Health Literacy in Korean Adults and Korean American Immigrants: Implications for Achieving Health Equity.
Health literacy is necessary to understand health information and make appropriate decisions regarding one's health. This study aims to investigate (1) the health literacy level of Korean citizens and Korean American (KA) immigrants in the United States and (2) factors that influence health literacy across three age groups. A quota sampling method was used to collect cross-sectional survey data from 404 Korean participants and 404 KA immigrants. Andersen's behavioral model was used as the theoretical framework for this study. Overall, Korean participants had a higher mean score on health literacy than did the KA immigrants. Only one of predisposing and enabling factors were significant variables influencing health literacy in KA immigrants, while several predisposing, enabling and need factors were significantly associated with health literacy in Korean adults. Our findings indicate that both countries need to have a community-based health literacy educational program that is tailored to each age group.
['Chung|Soondool|S|', 'Lee|Hee Yun|HY|https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3499-6304', 'Lee|Miwoo|M|', 'Chung|Semi|S|']
D000328:Adult D001213:Asian Americans D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies D054242:Emigrants and Immigrants D000069576:Health Equity D057220:Health Literacy D006801:Humans D056910:Republic of Korea D014481:United States
health literacy Korean adults immigrants health accessibility health disparity