Service Needs, and Actual Service Utilization, and Factors Associated with Service Utilization Among Korean Immigrants

Background:  Prior research reported the high rates of service underutilization among ethnic minority immigrants. Although the literature has stressed some common aspects of experience among immigrants, it is imperative to account for heterogeneity within immigrants because of each ethnic group’s unique socio-demographic and immigration-related characteristics.  According to the 2010 U.S. Bureau of Census data, approximately 1.7 million Korean Americans reside in the U.S.  Despite the increasing number of Korean immigrants in the U.S., service needs and actual utilization of Korean immigrants have been poorly understood.  Accordingly, this study investigated service needs, actual service utilization, and the factors associated with service utilization among Korean immigrants in the U.S. 

Methods: The current study utilized an exploratory survey research design consisting of face-to-face interview, with a nonrandom sample of Korean immigrants in a Southern city (N=258).  Study respondents were asked whether or not they had needs for and actually used each of 15 types of services (e.g., migration, translation, housing, health, and mental health service; yes or no).  Then, as a dependent variable, a binary variable was created to indicate whether or not respondents received any type of services.  Descriptive statistics were utilized to present service needs and actual service utilization.  To identify the factors associated with service utilization, a logistic regression model was conducted after controlling for socio-demographic and immigration-related characteristics of the sample.

Results: Twenty-six percent of study participants had general health service needs while service needs for mental health and substance/alcohol abuse was 29.5%.  Service needs for legal service (24.0%), aid in documentation/application (22.1%), migration service (24.0%), and translation service (22.5%) reflected the needs for acculturation resources among study participants.  However, the findings of this study indicated that the overall percentage of service utilization was generally low.  Specially, service utilization for substance abuse treatment (5%), domestic violence counseling (6%), and mental health services (10%) were extremely low.  Only one third of study participants with general health service need utilized actual services.  The results of logistic regression model indicated that employment status tended to increase the probability of receiving services (OR=2.9, CI=1.4-6.2, p<0.01).  Study respondents also identified several barriers to service utilization, including lack of knowledge on existing services (59.7%), lack of cultural understanding (46.1%), and language barriers (52.7%). 

Conclusions: This study explored service needs, actual service utilization, and the factors associated with service utilization among Korean immigrants.  The findings of this study reported that Korean immigrants are experiencing multiple service needs yet they do not seek help to meet their service needs.  This study also highlighted existing barriers to service use among Korean immigrants, which accentuate the need for the development and implementation of culturally competent services for this unique population.  Further studies should focus on understanding their unique culture, history of migration experience, and how cultural and migration experience form the help seeking strategies of Korean immigrants to develop more culturally competent and linguistically accessible services for Korean immigrants in the U.S.