, with 31 subcategories and 102 concepts were drawn, and “growth as a Central Asian-Korean mother in an unfamiliar, historical hometown” was found to be the core category of the process of adaptation to motherhood in Central Asian-Korean immigrants to Korea.

A characteristic of the process of adaptation to motherhood in Central Asian-Korean immigrants to Korea, drawn from this study, is that it differs according to the level of initiative to carry out interaction strategies, and the use of various supportive social resources. The findings indicate the need for Medicare eligibility adjustment for antenatal care, the extension of the visa renewal period during childbirth, the development of web- or mobile application-based educational programs in Russian language, and the establishment of integrated visiting healthcare services, community service resources, and policy support to enable these women to utilize various supportive social resources.

This study aims to provide base data for designing education and counseling programs for child-raising by identifying the types, characteristics and predictors of parenting behaviors of married immigrant women.

We used a self-report questionnaire to survey 126 immigrant mothers of young children, who agreed to participate, and who could speak Korean, Vietnamese, Chinese, Filipino, or English, at two children's hospitals and two multicultural support centers. Statistical analysis was conducted using descriptive analysis, K-means clustering, χ 2 test, Fisher's exact test, one-way ANOVA, Schéffe's test, and multinominal logistic regression.

We identified three clusters of parenting behaviors: ‘affectionate acceptance group’ (38.9%), ‘active engaging group’ (26.2%), and ‘passive parenting group’ (34.9%). Passive parenting and affectionate acceptance groups were distinguished by the conversation time between couples (p=.028, OR=5.52), ideology of motherhood (p=.032, OR=4.33), and parenting stress between parent and child (p=.049, OR=0.22). Passive parenting was distinguished from active engaging group by support from spouses for participating in multicultural support centers or relevant programs (p=.011, OR=2.37), and ideology of motherhood (p=.001, OR=16.65). Ideology of motherhood was also the distinguishing factor between affectionate acceptance and active engaging groups (p=.041, OR=3.85).

Since immigrant women's parenting type depends on their ideology of motherhood, parenting stress, and spousal relationships in terms of communication and support to help their child-raising and socio-cultural adaptation, it is necessary to provide them with systematic education and support, as well as interventions across personal, family, and community levels.

The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the meaning of the experience of Korean immigrant nurses working in US hospitals.

Purposive sampling yielded 15 Korean immigrant nurses who had more than one year of clinical experience in US hospitals. Data were collected from March to August 2012 through in-depth interviews and thematic analysis was conducted using van Manen's hermeneutic phenomenological approach.

The findings were classified into eight themes: 'struggling from staff at workplace being territorial to outsiders', 'feeling oppressed due to language barrier', 'accepting rational and horizontal relationships at work', 'staying alert in the environment where lawsuits are rife', 'feeling a sense of stability from the social system that values human dignity', 'maintaining self-confidence from prominent nursing practices and senior Korean nurses' professional reputation', 'performing essential comprehensive nursing care', 'promoting self-development to be equipped with professionalism.'

The findings indicate that the Korean immigrant nurses were able to excel in their workplace when their clinical experience at US hospitals was combined with the lived space in US politics and environment, lived time of patience, lived body to be alert, and lived others with multi cultural characteristics.

This study was done to develop a reproductive health program to improve reproductive health of women immigrants.

The participants in the study were 58 immigrant women who lived in Vietnam, China, Philippines, or Cambodia before marriage. They were assigned to the experiment group (n=29) or the control group (n=29). The reproductive health program for this study consisted of reproductive health education, health counseling, phone monitoring, and emotional support based on Cox (1982)'s Interaction Model of Client Health Behavior and was implemented for four weeks.

There were significant differences in reproductive health knowledge (t=9.78, p<.001), reproductive health attitude (t=6.59, p<.001), and reproductive health behavior (t=5.11, p<.001) within and between groups after the reproductive health program. But there were no significant differences in clinical indicators between the two groups.

The results of this study indicate the that reproductive health program for the women immigrants is effective in terms of reproductive health knowledge, reproductive health attitude and reproductive health behaviors. Therefore, nurses in public and private facilities, such as multicultural centers and public health centers in each community, should develop strategies to expand and provide reproductive health programs for women immigrants.

This study was done to assess the level of physical activity among Chinese immigrant women and to determine the relationships of physical activity with individual characteristics and behavior-specific cognition.

