J Korean Acad Community Health Nurs.  2017 Jun;28(2):144-155. 10.12799/jkachn.2017.28.2.144.

The Trends in Research on the Health of North Korean Refugees

Affiliations
  • 1Graduate School, Ewha Womans University, Seoul, Korea.
  • 2College of Nursing, Ewha Womans University, Seoul, Korea. yangsj@ewha.ac.kr

Abstract

PURPOSE
This study aims to identify the general characteristics, subjects, and methods of research on the health of North Korean refugees through a systematic literature review.
METHODS
A total of 140 studies on health were reviewed using the analytical framework developed by the researchers.
RESULTS
The quantitative research comprised 90.7% of the studies, whereas the qualitative research were 7.9% of them. Approximately 81.4% of those reviewed have publication dates spanning 2006 to 2015. Only 13.6% of the studies were conducted with the approval of an institutional review board. The subjects of studies were psycho-social health (151.8%), behavioral health (28.5%), cognitive health (15.0%), physical health (12.2%), integrated health (7.8%), and spiritual health (2.8%). Within the quantitative studies reviewed, the most commonly used study design was survey research (86.0%). The two sampling methods used most often were convenience sampling (53.5%) and snowball sampling (19.4%), and the most commonly used data-collection method were questionnaires (94.6%). As for the qualitative studies, the most commonly used study design was phenomenology.
CONCLUSION
The results suggested that the reviewed studies focused on physical health more than psycho-social health, and physiological measurement more than questionnaires. Ethical considerations need to be expanded.

Keyword

Democratic people's republic of Korea; Health; Review

MeSH Terms

Democratic People's Republic of Korea
Ethics Committees, Research
Humans
Methods
Publications
Qualitative Research
Refugees*

Figure

  • Figure 1. The flow diagram of study selection process.


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Comparison of Growth and Nutritional Status between Children in North Korean Refugee Families and South Korean Children
Kyung-Ae Park, Seong-Woo Choi
J Korean Soc Matern Child Health. 2022;26(1):20-26.    doi: 10.21896/jksmch.2022.26.1.20.


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