Intimate Partner Violence among Korean Immigrant Women in the United States: Intersectionality of Gender Norms, Immigration, and Socioeconomic Status

With the theory of feminist intersectionality, this study examined intimate partner violence (IPV) among Korean immigrant women focusing on gender norms, immigration, and socioeconomic status in the contexts of Korean culture. A total of 83 Korean immigrant women who were receiving a social service from non-profit agencies in ethnically diverse urban areas were recruited with a purposive sampling method. Hierarchical regressions were conducted to examine changes in variance explained by models. Having non-traditional gender norms, a college degree or higher education, immigrant life stresses, and living longer in the United States were positively associated with IPV while having higher income and being more fluent in English were negatively associated with IPV. Findings were discussed to understand Korean immigrant women’s internal conflict affected by their higher education and more egalitarian gender norms under the patriarchal cultural norms while experiencing immigrant life stresses and living in the United States. Implication for practice was also discussed.

Cervical Cancer Prevention Education Program for Rural Korean Immigrant Women

The study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a cervical cancer prevention education program for rural Korean immigrant women. A total of 46 Korean immigrant women who had not been screened in the past three years participated. The experimental group participated in the intervention program once a week for four weeks and completed a post-program survey in week 12. Compared to the control group, significant increases were detected in level of knowledge of cervical cancer prevention ( p = .001), behavioral attitude toward cervical cancer prevention ( p = .029) and behavioral intention regarding cervical cancer prevention ( p = .005) in the experimental group. Pap screening rate of the experimental group was significantly increased ( p = .029), but the rate of change in the selection of primary care providers was not significant. The results suggest the need for a multilevel approach to address cultural and systemic barriers to Korean immigrant women in promotion of cervical cancer prevention behavior.

Korean Immigrant Women and Intimate Partner Violence: A Review of the Literature

<p><em>This articles reviews and synthesizes the existing empirical studies on intimate partner violence among Korean immigrant women. A comprehensive search of the literature was conducted for the period of 1997 to 2017. From 9 eligible studies that met the inclusion criteria, prevalence rates and risk factors of intimate partner violence and help seeking behavior among Korean immigrant women are discussed. Based on the findings of this review, suggestions for future research are presented.</em> <em></em></p>