A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted with 161 Chinese immigrant women living in Busan. A health promotion model of physical activity adapted from Pender's Health Promotion Model was used. Self-administered questionnaires were used to collect data during the period from September 25 to November 20, 2012. Using SPSS 18.0 program, descriptive statistics, t-test, analysis of variance, correlation analysis, and multiple regression analysis were done.

The average level of physical activity of the Chinese immigrant women was 1,050.06±686.47 MET-min/week and the minimum activity among types of physical activity was most dominant (59.6%). As a result of multiple regression analysis, it was confirmed that self-efficacy and acculturation were statistically significant variables in the model (p<.001), with an explanatory power of 23.7%.

The results indicate that the development and application of intervention strategies to increase acculturation and self-efficacy for immigrant women will aid in increasing the physical activity in Chinese immigrant women.

The purpose of this project was to develop an international web-based expert system using principals of artificial intelligence and user-centered design for management of mental health by Korean emigrants. Using this system, anyone can access the system via computer access to the web.

Our design process utilized principles of user-centered design with 4 phases: needs assessment, analysis, design/development/testing, and application release. A survey was done with 3,235 Korean emigrants. Focus group interviews were also conducted. Survey and analysis results guided the design of the web-based expert system.

With this system, anyone can check their mental health status by themselves using a personal computer. The system analyzes facts based on answers to automated questions, and suggests solutions accordingly. A history tracking mechanism enables monitoring and future analysis. In addition, this system will include intervention programs to promote mental health status.

This system is interactive and accessible to anyone in the world. It is expected that this management system will contribute to Korean emigrants' mental health promotion and allow researchers and professionals to share information on mental health.

This study was to explore adaptation experience to family among women who immigrated for marriage. Specific aims were to identify problems immigrant women face as family members and how they interact with other family members.

Grounded theory methodology was utilized. Data were collected from iterative fieldwork with individual in-depth interviews from 6 immigrant women as key informants, and 2 of their husbands and 2 of their mothers-in-law as general informants.

Through constant comparative analysis, a core category emerged as "tearing down the wall in communicating". Causal conditions were feeling frustrated in one's expectations, differences in language and life style, differences in recognition, and perceptions of discrimination and prejudice. Strategies were learning the Korean language, learning Korean culture, managing stress, mediating differences between family members, and introspecting. Intervening factors were support systems, burdens of child-rearing, and the condition of one's health. Consequences were rooting oneself in one's family and accepting one's life as it is.

Results of the study indicate that there is a need for nurses to understand differences in communication with family members among immigrant women and to provide information and emotional support to improve the adaptation of these women to their Korean families.

This study was done to develop a model which explains factors influencing health promotion behavior in women who immigrate to Korea for marriage, and to verify the appropriateness of the model.

The participants were 300 women who immigrate to Korea for marriage and settled in located in Jeonbuk Province, Korea. The data were collected with self-report questionnaires from October 10, 2007 through November 10, 2007. A total of 271 data sets were analyzed using the SPSS/WIN 12.0 and Amos 7.0 version.

Immigrant women's social support, self-efficacy, perceived health status, acculturation, and perceived barrier had an impact on their health promotion behavior. Social support was the most influential factor. All of these variables together explained 49% of the variance in health promotion behavior in immigrant women married to Korean men.

In order to increase the health promotion behavior in immigrant women, intervention strategies to increase social support and self-efficacy for immigrant women should be developed.

The aim of this study was to construct a structural equation model that would further explain the mental health status of Korean immigrants living in Canada.

Survey using a structured questionnaire was conducted with 386 people in Canada (Vancouver and Toronto). Six instruments were used in this model. The analysis of data was done with both SPSS 14.0 for descriptive statistics and AMOS 5.0 for covariance structure analysis.

Based on the constructed model, physical health status, immigrant life stress, self esteem, and quality of life were found to have significant direct effect on mental health. In addition, factors such as physical health status, immigrant life stress, quality of life, English proficiency, family cohesion and social support were found to indirectly affect mental health. The final modified model yielded Chi-square=34.79 (p<.001), df=13, χ²/df=2.68, GFI=0.98, AGFI=0.94, NFI=0.95, PNFI=0.44, PGFI=0.35, RMSE=0.07 and exhibited good fit indices.

This structural equation model is a comprehensive theoretical model that explains the related factors and their relationship with mental health in Korean immigrants. Findings of this study can contribute to the designing of an appropriate prevention strategy to further improve the mental health of immigrants in Canada.