Effects of translation service programs of public health center for Asian immigrant women in South Korea

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate accessibility of health information, utilization of health care services, and health literacy of Asian immigrant women in public health centers with translation service programs and in public health centers without translation service programs. Methods: Data was collected using a standardized questionnaire from 733 Asian immigrant women in 18 centers with programs (n=506) and in 6 centers without programs (n=227). Health literacy was assessed by REALM-R (Rapid Estimated of Adult Literacy in Medicine-Revised, Bass et al., 2003) with a range of 0 to 8. Results: 51 percent of immigrant women in centers with programs used translation services, while only 35.2 percent in centers without did (÷2=15.64, p<.01). Immigrant women in centers with programs acquired health information primarily from public health center staff (31.2%), whereas immigrant women in centers without acquired health information primarily from family in her home country (26.7%) and the center for multicultural family support (26.2%). Immigrant women in centers with programs were more likely to receive health education during pregnancy and to utilize health care services such as prenatal care, postnatal care, nutritional support, and breast-feeding education. Health literacy rates compared between immigrant women in centers with programs and immigrant women in centers without programs was significantly different, with scores of 5.12 and 4.52, respectively (t=2.93, p<.01). Conclusions: This study indicates that translation service programs of public health centers increase accessibility of health information, utilization of health care services, and health literacy among Asian immigrant women.