PLoS ONE
Volume 13, Issue 6, 2018

Health literacy and use of preventive health services among North Korean defectors in the Republic of Korea (Article) (Open Access)

Song I.G. , Lee H. , Yi J. , Kim M.S. , Kawachi I. , Park S.M.*
  • a Central Hospice Center, National Cancer Center, Goyang-si, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea
  • b Department of Family Medicine, Seoul Medical Center, Seoul, South Korea
  • c Department of Community Health Nursing and Nursing Care System, Seoul National University College of Nursing, Seoul, South Korea
  • d Department of Pediatrics, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul, South Korea
  • e Department of Social and Behavioral Science, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, United States
  • f Department of Family Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea, Department of Global and Population Health, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, United States

Abstract

It is known that some groups of immigrants can have low health literacy and it may affect their health. Although the number of North Korean defectors in the Republic of Korea has increased, little is known about their health literacy and health behavior. Adult North Korean defectors (n = 399) in this study were surveyed on health literacy, using the Korean Health Literacy Scale, and on the use of preventive services. Those with better health literacy scores were more likely to have vaccination than the lower scoring group (adjusted OR = 2.44; 95% CI, 1.19–5.00). However, undergoing medical check-up may not be associated with health literacy. In subgroup analysis, among defectors who lived alone (P = 0.032) or who had longer time in other countries before entering (P = 0.007), the vaccination coverage was associated with their health literacy scores. This study provides evidence for an association between health literacy and influenza vaccination coverage among North Korean defectors even though they may have fewer language barriers than other immigrants. Further research is needed to develop interventions for improving health literacy and their preventive health behavior. © 2018 Song et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Author Keywords

[No Keywords available]

Index Keywords

South Korea immigrant Republic of Korea Democratic People's Republic of Korea clinical trial medical examination human Health Behavior middle aged controlled study Aged language Humans Influenza Vaccines influenza vaccine influenza vaccination male female preventive health service North Korea Article literacy major clinical study adult human experiment vaccination coverage health literacy
Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85049172796&doi=10.1371%2fjournal.pone.0195964&partnerID=40&md5=d91e199d52146d30e79917899b0904af
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0195964
ISSN: 19326203
Original Language: English