The purpose of this study is to survey actual healthcare conditions of foreign workers.
In this study, a researcher and 2 assistant researchers performed questionnaire survey on workplaces employing foreigners in urban industrial areas of Daegu city,...
The purpose of this study is to survey actual healthcare conditions of foreign workers.
In this study, a researcher and 2 assistant researchers performed questionnaire survey on workplaces employing foreigners in urban industrial areas of Daegu city, Pohang city, Gyeongju city and Ulsan city from June 1 to July 31, 2008 (2 months). The results of survey and data analysis can be outlined as follows:
According to sociodemographic characteristics of total 147 respondents (e.g. sex, age, religion, academic achievement and nationality), it is found that most of respondents were male (116 persons, 78.9%), 25 to 30 years old, (42 persons, 28.6%), Muslim (59 persons, 40.1%), graduated from high school (94 persons, 63.9%) and came from Indonesia (49 persons, 33.3%).
In terms of smoking and drinking habit of foreign workers, it is found that 33.3% respondents enjoyed smoking but 43.5% respondents didn't drink alcohol.
In terms of daily health conditions, it is found that male group scored significantly higher points than female group (4.37 > 3.67) on a statistic basis, which means that male foreign workers have better health conditions than female ones (p<0.01).
Based on age distribution and academic achievement, it is found that 25- to 30-year-old group scored highest points (4.26) in health conditions, and high school group scored highest points (4.33) in health conditions. Based on overseas working type, it is found that EPS (Employment Permit System) group, miscellaneous group and industrial trainee group scored 4.39, 3.86 and 3.61 points respectively in health conditions, which indicates significant differences in health conditions of foreign workers in Korea depending on their working type on a statistic basis (p<0.01).
In terms of actual healthcare conditions, it is found that male and female group scored 2.72 and 2.51 points respectively, which indicates that male foreigner workers are better at their healthcare conditions than female ones.
In terms of religion-specific healthcare conditions, it is found that Muslim group scored highest points (2.92), which was followed by Buddhist group (2.83), Catholic group (2.33) and atheist group (2.07) respectively(p<0.01).
In addition, it is notable that household group scored higher points (3.00) in actual healthcare conditions than non-household group (2.64).
In terms of difficulties with using medical institutions, it is found that Vietnamese group scored highest points (2.63) (i.e. highest difficulties) of all, which was followed by Indonesian group (2.46), the Philippine group (2.42), Chinese group (2.33) and Uzbek group (2.04) respectively.
According to regression analysis of potential influential factors on the health conditions of foreign workers in Korea, it is found that there were a variety of factors like religion (β=.225), drinking quantity (β=-.160), residential (working) period in Korea (β=-.290), healthcare conditions (β=.258), working environment and sanitation (β=-.188) and using medical institutions (β=-.244).