Foreign Residents' Experience of Korean Health Care Services

Abstract

Purpose: This study was done to identify the experience of health care services by\nforeign residents in Korea. Method: Participants were 12 foreigners from China, North\nAmerica, and Japan. Qualitative data were collected using three focus group interviews\nand analyzed with qualitative content analysis. Results: The participants' experience of\nhealth services was categorized as 21 sub-categories, 11 categories and three main\ncategories. The main categories were 'Quality of health care', 'Health care personnel',\nand 'Health care system and infrastructure'. The main category of 'Quality of health care'\nincluded three categories, 'Health care personnel' included another four categories, and\n'Health care system and infrastructure' included the remaining four categories. The\nparticipants reported positive experiences such as favorable feelings and satisfaction\nparticularly, with the high quality of health care but also negative experiences such as\napprehension, distrust, difficulties, and inconvenience in the health care service in Korea.\nConclusions: The results of this study can be helpful in the development of strategies to\nimprove health care services for foreigners by providing fundamental information about\nthe foreign residents' experience of health care services in Korea from their perspectives.