ABSTRACT

Purpose: The present study critically reviews the previous research on health communication with migrant worker patients in Korea and proposes suggestions for future studies and practice. Method: By adopting a Critical Discourse Analytic stance, it searches for recurring patterns of hidden assumptions in twenty-two publications on the issue (counting two edited volumes as two), locates what has been repeatedly missed out, and names the excluded discourses. Results: Although illuminating, the majority of the reviewed studies focus on the status or satisfaction reports and the patients’ health rights, lacking in the following four areas. First, they rely heavily on records and surveys, ignoring actual consultations with the patients. Second, they exclude professional worker patients from some countries by concentrating on unskilled ‘laborer’ patients from a few countries. Third, few of them closely examine the language(s) of consultation. Last, by solely concerning free-service institutions, they neglect the institutions that the patients with the national health insurance visit. Conclusion: Future studies on intercultural health communication with migrant worker patients should be more comprehensive. First, actual consultations with them must be more closely investigated. Second, professional worker patients deserve adequate attention as well. Third, the language of consultation cannot be taken for granted simply as Korean, and should constitute a separate topic for research. Last, intercultural health communication not only at free-service institutions, but also at fee-based institutions under the national health insurance warrants more attention. The findings from such studies can be incorporated into a variety of training programs for both healthcare providers and migrant worker patients.

KEYWORD

migrant worker patient, foreign laborer patient, intercultural communication, health communication

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