Assessing the Efficacy of Medical and Cultural Support for Immigrant Adaptation and Social Integration.

Background: The research was designed to investigate the perceptions and attitudes of immigrants towards extra medical support programs that Immigrant Support Centers (ISC) offer. We aimed to find how they evaluate such medical support in terms of helpfulness for social integration in the host country.

Methods: The study was performed in South Korea during May-June 2023. A questionnaire was prepared in six languages, with 132 participants. The survey categorized the respondents into three groups, group (A) that received only medical support, group (B) that received only cultural support, and group (C) that received both. The statistical program SPSS windows 22.0 was used for the analysis, and finding the most effective way of medical and cultural support programs was verified through inter-group analysis.

Results: The analysis of the results shows that the immigrants find the biggest hardship in the new country when a health problem occurs. The most significant barriers were language differences and cultural differences. The immigrants' participation in the extra medical support programs can address those barriers. However, time, age, and length of stay were significant factors, and most of the participants found the extra cultural support more effective at the earlier stage of their stay in Korea.

Discussion: The study suggests that it is important to provide both medical and cultural support in the early stage of the immigrants staying in another country. Indeed, this might be a way to use medical support to induce them to further adaptation. Besides, providing culturally oriented medical support is likely to foster social integration through medical support.